A contest we don't need

Here's a news story: 

Scamp the Tramp will never win a beauty competition. But he has won an ugly competition.

Scamp’s eyes stick out like balls on the top of his face. His fur is very disorderly – pointing out in all directions from his little dog body.

But that look won Scamp top prize at the 31st yearly World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. The competition was held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California.

Scamp’s owner is Yvonne Morones of Santa Rosa, California. She won an appearance with her dog on the television news program “Today.” She also received $1,500 for herself and another $1,500 to donate to an animal shelter.

She told a local newspaper, “He’s Scamp the Champ, no longer Scamp the Tramp.” She added, “I think the audience saw his beautiful spirit and everything he’s given back to the community.”


We see this story every year, right about this time of year, before the Hot Dog Eating Contest on the Fourth of July and after Father's Day.

And maybe it's because I am never going to be on anyone's list of Best Looking People, and maybe it's because we share our home with two sweet lovely little critters, but I don't like this World's Ugliest Dog contest.

And it's ok with me if you do, but for me, I've come to realize that dogs and cats and pets in general do so much for us, often in the face of abuse and mistreatment, and I don't like seeing them picked on.

We're living in a world where some teacher in some backwater town chose to award to a child, who lives with autism, under his/her tutelage as the Most Obnoxious Student. 

There are all sorts of prizes being handed out and I'm sorry for those who find mirth in hurting others, even if the others are pets, who offer unconditional love even to people who hold them up for public ridicule.

I always enjoyed The Angriest Dog In The World, the comic strip (1983 - 1992) by movie director David Lynch, a sort of dada minimalist cartoon that showed a growling cur in the back yard of a house every week. Now I know why he was so angry.

Sorry for getting all Kumbaya on you today, but then again, no I'm not.