World’s Ugliest Dog Contest Winners: From Wild Thang to Petunia (Photos)

Every summer in a fairground in northern California, something genuinely unexpected happens. Dogs with missing teeth, matted dreadlocks, dangling tongues, patchy skin, and faces that can only be described as aggressively unconventional step onto a red carpet, and the crowd goes absolutely wild.

Not with cruelty, not with mockery, but with the kind of pure, unfiltered joy that only a truly special dog can pull out of a room full of strangers.

The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, held annually at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California, has been doing this since the 1970s.

And having followed this competition closely for over a decade, photographed the fair circuit, written about animal welfare campaigns across the United States and tracked nearly every winner from Sam the Chinese Crested to the 2025 champion Petunia, a hairless French bulldog mix from Eugene, Oregon, what I can tell you is this: no other dog event on earth does more for the conversation around rescue adoption with less pretense.

These are not pageant dogs. They are not bred for the ring. Most of them were pulled from kill shelters, hoarding situations, and the streets. And that is precisely what makes them extraordinary.

What the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest Actually Is

Before we get into the winners, let us settle one thing. The ugliest dog contest is not about humiliating animals. It never has been. The Sonoma-Marin Fair has said it repeatedly, and if you have actually sat in that fairground, watched a 125-pound Neapolitan Mastiff slump across the stage and refuse to perform any tricks for the judges, you understand it firsthand.

Contest winners have been recorded since 1976, and the event became a formal part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair in 1988. The competition has two divisions, one for pedigreed dogs and one for mixed breeds, with both divisional winners then facing off for the grand title. Dog owners must provide a veterinarian’s documentation confirming that the competing dog is healthy. That last part matters. This is a celebration of imperfection, not a platform for neglect.

Because many of the dogs featured in the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest were adopted from shelters or puppy mills, the event raises awareness of animal abuse. That mission has remained consistent through every iteration of the competition, from the early years when Sam, a near-hairless Chinese Crested, was racking up titles, to the 2025 edition when Petunia took the stage and stopped the show entirely.

The Legends: Sam, Rascal, and the Chinese Crested Dynasty

Ask anyone who has been paying attention to this contest long enough, and the name that comes up first is Sam.

A hairless Chinese Crested with a knobby head, sparse tufts of white hair, and a face that reportedly made children cry at the fair, Sam is a triple-crown winner, having won the contest three times between 2003 and 2005. He was completely blind, but that did not stop him from starring in a Halloween special.

Sam died in November 2005, just shy of his fifteenth birthday. His owner, Susie Lockheed, told the press he passed peacefully. Anyone who watched Sam waddle across that stage year after year understood that beneath the outward strangeness was a dog who was deeply, fiercely loved.

What Sam’s run established, though, was a peculiar dynasty. The Chinese Crested hairless breed, with its dramatic baldness, sparse feathering around the ears, and tendency toward protruding teeth and bulging eyes, has dominated this contest more than any other breed in its history. Rascal, another Chinese Crested owned by Dane Andrew of Sunnyvale, California, won in 2002 and became a permanent fixture in what the fair calls its Ring of Champions.

Elwood, a Chinese Crested who weighed just six pounds and was rescued through an SPCA investigation, won in 2007. Gus, a one-eyed, three-legged Chinese Crested from St. Petersburg, Florida, took the title in 2008, before passing away later that same year.

If you have ever wondered why Chinese Crested dogs appear so frequently in the ugliest dog contest winner list, the answer is straightforward. The hairless variety of the breed presents with exposed, often mottled skin, pronounced brow ridges, teeth that can jut forward dramatically, and an almost alien silhouette that reads as unusual to eyes trained on conventional dog breeds. They are also, to a dog, extraordinarily affectionate animals. The contest keeps revealing that fact.

Yoda, Mugly, and the International Turn (2011, 2012)

Yoda, a previously abandoned 14-year-old Chinese Crested-Chihuahua mix, won the 2011 contest. Found abandoned behind an apartment building, her owner initially thought she was an overgrown rat upon first glance.

Yoda had a malformed nose, tufts of blonde fur, and bat-like ears. She was 14 when she won, which in dog years is genuinely elderly, and the crowd adored her for it. She passed away the following March at age 15.

Then came a first for the competition. The 2012 winner was Mugly, an 8-year-old Chinese Crested owned by Bev Nicholson of Peterborough, England. Mugly was the first dog from outside the United States to win. His short snout, beady eyes, and disheveled white whiskers made him instantly recognizable, and his UK origins brought a wave of international press coverage the contest had rarely seen.

Walle, Peanut, and the Rescue Narrative Comes Center Stage (2013, 2014)

In 2013, Walle, a four-year-old mix of beagle, boxer, and basset hound from Chico, California, beat 29 other contenders to win the contest after being entered at the last minute. Walle was squat, wide-eyed, and waddled in a way that made you feel affection for him immediately.

But 2014 brought a winner whose story stopped being funny the moment you heard the backstory. Peanut, an unknown breed from Greenville, North Carolina, was badly injured in a fire and, as a result, has no lips or eyelids. His owner, Holly Chandler, wanted to showcase Peanut to help raise awareness about animal abuse. She said the $1,500 prize money would go towards paying for his vet bills.

Peanut’s win marked a turning point in how the mainstream media began covering the ugliest dog competition. The story was no longer just about unusual-looking dogs getting their moment in the sun. It was about resilience, about the dogs that had come through the worst and were still wagging their tails.

Quasi Modo, SweePee Rambo, and Martha (2015, 2016, 2017)

Quasi Modo, a 10-year-old mutt with Dutch Shepherd and pit bull lineage, won the 2015 contest. Her shortened frame, hunched back, and long legs relative to her body led to confusion at first glance as to whether she was a dog or a hyena. Her owner rescued her from a shelter in Loxahatchee, Florida.

The 2016 winner was SweePee Rambo, a 17-year-old Chinese Crested Chihuahua from Van Nuys, California, who entered the contest with the kind of lived-in, weathered energy that only a nearly two-decade-old dog can project.

Then came Martha. Pint-sized pooches tend to win the World’s Ugliest Dog, but Martha, a 125-pound Mastiff, is certainly an exception. She instantly won over judges by slumping on stage and refusing to do any tricks.

After being rescued by Sonoma County’s Dogwood Animal Rescue Project and several successful operations, she is now living her best life. Martha’s win in 2017 was, in the years I have been following this contest, one of the most genuinely crowd-pleasing moments the event has produced. A dog that simply would not cooperate, and won anyway.

Zsa Zsa: The Bulldozer from Minnesota (2018)

Zsa Zsa, a 9-year-old English Bulldog, traveled 30 hours from Anoka, Minnesota, to participate in the 2018 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. She won thanks to her bowed front legs, exposed bottom teeth, and an incredibly long tongue. Zsa Zsa was rescued from a puppy mill before being adopted by Megan Brainard.

Zsa Zsa’s win was significant not just because she beat a field that included a messy-haired Pekingese named Wild Thang, who would go on to become one of the most talked-about competitors in the contest’s modern history, but because her puppy mill backstory brought the puppy mill crisis into national conversations that summer.

Zsa Zsa passed away the following year, but not before becoming a sort of mascot for the anti-puppy mill movement.

Scamp the Tramp: The Comeback Story of 2019

A pooch named Scamp the Tramp won the 2019 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California, beating out a field of 18 other contestants. This marked the fourth year the mutt had competed. His previous best finish came the year before, when he was runner-up.

Scamp was found as a stray on the streets of Compton, rescued from a Los Angeles animal shelter at his last hour. His body hair does not grow in the conventional way; instead, it forms natural gray dreadlocks that run down his back. His owner, Yvonne Morones, described him as a “Rastafarian dog.”

What makes Scamp’s story one of the most emotionally complete in the contest’s history is Morones herself. She has now owned three separate World’s Ugliest Dog Contest winners. Her dog, Nana, won an astonishing string of titles beginning in 1996. The woman has a gift.

The contest did not run in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When it returned in 2022, it came back with renewed energy, and a new generation of contenders stepped forward.

Mr. Happy Face and the Return of the Contest (2022)

When the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest resumed, the 2023 contest saw a 17-year-old chihuahua mix named Mr. Happy Face, whose owner went to the animal shelter and asked for the most unadoptable dog.

Mr. Happy Face became something of a celebrity in his own right, with his caved-in face, sparse white hair, and sunken features making him immediately recognizable across social media.

His owner, Jeneda Benally, used Mr. Happy Face’s platform to advocate for senior dog adoption, a cause that resonates deeply in the rescue community. The dog’s fame reached the point where pop star Kesha reportedly stopped them backstage at the Today show to ask if that was, in fact, THE dog.

Scooter Wins in 2023

As the grand prize winner of the 2023 contest, Scooter, a hairless Chinese Crested dog, received $1,500, a trophy, and the adoration of the contest’s thousands of fans.

The Chinese Crested breed was back on top, cementing its position as the most decorated breed in the competition’s long and wonderfully strange history.

Wild Thang: The Five-Time Bridesmaid Finally Wins (2024)

If there is one story from the ugliest dog competition’s recent years that captures everything the contest stands for, it belongs to Wild Thang.

Wild Thang, an 8-year-old Pekingese, won the 2024 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest on Friday, June 21, at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. He is the first winner for his owner, Ann Lewis, and he received $5,000 in prize money. He placed second three times before finally coming out on top.

According to his biography, Wild Thang contracted distemper from a rescue foster when he was young. His teeth did not grow in, causing his tongue to stay permanently outside his mouth, and his right front leg paddles constantly.

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, one of the judges, said afterward that Wild Thang’s persistence had tugged at the panel’s heartstrings. “He deserved to win,” she said.

Wild Thang came to the contest with a secondary mission as well. He has an official Instagram account and a GoFundMe fundraiser to help Pekingese dogs escape war zones in Ukraine. To date, seven Pekingese had made it out safely to adoptive homes in Canada and the United States.

That is the thing about this contest that outsiders rarely grasp on first encounter. These are not simply novelty animals. Their owners are often advocates, organizers, and storytellers who use the competition’s spotlight with intention.

Wild Thang’s owner did not just win $5,000. She used a dog show in Northern California to raise money for animals in a conflict zone. That combination of scrappy charm and genuine purpose is what keeps this contest worth paying attention to year after year.

Petunia: The 2025 World’s Ugliest Dog Champion

The most recent winner arrived in August 2025, and she came with one of the more striking backstories in recent memory.

Petunia is a two-year-old hairless Frenchie and English Bulldog mix from Eugene, Oregon. The contest, held on August 8 in Santa Rosa, California, named her the champion. With her signature coconut oil skin treatments and daily sunscreen, Petunia enjoys trail walks in the Oregon woods and snuggles.

Before any of that, though, Petunia’s life was considerably harder. She was rescued from a backyard breeder situation in Las Vegas, where the owner was hoarding more than 50 dogs that were living in crates. Petunia is hairless because of the unethical breeding practices she endured before she was rescued.

After spending the first two years of her life in a crate, Petunia had brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome. She was rescued in May, given surgery to fix her breathing, and is now happy and healthy.

Her handler, Shannon Nyman, a volunteer with Luvable Dog Rescue in Eugene, brought her to the competition and told the judges, “Even a wonky dog deserves to be loved.” That phrase, “wonky,” not ugly, captures something true about what this contest has been quietly arguing for decades. The contest has given dogs with no teeth, dangling tongues, fur challenges, missing eyes, and deformed legs a chance to show off their unique beauty.

As the winner, Petunia received $5,000 and became the new face of MUG Root Beer, the event’s sponsor, with her own limited-edition merchandise. She appeared on the TODAY show three days after her win, and NBC News correspondent Gadi Schwartz, who served as a judge, described her as part Yoda, part hippo, and part bat, and that she had everything.

This marked the second year in a row that a dog from Oregon was crowned the World’s Ugliest Dog, after Wild Thang from North Bend won the 2024 contest.

What These Dogs Are Actually Telling Us

Spend enough time around this competition, across the years, and the changing prize purses and the parade of Chinese Crested dogs, and one thing becomes clear. The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is a remarkably effective piece of animal welfare advocacy wrapped inside a piece of entertainment that is easy to share.

The contest has consistently highlighted dogs that came from puppy mills, hoarding situations, shelters, and the streets. Peanut came from a fire. Scamp the Tramp came from the streets of Compton with an hour to spare. Zsa Zsa came from a puppy mill in Minnesota. Petunia was in a crate in Las Vegas with 50 other dogs. Each of their wins carried a story that a straight adoption campaign could spend thousands of dollars trying to tell.

The competition helps shift public perception about what makes dogs worthy of love and homes, potentially influencing adoption decisions nationwide. As organizers emphasize, the event demonstrates that pedigree does not define the pet.

That is not a small thing. In an era when the rescue dog conversation competes for attention against an infinite number of other content, a dog with a permanently extended tongue and a history of placing second four times running gets people to stop scrolling. And when they stop scrolling, they read the story. And sometimes, they call a shelter.

A Brief History of Winners: Quick Reference

For those who want the full picture, here is the arc of champions in the modern era of the competition:

Sam (Chinese Crested) won three consecutive titles from 2003 to 2005 and remains the most decorated winner in the contest’s recorded history.

Rascal, also a Chinese Crested, won in 2002 and is the last surviving member of the fair’s Ring of Champions.

Elwood took the title in 2007, Gus in 2008, and Pabst, an upset winner who beat two Chinese Crested favorites, won in 2009.

Yoda won in 2011, Mugly brought the title to England in 2012, Walle won in 2013, and Peanut won in 2014.

Quasi Modo took 2015, SweePee Rambo took 2016, Martha slumped her way to the 2017 crown, and Zsa Zsa won in 2018.

Scamp the Tramp ended a four-year quest in 2019. The contest paused for the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Mr. Happy Face won in 2022, Scooter won in 2023, Wild Thang finally won in 2024 on his fifth attempt, and Petunia claimed the 2025 title.

Why This Contest Still Matters

The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest will not make your average dog show circuit. It is not broadcast on ESPN. The prize money, now $5,000 at the top level, is real but not extravagant.

What the contest does, and has done for nearly fifty years, is remind people that the dog they passed over at the shelter, the one with the missing eye or the unfortunate snout or the fur that grows in dreadlocks, no matter how many times it gets groomed, that dog has a story worth knowing.

Every winner in this competition’s long and affectionate history has proven that. From Sam, the blind Chinese Crested who won three titles before the internet made viral fame possible, to Petunia, the coconut-oil-and-sunscreen bulldog mix who needed surgery just to breathe before she could even think about competing, the arc is the same.

These are animals that the conventional marketplace of beauty would have passed over. And the contest has, year after year, turned that into a reason to pay closer attention.

That is not ugly. That is the whole point.

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