World's Ugliest Dog Contest

Submission 16,355

Part of a series on Dogs. [View Related Entries]

About

The World's Ugliest Dog Contest is an annual contest at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair where dogs compete for the titular crown. The contest, which has been running since the 1970s, has caused several unconventional-looking dogs to become famous. Each winner receives a $1000 prize and a trophy.^[2]

History

The World's Ugliest Dog Contest has been running annually in the fourth week of June since the 1970s, and as part of the Sonoma-Marin County Fair in California since 1988.^[2] The contest attracts entrants from around the world, and for several years the contest was sponsored by and aired on the television channel Animal Planet.^[6] The contest is also used to promote shelter adoption for dogs, as many of the winners have been adopted from shelters or puppy mills.

The contest has been featured in a book, called World's Ugliest Dogs: The Official World's Ugliest Dog Contest Book and in an hour-long documentary called Worst in Show.^[3]^[4]

Online Presence

The contest began to have a noted online presence when online voting began in the early 2000s, via the Sonoma-Marin County Fair web site.^[1] However, the online voting has no bearing on who wins the contest, which is decided by a rotating cast of judges.

In 2005, the contest reached widespread audiences after the third win of a hairless Chinese Crested named Sam. Sam's ugliness was so profound that he became an international star, including a role on television as a cat on Criss Angel's Halloween special Mindfreak.^[5] Sam is often considered to be the mascot of the /co/ board on 4chan. Sam died in 2005 at the age of 15.

After Sam's fame, the contest retained an annual notoriety, with the winner being announced and publicized every year in late June.

Notable Developments

Winners

2000 and 2001

Nana, a dog of unknown breed.

2002

Rascal, a Chinese Crested

2003-2005

Sam, a Chinese Crested

2006

Archie, a Chinese Crested

2007

Elwood, a Chihuahua-Chinese Crested mix

2008

Gus, a Chinese Crested

2009

Pabst, a Boxer mix

2010

Princess Abby, a Chihuahua

2011

Yoda, a Chihuahua-Chinese Crested mix

2012

Mugly, a Chinese Crested

2013

Walle, a Beagle-Basset-Boxer mix

2014

Peanut, a Chihuahua-Shih Tzu mix

2015

Quasi Modo, a hunchbacked pit bull-Dutch shepherd mix

2018 Victor

At the 2018 contest, Zsa Zsa, a 9 year old English Bulldog from Anoka, Minnesota took the prize, winning $1,500.

NPR^[7] noted that the dog spent five years in a puppy mill before being rescued, perhaps contributing to her appearance. Online, users were typically split as to whether the dog was indeed hideous or cute. Twitter user @BrandyLJensen took the former opinion, gaining over 1,300 likes (shown below, left). User @lppny stated that anyone who thought the dog was ugly was "a cop" (shown below, right).