Three Washington dogs nose closer as America’s Favorite Pet

LYNNWOOD — The big-haired gal from Lynnwood is a snout closer to being top dog.

Ellie, a 5-month-old Pembroke Welsh fluffy corgi featured in a Herald story last week, made it to the next round of the national America’s Favorite Pet contest.

A daily vote for Ellie is free — or people can buy votes at two for $1, a donation to non-profit PAWS in Lynnwood. Last year, over $300,000 was raised for PAWS.

Top prize for the pet is $5,000 and a spread in Dogster or Catster magazines.

There are 64 groups of 16 dogs in this elimination round. Ellie needs to be first in her dog group to advance to the semi-finals. On Wednesday, she was in fourth place in her group. The favorite is Sally, a senior dachshund who rocks it in pink sunglasses.

Cooper, a collie from Monroe, is in the running in a group led by a sassy six-pounder named Peeta. (Submitted photo)

Cooper, a Monroe collie whose talents include agility, is also in the running in a group led by a sassy six-pounder named Peeta. Puyallup hiking dog Largent is in seventh place in a group in which a spotted great dane named Elvis is in first.

If the three Washington dogs make it through the ensuing rounds, they could face off for the centerfold and the five grand. There might be more Washington canines and felines in the thousands of contenders.

“Even if she doesn’t wind up advancing, it’s really cool to know she did her part in raising awareness for PAWS and getting them donations,” said Ellie’s human, James Myles. “At the end, it’s not like a sad loss, she still helped out.”

After a hard day of romping outside, Cooper likes to play with toilet paper rolls and sit by the fire with his pals Gary and Heidi Webster.

Largent, a part bichon frisé, part poodle and probably part terrier, was found roaming the streets of Chicago in 2015 before being rescued by Kristen and Craig Hill, well known in the Washington Hikers and Climbers community.

Does the dog look familiar?

Largent, the Puyallup adventure dog, is well known among Washington hikers and is vying to be America’s Favorite Pet. (Submitted photo)

He has been on calendars to raise money for rescues and in hiking stories. Craig Hill is a hiking trails book author. Largent has joined the couple on summits, including the daunting Mailbox Peak Trail near North Bend.

He is “Largent the Adventure Dog” on Instagram. Ellie is “Her Fluffiness.”

Each has way more followers than most of us humans.

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.

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Cooper, a collie from Monroe, is in the running in a group led by a sassy six-pounder named Peeta. (Submitted photo)