By: Jason Shen

Recently, a seven-year-old Chinese Custard dog named Scooter, won the world’s ugliest dog competition in Petaluma because of his special looks and features. You would think that this competition is to make fun of ugly dogs, but it’s actually to show that every dog is special and encourages people to adopt any kind of dog.

Scooter’s life now is great, but he wasn’t born into a good life because his rear legs are bent backward making it impossible to walk with his four legs. He has learned to walk only on his front legs by balancing his weight and can even go up stairs and curbs. A volunteer from a group that works to protect animals thought Scooter might make it despite his back legs–and with her support he has.

Lisa Elmquist, Scooter’s owner, said that he doesn’t know that he is different from other dogs and has even been seen barking at dogs much bigger than him. Elmquist also said that Scooter is just generally friendly around basically everyone.

Scooter really impressed the judges at the ugliest dog competition, taking home a trophy and $1,500 because of his amazing backstory. Although his backstory helped a lot with the competition, being a Chinese Custard didn’t hurt because since 2000, 10 out of all of the winners had been Chinese Custards.