By: Boya Hu

On June 23, 2023, a dog named Scooter won the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest with his owner, Linda Elmquist, in Petaluma, California. The contest has been part of the Sonoma-Marin fair for almost 50 years. This contest is not meant to make fun of ugly dogs, it is actually meant to celebrate unusual dogs and to encourage people to adopt dogs that might look ugly, but need a home.

Scooter is a seven-year-old Chinese Crested dog. He does not have any hair around his body, expect a light mane of pointed, white, patchy hair on his head. The odd thing about Scooter is that his rear legs face backward, and he hangs his tongue out most of the time, according to News for Kids.net. These special futures got him to win the contest.

When Scooter was small, he faced euthanasia. Luckily, he was saved by a volunteer from Saving Animals from Euthanasia (SAFE).

One of the judges said, “In the cutest way possible, he kind of reminds me of a hairy hippopotamus.” Although he would never win any beauty contest, Scooter would definitely make judges laugh, says USA TODAY. “I 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.” says the SAFE volunteer, who was actually Linda Elmquist, Scooter’s owner.

“I am overjoyed and incredibly proud.” Elmquist says in a statement. Scooter has faced many disabilities, but it doesn’t affect his ability to be happy.