A new ugly dog champion is crowned
Perhaps it was Scooter’s resemblance to a glossy black jelly bean that earned him the title Friday night as champion of the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest.
Or maybe it was his shockheaded, mohawk- like hair — strands that stood high in defiance of gravity — that pleased the judges in Petaluma, Calif., at the Sonoma- Marin Fair.
His tongue hangs loose from his mouth. His hind legs are reversed. His wee and gray tail is wispy.
And he sure is easy to love, the judges concluded.
“In the cutest way possible, he kind of reminds me of a hairy hippopotamus,” said Catherine Liang, one of the judges in the competition.
In a contest that promotes the adoption of dogs and celebrates imperfection — see the 2022 Chihuahua mix winner with his head askew; the 2019 king, Scamp the Tramp; the
2016 champ, Sweepee Rambo — the judges awarded the top prize this year to a 7- year- old dog that had been counted out for his appearance.
Scooter, a Chinese crested, had been brought by a breeder to animal control in Tucson to be euthanized.
But he ultimately was rescued and given a “chance at finding a good home and a fairly normal life,” according to his biography.
“Today Scooter is not only surviving but thriving,” his biography says. “He has no idea that he is any different from any other dog.”
After Scooter was named the champion, his owner, Linda Elmquist, hoisted him high, his belly splotched and wrinkled.
Elmquist had loved him at first sight.
Scooter uses a wheeled cart to move around more easily, but he can also balance and walk with just his two front feet.