Summerfield’s Chris Hedrick has been selected from a national pool of more than 300 nominees to win Pedigree’s Breed Rescue Hero award.

Hedrick, founder and CEO of Pug Rescue of North Carolina, has a 20-year history of working in dog rescue. Since the creation of her organization in 2000, she has placed more than 750 rescued and abandoned pugs in good homes and has raised and spent more than $200,000 in veterinary bills.

In 2007, she took in 55 dogs that had been confiscated from an illegal “puppy mill” in Wilson County, where the animals were living in conditions so disgusting that officers on the scene were sickened. Through Hedrick’s extensive network of volunteers, the dogs were placed first in foster, then in permanent homes.

Hedrick’s hard work has earned Pug Rescue of North Carolina a national reputation for excellence in dog rescue, says Dr. Florence Taylor. Taylor belongs to Hedrick’s organization as well as to the Pug Dog Club of America, the organization that nominated Hedrick for the Pedigree award.

Pedigree gave Hedrick an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City. The dog food manufacturer also gave her box seats to the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Showing her own champion pugs used to be one of Hedrick’s favorite activities, but she gave it up to devote countless hours to rescue work. She has a dedicated “pug room” in her house for rescues and her own champions.

Hedrick says she was overwhelmed by the award, as well as by the generosity of Pug Rescue members, who surprised her on Jan. 19 with a congratulatory cake and a gift card with spending money for her New York trip. Aware of Hedrick’s commitment to her beloved breed, the rescue members stipulated that the gift was to be spent pampering herself, not paying for vet trips or other rescue-related things.

Hedrick, who is studying to obtain certifications as a veterinary assistant and animal care technician so she can help provide rescued pugs with medical care, says it was her love of her own pugs that led her to establish Pug Rescue of North Carolina.

“I can’t rescue all dogs, but I can do my part by rescuing the breed I love,” she says.