I hate the annual World’s Ugliest Dog contest. I know it started as a parody of pure-breed dog shows. Still, it spotlights dogs who are deformed or have health issues. I’m probably over-sensitive, since I’m a person with a disability. It just seems mean, and if it’s okay to make fun of such animals, why not of humans, too?
BUT, my practical side has to look at the good this contest does. It points out the problem of puppy mills, with in-breeding that can harm a whole breed. Take Zsa Zsa, for example. She won the 2018 contest with her over sized, dangling, slobbery tongue and protruding under bite. (She just died, a month after winning the contest, at age 9–a normal age for her breed.) English bulldogs like her are so inbred in puppy mills that her breed may never recover from the resulting health problems. Such puppies are born, raised in poor condition, and killed if they aren’t sold. Luckily, Zsa Zsa was rescued from the puppy mill and then adopted–she was one of the lucky ones.
So, this contest promotes adoption of and advocacy for all dogs. As a dog-lover, I need to get over my discomfort and aplaud the good this contest does.
RIP Zsa Zsa.
