California mutt wins ‘ugliest dog’ contest

A California mutt ran off Sunday with the title of 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog Champion, besting a former Chinese Crested ugliness champ, officials say.

The judges at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair in California gave the award to Pabst, boxer-mix shelter dog from Citrus Heights, over Rascal, whose breed has dominated the Ugliest Dog competition in recent years, contest officials said in a release.

Pabst was given his name because he had a bitter beer face, said owner Miles Egstad, a first-time contestant. Fair officials say Pabst quickly won over the crowd and the judges soon followed.

Egstad won $1,600 from the Sonoma-Marin Fair for sweeping all three rounds — $100 for mutt class, $500 for runoff with the pedigree class winner and $1,000 for World’s Ugliest Dog.

We were looking for dogs who were naturally ugly, and Pabst was, fair board member and contest judge Brian Sobel said.