The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is a competition for puppies to out-ugly each other in order to win the grand prize of $5,000 and the hearts of the audience. The winners of ugly dog competitions aren’t normally widely known. However, when Peggy, the winner of Britain’s “2023 Ugliest Dog” title, starred in the new movie “Deadpool and Wolverine,” everything changed. Suddenly, it seems everyone is interested in these “so ugly they’re cute” dogs. Peggy’s movie star performance has shined a spotlight on and increased the popularity of a competition that most never paid attention to.
Emily Schenck (12) finds these ‘ugly’ dogs to be cute and has watched a competition since finding out about them from social media.
“I only found out recently that ‘ugly’ dog competitions were a thing,” Schenck said. “I found out while watching a TikTok about ‘Dogpool’.”
This year’s winner of the “2024 World’s Ugliest Dog” title is an 8-year-old Pekingese named Wild Thang. Often the winners of these contests have lived through a disease or abnormality that gives them a leg up in the ugliness battles. Wild Thang, for instance, contracted distemper, a disease that caused his teeth to not grow in, leaving him with a tongue that hangs constantly out of his toothless mouth.
Some people, like Jackson Pingley (10), have seen clips of the competitions on their phones but haven’t watched a full competition.
“I think people find ugly dogs cute out of pity or because they focus on their personalities,” Pingley said.
Audiences enjoy watching these “glugly” (glamorous and ugly) prize-winning dog competitions because it’s a reminder that beauty is not defined only by looks, but by the love and joy that these dogs bring to society.
Lillie Kimbrell (9) finds ugly dog competitions interesting, but has yet to watch one.
“I think people find these ‘ugly’ dogs cute because of the way they act and the way they are presented in these competitions,” Kimbrell said.
According to petaluma360.com, the first ever Ugly Dog Contest was created in 1971 to raise money for the Old Adobe Association in Petaluma. Because the pet parade didn’t generate much income, Old Adobe Association member Ross Smith suggested an ugly dog competition as an alternative. Everyone jumped over the idea and has been held annually at the Sonoma-Marin Fair since 1988.
Today the popularity of these competitions has grown, and more people have seen the winners on social media or other platforms.
Alexander Orehowski (11) thinks that all dogs are cute and would be interested in watching a competition.
“I think that seeing a dog competition would be quite interesting because I haven’t heard of one in Spartanburg before,” Orehowski said.
