They won!

From the Bellingham Herald-

Bellingham bulldog wins Nick at Nite contest

Gabe the bulldog rocked his way to stardom at The Worldwide Fido Awards, a national contest sponsored by Nick at Nite. Gabe, who lives in Bellingham and whose talents include skateboarding and riding a rocking horse, won the top honor of Worldwide Fido 2008 and celebrated with a victory ride on his wooden rocking horse, Old Sliver. Gabe also won first place in the Best Trick category and competed for the top dog honor against five other category winners, including a deep-diving Labrador retriever and a bikini-clad boxer. Gabe's winnings included $15,000 and a Bissell vacuum cleaner. The awards show hosted by Fred Willard was broadcast Sunday, Oct. 5, and included celebrity judges Kevin Nealon, Vivica Fox and dog trainer Tamar Geller. Gabe, his owner Cheryl Knapp and Knapp's 21-year-old son Micah, were flown to Santa Monica, Calif., for the show and put up at Le Merigot, a pet-friendly, luxury beachside hotel. The hotel had a gated garden with shrubs and flowers just for the pets to do their business, Knapp said. But the trio didn't confine themselves to the hotel. During a day of sight-seeing before filming, Gabe, 11/2, wowed a crowd in Hollywood by skateboarding down the Walk of Fame. A stranger had put the skateboard in front of Gabe, but he had no idea Gabe could actually ride, Knapp said. Knapp said she felt confident Gabe would win because of all the support he received nationwide. He had the most page views of any of the dogs on the Worldwide Fido Awards Web site, and Knapp said she received hundreds of e-mails from people saying they had voted for Gabe. Since returning to Bellingham, Gabe has been taking it easy at home, but Knapp said she expects more opportunities to open up for Gabe after all the national attention. "People (at the awards show) kept saying he's got 'star' written all over him," Knapp said.