After a hiatus of two years due to the pandemic, the World's Ugliest Dog contest has returned to the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. The fair will close tonight, and the newly-crowned winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest is a Chinese crested/Chihuahua mix named Mr. Happy Face. He may be ugly, but Mr. Happy Face is very much loved by his human, Janeda Banelly. She adopted the 18-year-old dog last year, even though he has health problems and wasn't expected to live long. He had been at the shelter for quite some time after being rescued from a hoarder situation.
When I first met him, he was the happiest creature that I had ever met. He hobbled up to me and chose me. I vowed that day, he would be so loved that he would never remember how awful his previous life had been. Love, kindness and mommy kisses have helped him defy the anticipated short life that we all expected him to have with our family.
Read the stories behind Mr. Happy Face and several other finalists at the contest page. It's deplorable that these dogs are disfigured or unhealthy because of poor breeding techniques and/or abuse, but at least these few have found loving homes. -via Boing Boing
See the World's Ugliest Dogs from previous years.