FORGET the honours list and the Golden Globes – we’ve been keeping tabs on Great British Dog of the Year, where an assistance dog from Holloway had our vote – and, it seems, everyone else’s.

Kin, a Japanese Akita Inu who alerts her owner Robert Stuhldreer (pictured right) to oncoming seizures, has beaten three other canine nominees in a public vote to be crowned dog of the year.

“It was just a really nice start to the new year,” said Mr Stuhldreer, who received the news of a win for Kin via email on January 2.

She garnered more than 450 votes in the competition, run by dog food brand Winalot.

“I personally don’t know 400 people so it wasn’t all friends!” he said.

Does Kin know she’s the best girl in Britain?

“I’m a bit of a Doctor Dolittle,” Mr Stuhldreer joked. “I do talk to the animals – but who knows if she understood?”

In Kin’s profile on the competition website, Mr Stuhldreer described her as an “amazing, cheeky girl” who “has brought so much joy to my life”, adding: “Where there had been danger and darkness in my life due to epileptic seizures, Kin has brought safety and light.

“Warning me of an impending seizure, this beautiful girl has revolutionised my life – allowing me time to put myself in a place of safety and looking after me while I’m unconscious.”

In an interview with the Tribune last month, Mr Stuhldreer explained how Kin’s seizure-detection works.

“Nobody knows what it is the animals pick up on,” he said. “They’re either picking up minute movement changes in your body or, more likely, they’re smelling chemical changes within your body.”

If Kin senses a seizure while Mr Stuhldreer is sitting down, she will sit directly in front of him and make eye contact to let him know that he is in danger.

If they’re walking, she might stop dead or block his path.

If the seizure is imminent, Kin will bark which is particularly unusual for this typically quiet breed.

Not all dogs have or can develop the ability to predict seizures – it is rare and unproven – although they can be trained to perform certain behaviours to protect their owners after a seizure.

Mr Stuhldreer, a dog trainer for film, television and stage productions, trained Kin himself, along with the rest of his pack of pooches – another Akita Inu and three Hungarian Pumis.

Kin has had her turn on the West End in the immersive show You Me Bum Bum Train, as well as at the Almeida Theatre in 2016.

His other dogs have star quality too.

This year one of the Pumis, Miep, will go on tour with a production of the opera La Boheme, featuring the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv.

Mr Stuhldreer treated Kin and his other dogs to a chicken as a treat after her victory, but there was an official prize pot too.

“I thought it was just the kudos, but apparently not,” Mr Stuhldreer added.

Kin will get a hamper of goodies, a bed with her name on it, and £1k-worth of vouchers for a hotel in the Cotswolds – dog friendly, of course – where Mr Stuhldreer plans to take her for a getaway when the weather gets warmer.

Kin turns 11 in May, so perhaps it can be a birthday trip.