By: Alan Chen

Scooter is a seven year old Chinese crested dog. He has won the 2023 Ugliest Dog Contest. The world’s ugliest dog contest has been running for almost 50 years, as of 2023. The contest is held in Petaluma, California, which is part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair. Though the name of the contest doesn’t seem like a good thing, the contest actually celebrates unusual dogs and encourages people to buy dogs in need.

Scooter is definitely an unusual dog. One of the contest judges even said, “In the cutest way possible, he kind of reminds of a hairy hippopotamus.”

Scooter may be sort of popular right now, but when he was a puppy his life was at risk. He was born with his rear legs facing backwards, which made them useless to use for walking.

But one of the volunteers at the shelter thought that Scooter might just make it through, and he was right. Scooter learned to walk on his two front legs. When doing it he could even walk up stairs and go onto curbs.

But walking on his front legs all the time is very tiring for Scooter, so when he gets too tired, he has to take a break and rest on his rear end. Recently, Scooter was given a cart with wheels he could use to walk around more easily without walking on only his front legs.

The person who adopted Scooter was named Linda Elmquist and says that he doesn’t know that he is different from other types of dogs. She also said that he even barks at dogs bigger than him, and doesn’t worry about the size difference. She says overall, Scooter is a friendly dog.

The judges really liked Scooter, so he went with first prize which gave $1,500 and a trophy.