By: Corrine Hung

Scooter is a hairless, black Chinese Crested dog that has spiky white hair on his head. His tongue sticks out of his mouth constantly, and Scooter was born with reversed hind legs and was awarded in the 2023 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest on June 23 because of this unique look.

The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is an annual contest held since the 1970s in Petaluma, California, as a part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, to decide which of the dogs entered in the contest is the ugliest. Dogs generally come from America but are welcome to join worldwide.

As an award, when the dog wins the contest, people will give the dog’s owner 1600 US dollars, a

trophy, and a free trip to New York City, which 20,000 to 30,000 people attend yearly.

This contest isn’t for people to make fun of the dogs’ looks. It’s for people to celebrate the birth of unusual dogs and encourage people to adopt wild dogs, and give them a safe shelter.

This year, 2023, the race was held on June 24th, and the Scooter won. Scooter is now a big star. However, he wasn’t that lucky when he was young. According to his biography on the contest’s website, he was born with two deformed hind legs that hindered his walking ability.

His breeder once brought him into animal control in Tucson, Arizona, because of his odd looks. Luckily, a volunteer from the Saving Animals From Euthanasia rescue group saved the scooter.

Scooter’s biography said, “He knew that this pup might have a chance at finding a good home and a fairly normal life with the support of our rescue group,”

The volunteer thought that Scooter might just make it despite his back legs, and to everyone’s surprise, he was right. After a little while, Scooter could walk and even do tricks.

Scooter’s biography also wrote, “He knew that this pup might have a chance at finding a good home and a fairly normal life with the support of our rescue group.”After seven months, Linda Elmquist adopted Scooter.

Scooter impressed the judges of the ugly dog contest with his technique of balancing on only two feet and his “beauty” different from other dogs. One of the judges, Gaudi Schwartz, also says that Scooter has a “warm, huggable power to change the meaning of the word ugly.”

People know from Scooter that love can change ugly into warm and beautiful. Scooter can walk in this contest with the help of so many other people. He represents the meaning of the World’s Ugliest Dog contest and got the judges’ support, making him the winner.

Resources:

● https://newsforkids.net/articles/2023/06/28/scooter-wins-worlds-ugliest-dog-contest/

● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Ugliest_Dog_Contest

● https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184212894/ugliest-dog-contest-scooter-winner