This time last year, Penny — a shelter-adopted spaniel mix who works as a therapy dog with domestic violence victims at the nonprofit Crisis Center North — was in the running for American Humane’s annual Hero Dog Award.

Penny is one of several dogs working as “canine court advocates” through the center, based in the North Hills.

Center Director Grace Coleman doesn’t know how far Penny made it in last year’s contest. But it was far enough that she was invited to submit her name again, with a year of adjusting to ever-changing pandemic guidelines under her service vest.

“It’s been very challenging for both the humans and the canines,” Coleman said. “When the pandemic first broke out, we didn’t know if animals could contract covid or not. Later we learned they don’t get the same type of covid as we did, so then it became things like taking off their vests and utilizing a scarf, so contaminants couldn’t pass on from the vest. Germs are less likely to pass along through fur.”

Coleman said she and her staff put a lot of thought into how they could keep clients and canines safe “while also navigating this landscape of (being) allowed into court one day, and (not being) allowed the next depending on covid.”

One way was creating a “Paws for Tranquility” video series with dogs like Penny.

“We took the animals to remote locations like waterfalls, and they ‘led’ people in things like meditation and mindfulness,” Coleman said. “It was a means of connecting with clients they couldn’t see.”

The center’s canine court advocates, part of its “Paws for Empowerment” initiative, were also part of Zoom sessions with clients.

“A legal advocate’s job is often to work with clients in court,” Coleman said. “But as you can imagine, a lot of clients were afraid to go out, and we worked it out so that the canines were available over Zoom sessions.”

Scaling up its technology infrastructure came at just the right time for the center — Coleman said it experienced a 26% overall increase in new clients since the start of the pandemic shutdowns last March.

“Infrastructure and technology is such a big part of being able to deliver services, and we put a lot of that into Crisis Center North, including our canine program,” she said.

That includes Rune, a 9-month-old Labrador retriever who is “serving an internship” under Penny’s watchful eye.

Coleman said Rune is “growing up in the court system.”

“I’m really happy that this program has gotten so much faith from the courts,” she said. “I don’t know of anyone else that would allow a puppy younger than 14 months in court.”

The center’s three dogs work with domestic violence victims, including accompanying them to court as support animals, in three North Hills-area magistrate’s courts as well as the district court in McDonald.

The Hero Dog award is given based on voting, which can be done at HeroDogAwards.org/vote and entering “Penny” into the search box.

“Our hope is that by doing this work, other dogs will follow in Penny’s paw-steps,” Coleman said. “It’s been an incredible journey for her. She’s 13 now, and she’s working part time. But for a shelter dog to be able to do this work and transform lives, is really great.”

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