This may be her second appearance on a major cable channel’s Web site photo contest, but according to those close to her, Kent’s latest nationally recognizable face is not getting a big head about it.
“She’s very humble. She still digs dirty socks out of the laundry,” says family member Pam Dilnik. “And she still likes to carry sticks.”
It’s a bit low-key for someone competing in national competition, but it is that exact laid-back attitude that Dilnik said draws people to Star, her family’s 10-year-old golden retriever.
Star, a purebred whose full name is Benchmark’s Coast Starlight, seems unfazed by the attention, more content to chew on a bone or snuggle up so close to people she practically knocks them down.
“She’s a leaner,” Dilnik says with a laugh. “She’s really affectionate.”
But aside from being a loving family pet, Star is making a name for herself on the Animal Planet Web site, competing this month in the network’s “Battle of the Breeds, best snow dog” competition, which pits a photo of Star playing in the snow against 15 other dogs.
Star’s photo features the golden covered in snow after Dilnik caught her playing in the white stuff during the December 2008 snows that blanketed the region.
“She’d been rolling,” Dilnik says.
In the first round, which ended at noon today, Wednesday, Star was pitted against Lucia, another golden retriever from Virginia. Dogs advance through the brackets based on votes from visitors to the site.
This is the second time Star has appeared in an Animal Planet online competition. Star appeared last year in the site’s “Best Smile” competition as well, finishing second.
Dilnik says she and her family are fans of Animal Planet, especially the dog shows (though Star does not watch much TV herself). When the network put out a request for pet photos, Dilnik sent in a handful of pics she had taken of Star in hopes of maybe seeing her beloved pet on TV.
“I though ‘Good grief, they’re getting thousands of pics, I’ll never hear from them,'” she says.
But in October, an e-mail arrived notifying Dilnik that Star had been selected for the first contest.
“They chose this little smile and her in the contest,” Dilnik says. “There was Star in the contest.”
Star eventually finished second.
“I think it’s something in the eyes,” Dilnik said of her pup’s success, adding that both of Star’s parents were champion show dogs.
Then, Dec. 30, another email arrived from Animal Planet announcing Star’s place in the snow dog competition.
“I was just completely floored,” Dilnik says.
Dilnik says that Star is something of a star in the family’s East Hill neighborhood and figures that with enough votes from around Kent, Star might just take the top spot in the competition.
“Why not vote for a local dog?” she says.
But even if she does not end up winning it all, Dilnik is sure her pooch will still be the same lovable animal she has always been.
“No matter whether she wins or loses, she is always a Star,” she says.
To vote for Star visit: http://animal.discovery.com/the-spot/battle-breeds/snow-dogs/
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