Ugly dogs on the rise

After starting off the New Year here with a pug, I happened upon some canine-related news that should warm the hearts of lovers of ugly animals. According to kennel club statistics, the British are choosing fewer conventionally attractive breeds of dogs in favor of those that are unusual-looking and downright ugly.

Registration numbers for German Shepherds and golden retrievers, for example, are down 27% and 20%, and cute little Yorkies are down 32%, since 2001.

In contrast, pug registrations are up 557 per cent. And among the breeds rising fastest in popularity are the Mexican hairless and the Chinese crested - the latter famous for its dominance in the World's Ugliest Dog competition.

Other breeds that have gained in numbers are the wrinkly dogue de Bordeaux and the bat-eared Pharaoh Hound (above). Readers of this blog will no doubt enjoy the slideshow here of photos of some popular but not-conventionally-beautiful breeds.

It's good news, but I can't help but say it: We liked ugly animals before liking ugly animals was cool!

-Wombat (No Relation)

World's Ugliest Dog Crowned

It's the event of the year! A 14-year-old, 2-pound Chinese crested and chihuahua mix named Yoda has been crowned world's ugliest dog at the annual contest in Petaluma, California.

Photo source: MSN

After beating dozens of other uglies for the title, Yoda was crowned and sashed (not really) by last year's winner, Princess Abby Francis. Yoda collected the trophy, a check for $1,000, and the adoration of millions. Her owner, Terry Schumacher of Hanford, California, found Yoda abandoned behind an apartment building and at first thought she was a rat.

Photo source: Fox 8

It should surprise no one that Chinese crested + chihuahua is a winning combination. Chinese crested have historically dominated this competition, but chihuahuas and chihuahua mixes are starting to give them a run for their money. Congratulations to Yoda and her owner!

Evil Chihuahuas

Why these hideous dogs are so popular is beyond me.

Photo by David Shankbone

I mean, who wants to look at a face like that every day? ... Evidently these owners do:





Count me out.

Origins of the Pekingese: A Love Story

Ah, the Pekingese.

Photo source: Petfinder.com

The ancient toy dog breed beloved of the Chinese Imperial court. Whence came its flat face and bow-legged gait, characteristics of the breed for over 2,000 years? According to legend,

A lion and a marmoset fell in love. But the lion was too large. The lion went to the Buddha and told him of his woes. The Buddha allowed the lion to shrink down to the size of the marmoset. And the Pekingese was the result.

Photos courtesy of My Opera and the Amazona Zoo

Photo source: Good Dog Care

A less common version of the story substitutes a butterfly for the marmoset, but I think the family resemblance is more obvious in the marmoset version.

World's Ugliest Dog Contest 2010

Even as a lover of the ugly, the winner of this year's World's Ugliest Dog contest in California gives me pause.

Princess Abby Francis, thought to be a Chihuahua mix, is ugly all over, from her permanently closed eye to her strangely curved back to her deformed legs.

The good news for some of us is that it's not another Chinese Crested, the breed that has dominated in the past ten years. Last year, their streak was interrupted by a boxer called Pabst with a unique underbite:

Pabst's victory gave me hope. As a pug owner, I follow this contest closely: surely, one year victory will be ours! As the statement of one pug contestant, Grovie, said:

He feels that the pugs need to continue to be represented in this event. Also he feels his smooshed in mug, layers of deep facial wrinkles filled with gook, crooked teeth and unusual bow legged stature can qualify him for an ugly look worthy for entering this competition.

Look at this guy! If he's not a contender, I don't know what is! We were robbed!



What is sadder, though, is that there are some spoilsports who think it's wrong to celebrate an animal for being ugly, but we here at Ugly Overload know better. And so do many others, fortunately - it was world news when previous winner Miss Ellie (another Chinese crested) died in June.

Enjoy your year, Princess Abby. We're pleased you're keeping those Chinese Cresteds in their place. But the pugs will be back and we won't give up!

-Your humble servant,
Wombat

UPDATE: Great photo of one of the other pugs here.

Not Made in China

Piya forwarded this link to me from NY Daily News of the top 20 ugly animal species on the planet. You folks have been so thorough in your submissions that every single species, and more than half of the actual photos, have been profiled here on Ugly Overload.

Nevertheless, I thought the beauty below needed some more spotlight. Behold the fruit-roll-up-for-a-tongue mug of a Chinese Crested Dog. This breed is the most popular of the hairless dog breeds, though it is still rare. They originate from Africa (they used to be called the African Hairless Terriers), but Chinese trade ships loaded them onto their vessels to hunt down vermin.

Photo source: Sullivan/Getty via NYDailyNew.com

Though I highly recommend buying mixed breeds and mutts and rescues for your household pet, if you must have a pure bred dog you'll find this one to be kind, lovable, and intelligent. They're great with kids. They tend toward timidity if they are babied. Remember, you hairless dog owners, these beasts were once proud rat hunters that sailed the seven seas.

Thanks for the link, Piya.

Primordial Reaction

Photo source: straubin1
I never ever get to post on wolves, and for good reason. So I decided to cheat by getting wolves at their nastiest.

These shots triggered a primordial reaction in me. I can absolutely understand why the night held fear for my ancestors. As for me in gentle suburbia, the night holds only raccoons, house cats, and teenage punks.

Photo source: Ron Morris

Photo source: Hans Proppe

Casting Call

This one is for all you ugly dog owners. Well, I mean, you don't have to be ugly. Your dog does.

Animal Planet is putting out a casting call for videos of your ugly dogs. Bring them your snarling, drooling, toothless, and mangy masses. You just might get some real air time...

Caninophobe

I'm a sucker for rescue dogs (having been raised with a few), and for the owners who take them in.

Scooby here is normally a sweet dog. He just gets fangy when in the presence of other canines. He's something of a caninophobe, but we can forgive him that. Especially with his stylish bandana.

Thanks for Scooby, Elizabeth.

New Batch of Ugly Dogs

The Sonoma-Marin Fair World's Ugliest Dog contest was held this weekend, and a new batch of ugly hounds was introduced. Allow me to present Miss Ellie, a fifteen-year-old blind Chinese Crested who one best in pedigree class.

Below is Pabst, who Boxer mix who took best in show. Being only four-years-old, we're bound to see more of Pabst.

Next year I should really try to insert myself as a guest blogger or wannabe correspondent.

One-eyed Willy the Rescued Dog

I don't get to contribute much in terms of my own photography to this site, so I thought I'd close out the year with a couple of shots of my own.

Say hello to Willy the One-eyed Chihuahua. My brother-in-law, Dave, and his wife, Kitty, are Willy's proud owners. He is a rescue dog, and he has two fellow rescued Chihuahuas for companions, though only Willy sports an empty eye socket.


















No one knows how Willy lost his eye, since he came that way when he was adopted. Legends and tales abound, however. Dave made the mistake of telling our nieces that Willy misbehaved once, so Dave poked his eye out. Four-year-olds tend to believe that kind of stuff, and now most of the nieces and nephews look at Dave askance, despite our attempts to correct them.


















Much like Willy's missing eye, the history of the breed is clouded in speculation and theory. There is no doubt that the proto-Chihuahua is from pre-Columbian Mexico, but beyond that all we have is educated guesses. It probably comes from the Techichi, contemporary to the ancient Toltecs, and was probably around before Mayan times. Their remains were found in a pyramid in Cholula. Christopher Columbus commented on the dog in one of his letters to the king of Spain. The Chihuahua's progenitors were larger then, but still small.

This is a plug for adopting rescue animals. There're lots out there. If you're looking for a good companion animal and can't decide where to go, start with a reputable shelter or rescue organization. Reputable, people. There are lots of animal hoarders out there.

Have a Happy New Year.

Tongues

Use this day as an opportunity to contemplate just how important your tongue is, and how often and in what ways you use it. Do you use it to siphon nectar from blossoms? To harvest those hard-to-reach acacia leaves? To swab your nostrils? Or do you just let it dangle for all the world to see?

You may do all of these and more. Just be sure to take good care of it and use it wisely. And remember, it rarely hurts to hold ones tongue.

Beware, Little Puppy

Abby is a shiba inu mix. Now, the shiba inu is an attractive breed, with a rich heritage. They are the smallest of the native Japanese breeds and were bred to hunt small game, boar, and bear. Shiba is Japanese for 'brushwood', the dog's traditional hunting grounds, and inu means 'dog'. Ergo, the brushwood dog.

The shiba inu is loyal to those who have earned its respect, but reserved at best with strangers. Such is the case with Abby here. She's just fine with Danielle (thanks for the photo, Danielle), and her owner, but she hates strangers and other dogs. This is 13-year-old Abby reacting to Danielle's puppy, who is five feet away. Beware, little puppy, of Abby when she is in her anger. 13-year-old teeth bit just as deep as fresh ones.

Spanish Greyhound

Sarah is very proud of Sorpresa, her Galgo Espanol (Spanish Greyhound for us English speakers). But even such an attractive dog can take bad photos. Here Sarah compares Sorpresa to Frank from Donnie Darko.

The Spanish Greyhound is believed to come from both Roman and Moorish stock. They are sight hounds that specialize in hares, though they also hunt foxes and wild boars. They are the gentlest of the sight hounds, and become very attached to their owners. They require gentle training (much like my youngest daughter--very sensitive, and an excellent hunter).

Thanks for Sorpresa, Sarah.

Wrinkle Character

Matt sent us a picture of his friend's pug. Pug's have a rich and long history as a breed. Most sources agree that they hail from China, dating back to before 400 B.C.

The Chinese of those by-gone years bred dogs for wrinkles and markings that looked like Chinese characters. In the case of the pug, they were bred for facial wrinkles that formed a W, which resembles the Chinese character for 'prince'.

Do you know what this means for all of us as we grow old and wrinkled? We need only search for patterns and characters in our wrinkles to take pleasure in them, as opposed to dreading the steady onslaught of age.

I think I just spotted the Egyptian hieroglyph for Anubis in my mother-in-law's crow's feet. That can't be good.

Gus Wins Ugliest Dog Contest

This year's annual ugliest dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin county fair has come and gone this past weekend, and we have a new winner.

Meet gus. He's 16, has three legs and one eye, and of course, he's a Chinese Crested. Jeanenne Teed, Gus's owner, flew him in from St. Petersburg, FL, for the competition--and it has paid off. He has garnered a cool $16,000 in winnings, and has earned himself and his owner a showing on CBS This Morning in New York city.

Gus, like many other past winners, was adopted (rescued). Teed's daughter discovered the pooch 'housed' in a crate in someone's garage. But the Teeds have big hearts, and took him in. Well done Teeds. I only hope that when I'm discovered in a garage, missing a limb and an eye and in the twilight of my life, that someone will take me in. I don't even mind if you trot me around in front of the press.

Thanks, Ida.

Photo source: AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Crista Jeremiason












Photo source: KNBC - TV

2008 World's Ugliest Dog Contest

It's that time of year again. Time for the world famous World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair.

This fair has brought you the likes of Sam and Ellwood. This year brings you a whole new batch of ugly pooches. Here are just a few (picked at random). Be sure to vote!

Thanks for the article, Ida.

Squiggy












Myster












Peewee












Grovie

Speedy the Mean Dog

When good pets go bad.

I like little creatures that are scrappy. They remind me of my two-year-old daughter.

Meet Speedy the Mean Dog (the world's next villain?). This little guy reminds us that inside every dog's genome stalks his ancestral wolf. Be afraid.

Thanks for the photos, Louisa.

Photos by Ray Ruiz

Zelda and the Thunder Storm

Everyone say hello to Zelda and to her proud owner, Susan.

Zelda, a Chinese Crested (same breed as the infamous Sam), was photographed while freaking out during a thunder storm. Don't feel bad, Zelda, I've been caught with my tongue lolling out and my hair standing on end in the midst of a thunder storm too.

The history of this breed lies in myth and a murky, hairless haze. Suffice it to say that they are an ancient breed of Chinese and/or African stock. European sailors in the 1700s commented on the presence of these dogs in Chinese ports and on Chinese sailing vessels. If only they had been equiped with digital cameras and an email account (and immunities against malaria, syphilis, and small pox, GPS devices, labor unions...).

Thanks for the photo, Susan.

Coupled with Evil

Labradors have no place here, unless coupled with evil. Anastasia is very proud of her labrador/devil mix named Arbat. And it takes someone special to find a place in her heart for a spawn of Satan. Don't you love it when an otherwise attractive beast gets caught in an unflattering pose (I know you do, you tabloid readers)?

The history and pedigrees of Satan are well-known to most of us, so I thought it might be a bit more fruitful to delve into the background of the labrador retreiver. Contrary to its name, the lab doesn't come from Labrador, but from Newfoundland. Newfoundland was home to some small water dogs, and when bred with the ursine Newfie (breed name Newfoundland), you had St. John's Water Dog, the precursor to our modern-day lab. That all took place in the 18th/19th centuries.

Labs are known for the athleticism, endurance, intelligence, and companionship. My childhood dog was a black lab, named Pilot. Some of my earliest memories are of his enormous tail, which was capable of knocking down small children and clearing off coffee tables in a single swipe. That tail was also involved in some of my earliest nightmares, too.

Thanks for the photo, Anastasia (and Arbat, by extension).