Thanks to the first Golden Collar Awards ceremony, this year's awards season has all but gone to the dogs.

And yet, says Oscar nominee Martin Scorsese, industry observers have overlooked a rather hard-to-miss canine: Blackie, the Doberman who appears in Scorsese's Oscar nominated picture "Hugo."

The renowned filmmaker writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece that he was taken aback when he saw the Golden Collar Awards had nominated Jack Russell Terrier Uggie ("The Artist"; "Water for Elephants") twice in the best dog in a theatrical film category, but hadn't given Blackie any recognition for her work.

Scorsese says he can somewhat understand why: After all, Uggie plays a cute and adorable companion, whereas Blackie "gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children."

And while Hollywood's "learned to accept the human antihero," Scorsese writes, "when it comes to dogs, I guess we have a long way to go." Or, he notes, perhaps it has something to do with the breed's origins.

Nevertheless, the director says, Blackie gave it her all on set, "[daring] to risk the sympathy of her audience."

As a result, Scorsese is protesting the "omission of Blackie the Doberman from the first Golden Collar nominations." If you feel as strongly as Scorsese does, he invites you to make your "preference known to the editors of Dog News Daily by write-in ballot and give Blackie the nomination she so richly deserves."

The publication, meanwhile, has heard Scorsese's outcry, and says that if Blackie receives 500 write-in nominations on their Facebook page by Monday, February 6, the Golden Collar nominating committee will request that Blackie be added to the ballot as a best dog in a theatrical film nominee.

Winners for the first Golden Collar Awards will be announced February 13.