Canines battle for World's Ugliest Dog title in California

The 2023 World's Ugliest Dog Contest, intended to promote dogs that have lower adoption rates, was held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair this Friday.

The first place prize was awarded to Scooter, a hairless seven-year-old Chinese Crested, owned by Linda Elmquist form Tucson, Arizona.

Owner of winning dog Scooter Linda Elmquist said: "Every dog, even if they're not the most beautiful dog in the world, is beautiful. And if you come away with anything: you'll come away with the knowledge that every single one of them is gorgeous."

She spoke about the winner saying: "So Scooter was born with his legs on backwards, as you can see, so he's an amazing dog. He walks on his front legs all the time and uses his back legs as a tripod sometimes."

She explained why his tongue sticks out saying: "Because as a puppy, we rescued another dog that had this temper, and he was so young he only had his first set of shots, so he contracted this temper and it caused him to not grow his teeth."