PETALUMA, CALIF. — Scamp the Tramp’s looks have made him a winner — but it wasn’t a beauty contest.
The snaggle-haired, bug-eyed pooch took the top prize Friday at the 31st annual World’s Ugliest Dog contest in Petaluma, California.
Owner Yvonne Morones of Santa Rosa won an appearance with Scamp on the “Today” show, $1,500 in cash, another $1,500 to donate to an animal shelter — and bragging rights.
Scamp, an adopted street dog, beat out 18 other contestants who showed off their droopy tongues, bowed legs and other strange attributes.
Organizers say the contest isn’t just skin-deep. It’s also about bringing attention to the needs of rescue dogs. Most competitors were previously abandoned or rescued from kill shelters in the U.S.
Nineteen contestants featuring droopy tongues, bowed legs, perpetually confused looks and other strange attributes went nose-to-nose in the annual competition.
Most were previously abandoned or rescued from kill shelters in the U.S., found abandoned on streets or seized from unscrupulous breeders.
Everyone knows ugliness is in the eye of the beholder and, to a dog lover, there is no such thing as an uncomely canine. Weird-looking, maybe. Appearance-challenged, perhaps. Or, as owners of ugly dogs like to say, “unique.”
Publicist Christy Gentry says with a chuckle that the competition is not just about being ugly.
“Judges are looking for special attributes like hanging tongues, slobber drool (the more the better). Maybe unusual patches of skin or hair,” she explains.
Indeed, the contest is more akin to a canine Cinderella story — one in which the glass slipper is seized but not chewed to pieces — and bringing attention to the needs of rescue dogs.
“What we’re really doing is we’re showcasing dogs that have been rescued and adopted and brought into loving homes,” Gentry said. “These are sort of spokesdogs for adoption.”
