Unlike conservative dog shows that demand that participants have a pedigree, mixed breed dogs or ‘mutts’ triumph at the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. Celebrated every June in Petulama, California, anyone in the world can enter their pet, but to be selected, a dog must have a ‘unique’ appearance.
WINNING MIX
Everything discouraged at traditional beauty contests is a bonus here: advanced age, skin conditions, disabilities, health issues, deformed bodies, irregular teeth and protruding tongues. Gender is irrelevant. A strange, even frightening facial expression can get a dog in the final. But it is important that the dog is up to date on vaccinations.
FUTURE FAME
The dog must impress in sections that include a fashion show and a red carpet walk. The top three winners receive a trophy, a cash prize and notoriety. The first place winner receives a grand prize of fifteen hundred dollars and travels to New York for television appearances. This can lead to a glamorous career: eight-time winner Rascal has starred in four horror films. He has appeared in a feature article in People magazine and on The Tonight Show. He has his own fashion line in dog leashes. A philanthropist, much of the money he has made has been donated to animal charities.
PAST WINNERS
To enter the competition, dog owners must provide a biography of their pets, many of which were adopted from dog shelters. A special award is given to the dog with the most inspiring life story. Past winners include Precious, a half-blind Chihuahua mix trained to monitor smells and alert her owner, a disabled war veteran, of danger. Chihuahuas are popular finalists, but recent years have seen creative choices: in 2016, Quasi Moto, a pit bull-Dutch shepherd mix that looks like a hyena, won first prize. Last year’s winner was a Neapolitan mastiff called Martha: a drooling, gassy dog, Martha’s misanthropic attitude to the other contestants and refusal to show off for audiences impressed voters.
CANINE ANALYTICA
While the contest has been running since the 1970s, its increasing prestige and the democratic use of the internet for voting has brought unwanted attention. In 2006, the contest was immersed in scandal when its online voting page was hacked and forty thousand votes deleted. Organisers responded quickly and efficiently by having an entire revote.
