By: Harvey Shen

Scooter is a Chinese Crested dog that is seven years old. He has no hair and has a thin mane of spiky hair on his head. “His special looks won him the 2023 World’s Ugliest Dog contest.”

The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is a contest that has been running for about 50 years. It is part of the Sonoma-Marlin fair in Petaluma, California.

One of the judges described Scooter like this:

“In the cutest way possible, he kind of reminds me of a hairy hippopotamus,”

Scooter might be famous, but things were only sometimes good for him. His life was at risk when he was a puppy because of his rear legs. This is because his legs face backward, making them useless for walking.

Scooter was given a special tool to make his life a lot easier. It was like a cart with wheels attached to Scooter’s rear end. He can get around quickly now using the cart.

Linda Elmquist adopted Scooter, and she said, “Scooter is no different from other dogs.” Linda says Scooter doesn’t care about the other dogs’ bigger size.

Scooter got first place in the contest, with $1,500 and a trophy. One of the judges Gaudi Schwartz, says, “Scooter has a ‘warm, huggable power to change the meaning of the word ugly.’”

No dog has better ideas than Scooter for this year, at least.