World’s Ugliest Dog voting under way; send us your ‘ugly dog’ photos

The Sonoma-Marin Fair is holding the 27th annual competition for the World’s Ugliest Dog and you can vote. The winner takes home $1,000 and the competition draws thousands of spectators.

Is the prominence of this competition, which has its own documentary, “Worst in Show”, proof that man’s best friend is now susceptible to the same superficial scrutiny of celebrities and tweens? We still have pageants – when Donald Trump isn’t offending their TV broadcasters – but would we hold an ugly-pageant for people? Then why do they do it for dogs?

The fair’s mission statement is as follows: “The Sonoma-Marin Fair promotes and showcases agriculture, while displaying the diverse talents, interests and accomplishments of the citizens of California, especially the youth of Sonoma and Marin counties.” (Italics added.)

No explanation is given for how the coddled youth of northern California could have been responsible for their dogs’ unsightliness. Have they been searching far and wide for hideous dogs to forcibly breed? Can scouts earn a merit badge in matchmaking for less fortunate pooches?

We can only wonder because the meeting minutes for the agricultural association that runs the fair were not viewable as of Friday morning. The fair does hold a day-long Dog Lover’s Festival and gives out information about how to rescue dogs.

But make no mistake – the unattainable standards of ugly promoted by the competition is dominated by the valley girls of animal repugnance: Chinese-crested breeds, which at one point took home seven beastly awards in a row.

But if you think that your dog or a dog you know in a Kansas neighborhood is in fact nastier than the 24 dogs up for the ignominious award, e-mail a picture with the word “Ugly dog” to omorrison@wichitaeagle.com. The picture must be your own and you must have the permission of the dog’s owner to nominate it.

If, however, the whole idea of objectifying dogs is distasteful to you, feel free to send in a selfie or a dog-selfie or a dog-selfie aided by human photographic assistance – with an expression that shows your or your dog’s displeasure at the intense pressure we’re putting on our dogs to not be beautiful. Put “Hot dog” in the subject line and e-mail it again to omorrison@wichitaeagle.com.

The deadline for both competitions will be Sunday evening at 10 p.m.

By the way, Morris, the dog that had more than twice as many votes as the next most horrible as of Friday morning, claims to be so ugly it’s now cute and, “Some of my favorite things are hugging people, licking / chewing people’s noses and ears,” Morris’ page reads. “If you LET me I will tongue kiss your mouth.” Eww.

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 10:38 AM with the headline "World’s Ugliest Dog voting under way; send us your ‘ugly dog’ photos."