The “World’s Ugliest Dog” Is Now Officially A Hero
This is the face of a truly noble hound.
“All dogs are beautiful,” as a wise person once said. On the other hand, some dogs are undeniably pretty ugly-looking and that’s why Ugliest Dog competitions exists. Mugly, a Chinese Crested, has won both Britain’s Ugliest Dog in 2005 and World’s Ugliest Dog on 2012. “When I first saw him he really had an ugly mug, so I just sort of put the two words together and made Mugly,” as his owner Bev Nicholson explained when he was crowned world champion.
But while Mugly may be a snaggle-toothed bat-faced creature who disconcertingly combines overall furlessness with weirdly unkempt facial hair, he’s beautiful on the inside. That’s been recognised by the SuperDog Awards, who have given him his third trophy – this time for Most Heroic Hound.
Mugly has been a therapy pet for the last six years, and works with people with sensory loss as well as being part of a Read To Dogs program that helps children gain confidence in their reading ability.
As Nicholson told the Express, “He amazes me with his ability to know exactly how to be when he meets people. With a blind person he stands completely still and lets them explore him, or when someone is upset he pushes his body into them for comfort.
“I could just burst with pride when a child bumps into us with their parents who are saying ‘don’t touch the dog’ and the child replies ‘oh that’s OK, that’s Mugly, he won’t hurt me, he helps me to read’.”
Here’s to Mugly, noblest of hounds and proof you can be both hideous and heroic.
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