JOSH EDELSON / AFP
Wild Thang, an 8-year-old Pekingese dog, won the 2024 Ugliest Dog in the World competition this Friday, June 21, in California.
ANIMALS – The most important thing is the beauty of the heart. Wild Thang, an 8-year-old Pekingese dog, is proof of this. This Friday, June 21, he won the 2024 Ugliest Dog in the World competition, organized in Petaluma, California. Except that behind this inglorious title and his unsightly physique hides a touching story.
Wild Thang beat his seven competitors thanks to his shaggy hair, his lack of teeth and his hanging tongue, reports the BBC. The one his mistress nicknames “ Glugly », a contraction of the words glamorous and ugly in English, participated in the competition five times before finally winning it this year. Proof of a certain perseverance.
Toothless due to a rare disease
So determined, this canine whose owners live in Coos Bay, Oregon, is also damn courageous. Because if he is so ugly, it is because he has been suffering from canine distemper since he was 10 months old. This serious infection, which owes its name to veterinarian Henri Carré, is due to a virus close to that of human measles, explains the Paris Veterinary Hospital Center on its website.
This virus prevented Wild Thang’s teeth from growing, hence his tongue hanging out, and muscular disorders in one of his legs.
The owner of Wild Thang will receive 5,000 dollars (approximately 4,700 euros) and will spend with the Pekingese at Today Show from NBC.
The dog who came in second place, Rome, a 14-year-old pug in a wheelchair, as you can see in the picture belowwill receive for his part 3,000 dollars (approximately 3,800 euros).
JOSH EDELSON / AFP
Rome, a 14-year-old pug, walks the red carpet at the annual World’s Ugliest Dog competition in California on June 21, 2024.
The bronze medal was awarded to Daisy May, a blind, toothless and hairless dog who was rescued from the streets when she was two years old. His mistress will receive 2,000 dollars (approximately 1,900 euros).
Far from wanting to make fun of man’s best friend, the competition for the ugliest dog in the world has existed for almost 50 years and “celebrates the imperfections that make all dogs special and unique”, boasts its website. And remember that the coat does not make the monk.
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