Print

Mugly, an 8-year-old Chinese Crested dog from the United Kingdom, won the title for World's Ugliest Dog last night at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, CA. The contest, now in its 24th year, found Mugly to be the ugliest of the 29 contestants in this year’s competition. The judges are the attending audience for the contest.

Being a Chinese Crested gives Mugly a leg-up, as it were, on the competition, since this breed has a host of natural characteristics that don’t exactly fit the cultural ideal of beauty. They do, however, draw out the "mothering instinct" in enough people to appreciate their face-that-only-a-mother-could-love, fortunately.

This isn’t Mugly’s first time to win an ugly dog contest. He was awarded this prestigious honor in 2005 in his home country as Britain’s Ugliest Dog. But being ugly isn’t all fun and games. Mugly has come a long way to get to the posh life of a celebrity dog. Abandoned by his family, he was rescued by Bev Nicholson from an animal shelter when he was 8 weeks old. In 2009, he went missing, and as a distraught Nicholson posted flyers around the neighborhood, a rescuer snatched him from a group of thugs who were beating the small, rat-like Mugly. He returned home to Nicholson swollen, bruised, and shaken, and with only one remaining eyebrow.

Mugly is also a certified therapy pet, bringing his warmth and joy to children, hospices and nursing homes, as well as raising money for rescue organizations.

To read more about Mugly, and to see the other contestants in this year’s competition — Creature, a Mexican Hairless mix is currently beating Mugly in online votes — visit the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds site. You can also "like" Mugly at his Facebook page, "follow" him on his Twitter feed, and keep up with his life at his personal webpage, uglymugly.co.uk.

Image from uglymugly.co.uk