A Break With Tradition

Quite often, the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, held annually at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair tends to be from the “Chinese Crested” breed. (Which, we suspect, is actually a huge, complicated practical joke on the part of the Chinese.) This is because the good looking Chinese Crested dogs can make a grown man cry for his mother.

However, there has been a break in the tradition this year. Enter a dog named Pabst:

A new champion has emerged in the competitive world of ugly-dog exhibitions. Pabst, a 4-year-old boxer mix, was crowned World’s Ugliest Dog at the annual event held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in northern California on Friday.

Pabst, like many of the event’s competitors, is a rescue dog — owner Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, Calif., adopted him from a shelter three years ago. He’s named for the well-known cheap adult beverage because, Egstad said, he had a “bitter beer face.”

Pabst’s win was something of an upset for the competition, now in its 21st year, which often appears to favor members of the Chinese crested breed. “Hairless” Chinese cresteds (which aren’t truly hairless, as tufts of fur sprout from their heads, feet and tails), with their tendency toward dental issues that cause their tongues to stick out, are typically World’s Ugliest Dog shoo-ins. (Chinese cresteds also come in a coated variety known as “powderpuff,” and hairless and coated puppies can even be born in the same litter. Understandably, however, the powderpuffs aren’t the regular victors in the Ugly Dog competition that the hairless dogs are.)

Pabst took the championship away from – wait for it – a Chinese Crested – who won the purebred category.  There hasn’t been this much excitement since Elwood – a Chinese Crested – won. (Well, ok, we didn’t post about last years winner, so we don’t have a lot of history to go on. Hey, we’re short on staff here.)

We will however, point out that Pabst looked very familiar when we first saw the picture of him. Then it hit us. Pabst looks distressingly like a gym teacher we had in junior high school. In fact, on close inspection, we are not at all sure that it is not the same creature.