By Tim Binnall
An Arizona canine dubbed 'Mr. Happy Face' is sitting pretty after being crowned the World's Ugliest Dog for 2022. According to a local media report, the Chihuahua mix with a wild patch of white hair and an ever-protruding tongue bested eight other similarly repulsive pooches on Friday at the annual event held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. Although determining the world's ugliest dog may sound like an exercise in cruelty, the contest is actually a lighthearted competition aimed at celebrating the uniqueness of these curious-looking canines and encouraging people to adopt their pets from rescue shelters.
Remarkably, Mr. Happy Face's entry into the contest was a spur of the moment decision by his owner, Jeneda Benally, as she just happened to be in the area on Friday for business when she heard about the weird world-famous competition, which was being held for the first time in three years after the 2020 and 2021 installments were cancelled due to the pandemic. By virtue of the victory, the peculiar pooch was awarded a $1,500 prize as well as a trip to New York to appear on the Today Show. Now seated upon the proverbial ugly throne, Mr. Happy Face joins such luminaries as 2019 winner Scamp the Tramp and 2016's shockingly hideous champion Sweepee Rambo.