Worlds Ugliest Dog So Homely He is Cute
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What has 3 legs, 1 eye, a withered ear, and no hair aside from a tuft atop its head? The world’s ugliest dog named Gus, who after cheating death once is now battling cancer for the second time around.
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The 9 year old Chinese Crested underdog was rescued by his owner Jeanenne Teed 8 years ago after spending his first year of life living from a crate in a garage when his first owner wasn’t very thrilled with his looks.
In fact, Gus was considered so homely that he snagged the title of World’s Ugliest Dog last month. Nevertheless, Jeanenne and the family feel that Gus is so ugly he’s cute. We tend to agree.
“He had been kept in a crate inside a garage for a year when we found him. He wasn’t socialized and his nails had grown to the point where he couldn’t walk.” said Jeanenne.
“When we got him he was 4-legged, 2-eyed and his ears stood up straight but he was in a bad way.”
Life hasn’t been easy on Gus. After a whole lotta love and a series of operations costing $5,000 to save the poor pooch whose skin was ravaged by cancer, he is battling the disease once more.
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“He quickly developed hematoma in one ear and when that was stitched down his ear crinkled over.”
“He had no hair. Most Chinese Crests can be beautiful dogs, but Gus was so hairless he was hideous.”
“That was the beginning of the end for his ugliness factor.”
Gus was diagnosed with skin cancer after patches of dry skin developed on his body and his legs became ulcerated in December 2006.
His condition deteriorated so badly that his back left leg had to be amputated, and was given 6 to 9 months to live, so Jeanenne and her 2 kids decided to try chemotherapy.
“We had to decide — do we put him through the treatment? Was it fair to him, was it fair to the family?” said Jeanenne. “We were talking radical surgery, amputating the one leg and then taking quite a bit of the other leg to remove as much tumor as possible.
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But when it comes to love or money, thankfully for Gus the former won out, and Jeanenne’s financial sense as an accountant vanished.
“That was the hardest decision to make and it turned out to be the right decision because after the treatment he was up and walking and he didn’t miss his leg at all. Then we followed that up with some chemotherapy for 3 months.”
“The financial implications were radical. I am an accountant by trade so I am supposed to be very rational when it comes to finances, but I became very irrational and common sense went out of the window. In total it cost the family $5,000.
“I went from driving a 1997 Mercedes Benz to driving a 1997 Ford Escort Wagon. It’s a jump in the wrong direction if you know what I mean.”
Gus had lost his eye after an unlucky riff with his fellow roomy Slinky — a 2 year old cat — who lashed out and scratched him.
But his luck turned for the better when he and his family walked away with $1,600 and a trophy crowning him as the World’s ugliest dog, capturing the hearts and votes of judges at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in California in June this year. He will also be a star on TV after a camera crew from Animal Planet filmed the contest which will be broadcast in October.
Photo Getty
“The whole thing was unbelievable.” said Jeanenne, who heard about the contest while sitting on a couch with Gus watching Animal Planet and eating popcorn. “We really had no clue we were going to win.”
Vicki DeArmon, marketing director of the Sonoma-Marin Fair said the contest’s popularity is “just off the chart. What started as a little Podunk contest with a couple of local dogs is now this national event with international attention.”
The competition has been running for 20 years, and is one of the fair’s top attractions.
“Big buckets of drool get extra points.” said emcee Brent Farris of radio station KZST, during the event. “So do missing limbs.”
DeArmon said that in the past few years, winners had been dogs that had been abandoned or neglected before being adopted by dog-lovers.
“They may look hard to love, but apparently they are not. I’ve never seen dogs better cared for.”
Photo Getty
But Gus is now facing his second battle with cancer after being in remission. Radiation treatment could cost Jeanenne another $5,000.
“Gus is pretty ugly and he certainly has an ugly side where he has no leg or eye.” she said. “And even though Gus is still ill, we are hopeful he will be able to defend his title in a year’s time.
“We are hoping he will stay healthy enough to do radiation in a few months and in that case we are back next year to defend our crown at the ugliest dog in the world competition.”
World’s Ugliest Dog Contest 2008
Visit the Sanoma Marinfair website to learn more about the World’s Ugliest Dog competitions.
UPDATE:
Sad and somber news on November 11, 2008 informs us that the brave one-eyed, three-legged dog named Gus that won the title of world’s ugliest pooch this summer has lost his battle with cancer and died.
Fortunately this very unfortunate dog in life had his own 15 minutes of fame, and received much tender loving care in his latter days.
Sources: BBC and Daily Mail
Tags:animal animals bizarre dog dogs Gus odd pet pets unusual
This dog is beautiful as id his owner.
God this dog is fugly!
I think he is, in his own charming way, Tomboys
He is, but he’s also adorable, having had to face all of the challenges in his life, Julia
Your wonderful and so is Gus . Good luck to the both of you your in my prayers
Beauty is in the EYE of the beholder – lol
Sweet, Ava, thanks for your visit
Awww, Sweetie, that’s bad, but yet I’m laughing, haha!
I’m surprised he’s not called “Lucky”
Well even though he isn’t called as much by name, luck is one thing that Gus appears to have an abundance of, Jeremy
God bless Gus and Jeanenne
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
Mahatma Gandhi 1869 – 1948
Finally, someone ‘gets it’ that Gus is a little treasure, not something freaky. Thank you, Laura!
@Sweetie: Ditto to that.
gus is a trooper! he IS cute!
that dog is awesome. i wish i could adopt his ugly face! lol
Hope they’re not keeping the poor dear alive just to win that stupid contest! He’s been through a lot to make those people feel good.
I still love this story. I was following this before his death. And I was a little sad when he finally died. I do wonder, who is the new ugliest dog? Maybe you can do a story on that : )
Ugliest Dog Lover´s last blog ..Dog Health Problems and Dog Symptoms
i feel sad about gus, but indeed he’s lucky enough being rescued and I think he’s happy now. it is really a heart melting, the pictures are good too, thanks for sharing
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