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Elwood, 2007 World's Ugliest Dog Contest Winner
Sonoma-Marin Fair, Petaluma
2008 World's Ugliest Dog Contest
Click here to download an entry form for the 2008 World's Ugliest Dog Contest.
Click here to read the Call for Ugly Dog Entries Press Release for 2008.
Click here for list of World's Ugliest Dog Winners throughout the years.
Click here to return to 2008 World's Ugliest Dog home page.
British and living in the UK? Got an ugly dog? Click here.
A TV production company in the UK plans to make a documentary about
British ugly dog owners entering this year's competition. Any of you
Brits out there with Mangy Mutts drop us a line and we'll make you a
star! Contact: Ben Reid, ben.reid79@googlemail.com
2007 World's Ugliest Dog Named!
Press release - Sonoma-Marin Fair Names 2007 Winner
Click here to the dogs that entered our 2007 World's Ugliest Dog online contest.
2006 News and Highlights
Press release - Sonoma-Marin Fair Names 2006 Winner
See the winner announced for the 2006 World's Ugliest Dog Contest
See a video of the World's Ugliest Dog Contest.
View the Channel 5 (KPIX) story on the World's Ugliest Dog Contest voting.
View the NBC-11 story on Rascal and the World's Ugliest Dog Contest.
 Hear Brent Farris, KZST Radio personality and World's Ugliest Dog Contest host, tell bad ugly dog jokes.
THE WORLD'S UGLIEST DOG FOR 2006 IS NAMED
Contest Sets Off a Media Circus at the Sonoma-Marin Fair
The winner of the World's Ugliest Dog Contest was a ringer from Arizona known as Archie, upsetting online contest favorites Munchkin and Pee Wee. The 18th annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest took place on Friday, June 23 at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma in the midst of a media circus the likes of which the fair has never seen.
While 18 dogs vied for the title of the World's Ugliest Dog, more than 30 different media outlets vied for a camera angle and an interview. From Japan to Germany, from Geraldo At Large to Inside Edition, from People Magazine to Animal Planet, it was a bonanza of interest in what had been a local fair contest with primarily local contestants.
This year the interest kicked up when the Sonoma-Marin Fair instituted a World's Ugliest Dog Voting Gallery online in which nearly 300,000 votes were amassed. It also brought in a slew of Ugly Dog contenders from across the country. Entrants came from Washington D.C., Merritt Island Florida, Tolleson, Arizona, Philadelphia, New Jersey as well as locally from Santa Rosa and Petaluma.
The online voting did not sway the four judges and the audience at the contest however. Online favorites such as Munchkin, Rascal, Victoria, and Pee Wee fell before the ugly visage of Archie, a Chinese Crested. Owner Heather Peoples helped Archie put his best face forward by carrying him on his back where everyone could view his hideous underbelly.
The contest has four levels of competition. Winners are chosen from both the Pedigree class and the Mutt class. Those winners then compete against each other to become the 2006 Ugly Dog winner. Archie won the pedigree class and went up against Pee Wee who had just won the Mutt Class. Winning that competition gave Archie the 2006 title, but then he had to meet the Ring of Champions, which includes winners from past years’ contests. That’s where Archie met Rascal, Winston and Munchkin, both former champions. Even Munchkin’s snorfling and sidelong walk and huge fan club couldn’t sway the judges. Archie had developed his own following. Archie took home two trophies and $1,000 in prize money.
To add to the media circus, Animal Planet shot the entire contest for a show to be released next fall. The staging included a set, four cameras (including a boom camera), lighting, a red carpet run way, special front of stage walkway and staging areas for contestants. The event was hosted by local radio station personality KZST's Brent Farris in a tux and Animal Planet's outrageous Debra Wilson Skelton with nearly 1,200 fairgoers in the audience.
Said Animal Planet Executive Producer Alexandra Bennett "This is going to make a great television show. The dogs were terrific. The people were terrific. What it comes down to is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Animal Planet plans to broadcast the show this Fall.
Media began interviewing contestants about 8:30 a.m. and didn’t stop until after the contest was done. “This was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life” said Kristin Macskiewicz, Pee Wee’s owner. "We’ll be back next year!" The 19th annual World's Ugliest Dog Contest will take place June 2007 during next year’s Sonoma-Marin Fair.
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Sonoma-Marin Fair • 4th District Agricultural Association
175 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma, CA 94952
voice: 707 283-3247 • fax: 707 283-3250 • email: info@sonoma-marinfair.org
The Fair Office is open weekdays, year-round from 8 am to Noon and from 1 to 5 pm
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