The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is an annual contest held in Petaluma, California, as part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, to decide which of the dogs entered in the contest is the ugliest. The contest, along with the rest of the fair, is typically scheduled for the fourth week of June. Along with the title of “The World’s Ugliest Dog”, the winner’s owner receives a check for $1,000 and a trophy. There is significant media coverage, and as many as 2,000-3,000 people attend the contest during the fair each year. The fair now holds an all-day Dog Lovers' Festival preceding the evening contest.
Animal Planet has sponsored the event and broadcast the show on television for several years. In the 2009 contest, the event included celebrity judges such as Jon Provost ("Timmy" on the 1950s television show Lassie) as well as an Ugly is the New Beautiful Fashion Show featuring models and adoptable rescue dogs. Hosts rotate each year. In 2013, syndicated radio hosts Bob & Sheri hosted the show. Dog owners must provide documentation of veterinarian checks to determine the competing animal is healthy. The Sonoma-Marin Fair has also partnered with animal rights groups such as the Sonoma County Humane Society to educate the public about animals and to provide opportunities to adopt rescue dogs. The fair issues a photo of the winner, a press release summing up the contest, and YouTube video within hours of the contest conclusion. Contestants for each new year are featured on the website before the contest as well in the World's Ugliest Dog Voting Gallery.
Dogs generally come from across the United States but are welcome to enter from around the world. In contrast to conformation shows (which are restricted to purebreds), mutts are allowed to participate. The 2012 winner was Mugly from the United Kingdom, the first dog from outside the United States to win. The 2002 winner and now a “Ring of Champions” holder is Rascal, owned by actor Dane Andrew of Sunnyvale, California. The winner of the 2007 World’s Ugliest Dog was Elwood, a Chinese Crested-Chihuahua mixed-breed dog owned by Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey. 2008’s winner was also a Chinese Crested, Jeanenne Teed’s hairless, three-legged, one-eyed Gus. The 2009 winner was Pabst, a boxer mix owned by Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, California who ended the seven-year reign held by the Chinese Crested breed. Pabst also won a year-long modeling contract from sponsor House of Dog in addition to dog bling.
The contest has been going on since the 1970s. In 2009 the Sonoma-Marin Fair trademarked the phrase World's Ugliest Dog. In 2013, the contest celebrates its 25th anniversary as a fair-produced event. A 25th-anniversary book, World's Ugliest Dogs: The Official World's Ugliest Dog Contest Book" which provides "Canine proof that ugly is the new beautiful, was published in June 2013 by Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot, with text by the contest's producer of seven years, Vicki DeArmon, and photos by photographers who have covered the contest over the years for the fair.
The contest was the subject of an hour-long indie documentary entitled "Worst in Show", produced by Don Lewis and John Beck.
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