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Cats and dogs · room 6 of 7 · About 50 years

Ugly dogs

The World's Ugliest Dog contest, the Chinese Crested, why plain dogs win hearts, and the hard truth about flat faces.

Every dogEvery catStrange catsFat catsPurse dogsUgly dogsWhere pets come from
For little learners (K–5)

A dog does not know if it is pretty. Every dog deserves love. Some dogs with flat faces have trouble breathing, so people are learning to breed dogs with longer noses.

About 50 years

The World's Ugliest Dog contest

history

For close to 50 years a contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California, has crowned the "World's Ugliest Dog". The 2024 winner was Wild Thang, an 8-year-old Pekingese from Coos Bay, Oregon. In 2025 the contest moved to the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, where Petunia, a 2-year-old hairless French bulldog mix from Eugene, Oregon, won the $5,000 prize. Chinese Cresteds have won often, including Sam three years in a row (2003 to 2005), and an English Bulldog named Zsa Zsa won in 2018.

Organizers say the point is that every dog deserves love: many entrants are rescues with unusual looks.

Sources: CBS News, Petunia wins 2025 contest; Axios Portland, Eugene's Petunia (2025); FOX 5, Wild Thang crowned (2024)
Rhododendrites · Wikimedia Commons
Breed

The Chinese Crested

biology

The Chinese Crested comes in two kinds born in the same litter: the hairless, with hair only on the head, feet and tail, and the fully coated "powderpuff". The same gene that removes hair often removes teeth too. The breed is gentle and affectionate, and in the contest a wild tuft of hair and a tongue that hangs out can be a winning look.

One gene, two coats in a litter: a lesson in how dominant genes work.

Sources: AKC, Chinese Crested
Frank Röhm. Original uploader was Franc at German Wikipedia · Wikimedia Commons
Today

Why "ugly" dogs get adopted

economicsbiology

Shelters say plain, old or oddly built dogs wait longest for homes. Contests and social media turn an unusual face into a celebrity, and winners often help shelters raise money. Scientists who study cuteness say people are drawn to big eyes and round faces (what Konrad Lorenz called the baby schema), but a strange face can win hearts once there is a story behind it.

A story changes how we see an animal. Shelters use this every day.

Sources: Shelter Animals Count, 2024 report
Vengolis · Wikimedia Commons
Today

Flat faces: bred to struggle for breath

biologyeconomicshistory

Pugs, French Bulldogs and Bulldogs have short skulls but the same amount of soft tissue, so many struggle to breathe, overheat and cannot fly in cargo; most Bulldogs and French Bulldogs are born by C-section. Some countries now act. In the Netherlands, rules in force since 2020 let a short-nosed puppy get a pedigree only if a vet has measured both parents and found them within limits. In Norway, a court banned breeding Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and English Bulldogs in 2022; on appeal that November the bulldog ban was lifted and the Cavalier ban kept. Britain has no breed ban; its breeders' licensing rules forbid breeding a dog when it is expected to harm health.

Kennel clubs argue for health tests dog by dog; welfare groups argue some shapes cause harm by design. Both sides want healthier dogs.

Sources: FECAVA, Netherlands: brachycephalic dogs need veterinary approval for breeding; FCI, Norway court case follow-up (Nov. 2022); The Kennel Club, Respiratory Function Grading Scheme
Albarubescens · Wikimedia Commons
A debate

Who decides what is beautiful

economicshistory

Breed standards are written by people, and fashion in the show ring changes dogs over decades: Bulldogs, Dachshunds and German Shepherds look very different today than in 1900 photographs. When judges reward an extreme look, breeders produce more of it, and buyers pay more for it.

Beauty in a breed is a price signal: what wins prizes and sells for more gets bred more.

Sources: AKC, breed standards
Svenska Mässan from Sweden · Wikimedia Commons
Watch and look

Picture gallery

Tap a picture to enlarge it. Every picture is public domain or openly licensed, credited below, and kept on our own server.

Rhododendrites · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rhododendrites · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Augustus Binu : flickr · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
W.carter · Wikimedia Commons · CC0
Tsaag Valren · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Reinhold Möller Ermell · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Asmadeus · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Bjarki781 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pets Adviser from Brooklyn, USA · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Sciencia58 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Frank Röhm. Original uploader was Franc at German Wikipedia · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Alexander Krüger · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
For classes

Lessons, drawer and quiz

Lessons on newSchoolWorks.com

The Dog at the Fire: Take the other sidePreviewHeredity and Evolution: How Wide the VariationPreviewHeredity and Evolution: Darwin and WallacePreviewThe Petition: Capstone, a petition to a local bodyPreview

Drawer: Friendly Beasts: Every dog, every cat

Quiz: Take the quiz (6 questions)

Game: The market game

Also see: Every dog: the catalog · Breeding gallery

Read beside this room

Fiction

The Ugly Duckling, in Andersen's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen, 1843 · grades K-2 and up
The "ugly" bird grows into a swan.

Free classics link to Project Gutenberg or the Tall Museum; books in copyright are named so you can find them at a library.

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Next door · Museum VI, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Next door in STEM

Flat faces are selected traits: what the heredity lessons say about trade-offs.

The Mammal HallSTEM hall · for students
STEM lessons for this gallery

Peas, beans and factors (grade 7)PreviewA copy that slips (grade 7)PreviewMendel's peasPreviewPunnett squaresPreviewThe coin-flip crossPreviewMeiosis, Mendel and the chi-square test (AP)Preview

Drawer: Friendly Beasts: Next door in STEM

NGSS: HS-LS3-1 HS-LS3-3 MS-LS3-1 MS-LS3-2