World
Pekingese dubbed Wild Thang wins world’s ugliest dog contest
It’s not always bad to be ugly.
The World’s Ugliest Dog contest has picked a new winner this year — an eight-year-old Pekingese with a dangling tongue named Wild Thang.
The pooch, who looks a bit like Chewbacca, entered the competition with seven other contenders at the 2024 Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif.
Most of the canines were rescues that once lived in shelters before being adopted by families.
Wild Thang, who calls Coos Bay, Ore., home, has tried to win the World’s Ugliest Dog competition five previous times, but this was his first victory.
Thanks to his weird looks Wild Thang ran away with the crown, $5,000 and a trip to New York to be on NBC’s “The Today Show.”
When the dog was just 10 weeks old, he suffered from a disease that blocked him from growing teeth and caused his tongue to dangle from his mouth.
One of his legs also had a muscle ailment.
Rome, a 14-year-old pug in a wheelchair, came in second place and won a prize of $3,000.