The Hero Dog Awards celebrate the powerful, age-old bond between dogs and people – and give recognition to courageous acts of heroism performed by our four-legged best friends.

The American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards® is an annual, nationwide competition that searches out and recognizes America’s Hero Dogs – often ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things, whether it’s saving lives on the battlefield, lending sight or hearing to a human companion, or simply providing the tail-wagging welcome a pet owner relishes at the end of a hard day.

Dogs compete in eight different categories for the Hero Dog Awards: Law Enforcement Dogs, Arson Dogs, Service Dogs, Therapy Dogs, Military Dogs, Search and Rescue Dogs, Guide/Hearing Dogs, and Emerging Hero Dogs (the category for “ordinary” dogs who do extraordinary things).

From now until April 27th at 12pm Pacific Time you can vote for a dog in each category, each day!

After voting by the American public, winners in each category are flown to Hollywood with their human friends to attend the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards® gala in Los Angeles. There they walk the red carpet, are recognized in video tributes, receive their Hero Dog category award statue and mingle with celebrities, both two-legged and four-legged! The 2016 American Hero Dog will then be announced to the world.


To read the amazing stories on these 4-legged heroes and to cast your vote, click here!

On October 22nd 2015, Ben announced a grant to the Shawnee Police Department in Kansas.

“I’m proud to call the City of Shawnee my home, and wake up every day with pride that I get to serve the citizens of the greater Kansas City area. I’ve been a K-9 handler for five years. It’s a position that I have always wanted to hold, dating back to the days I served in the United States Army. I’ve seen our unit grow from one to two K-9 teams within the last seven years. We knew we could serve the area better with a third K-9 team, however it is a difficult item to pass with the budget constraints every municipality faces. Words cannot express how thankful we are for the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation.” — Shawnee K-9 Officer Shaun Arnold (in photo bottom right).


Today, we have photos of Shawnee Officer Ryan Skinner and his rookie K9 partner, Obelix, which is Greek for “Pillar of Strength”:


With this grant, the Shawnee Police Department was able to expand their unit from two to three K-9s which now gives them a dual purpose explosive team.

“The addition of a new canine to our unit will greatly expand the capabilities of these officers and the services they provide our citizens. We sincerely appreciate the generosity of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation in helping keep Shawnee a safe community. Being a native of Pittsburgh and a huge Steelers fan to this day, makes this grant award that much sweeter. The Shawnee Police Department continues to be grateful for the generosity of Big Ben!!” — Shawnee Chief of Police Rob Moser.

Thank you so much to Chief Moser for sharing these great photos with us!


Would you like to learn more about Ben’s foundation, just click here. And if you’d like to make a donation, you can do so here!

….in honor of The Masters:


From the Summer of 2015 – The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation Invitational at the beautiful Treesdale Golf & Country Club in Gibsonia, PA.

*Whose in the photos? There’s Merril Hoge, Bob Pompeani, Uncle Brett Keisel, the Tito’s Vodka crew (one of our sponsors), and of course Benjamin Jr. & Baylee!

Oh, and a whole host of anxious golfers ready to start their engines!


You can see more fun photos from 2015 here.

Photos from the 2014’s tournament are here, 2013’s tournament are here, and 2012’s tournament are here (Hey, it’s the off-season, what else do you have to do?).

…to get ready for football season!


From Jeremy Fowler, ESPN.com:

Ben Roethlisberger looked noticeably slimmer in a picture from a recent University of Pittsburgh football practice.

It turns out the Steelers quarterback has lost at least 15 pounds this offseason on a “high-cardio” plan with team trainers, according to Roethlisberger’s agent, Ryan Tollner.

This is a change from the 2015 season, when Roethlisberger was living in the training room with multiple injuries.

“He couldn’t really work out because he kept getting hurt,” Tollner said. “I think he said after the season, you know what, I’m going to lose weight to alleviate potential pain in my joints.”

Roethlisberger, 34, missed four games with a medial collateral ligament sprain and a bone bruise. He also suffered a foot sprain, was under concussion protocol for a week and separated his shoulder on a hit from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict in an AFC wild-card playoff game.

Word got around that Roethlisberger has been in the workout facility quite often this offseason, and it seems like it’s paying off.


More from Mr. Fowler here.

From an interview in Sports Business Daily conducted by Liz Mullen:

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger still has the handwritten note on a single white piece of paper that his agent, Ryan Tollner, wrote to him before he won his first Super Bowl 10 years ago.

“He wrote this long note saying, ‘No matter what happens tomorrow at the game, we will always be here for you,’” Roethlisberger said. “I still have that letter in my desk in my office. That is a neat thing to have and not something that a lot of agents would have done.”

Tollner has written notes and letters to Roethlisberger before all of his big games in the NFL. They talk on the phone — if not every day, every other day. Tollner gives Roethlisberger advice on dealing with players, coaches and the media. “I don’t really think of him as an agent,” Roethlisberger said. “I think of him as a friend.”

Roethlisberger was the first big client Tollner signed, ahead of when he was selected No. 11 overall in the 2004 draft. Since then, Tollner has signed Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles and Tennessee quarterback Marcus Mariota. He represents those players and about 45 other NFL players with his partners: his older cousin Bruce; agent Chase Callahan; and marketing agent Nima Zarrabi.

Rep 1 also represents quarterbacks Carson Wentz (North Dakota State) and Jared Goff (California), both of whom who could be selected at the top of this year’s NFL draft. Tollner, before his agency days, was a quarterback at Cal, too.

Roethlisberger said Tollner’s ability to build relationships based on friendship, honesty and trust is the reason for his success. He said he has talked a little bit with Tollner about what he might do when he retires from playing football, as well. “We will be best friends forever, there is no doubt about it,” Roethlisberger said. “I don’t know what I am going to do afterward, but … he will be a part of my life, whatever I do.”


You can read more on Mr. Tollner here.