Meet the 2019 World's Ugliest Dog

This is Scamp the Tramp. He was just crowned the World's Ugliest Dog!

Scamp won over the judges of the Sonoma-Marin Fair in California with his beauty and talent. With his scraggly hair and dangling tongue, he snagged the hideous honor and knocked out his ghastly competition on Friday.

“Scamp defines ugly with cute, winning all of our hearts. Let’s all paws for a moment and celebrate the World’s Ugliest Dog: Scamp!” judge Kerry Sanders said.

The pooch is one unique animal. "His black body hair does not grow & no matter how many trips to the groomer, Scamp’s hair naturally grows gray dreadlocks down his back all the way to his tail. No amount of hair conditioner can calm down his tresses!" Scamp's owner, Yvonne Morones, wrote on the fair's website.

Scamp is also a lucky dog. He was rescued as a stray from the streets of Compton, and in 2014, Morones adopted him an hour before he was to be put down.

“It was on the way home that I knew I made the right choice. There we were, two strangers in a car on the way home to a new start. Bob Marley was playing ‘One Love’ and I looked over and little Scamp was bobbing his head. It was like he knew he had found his forever home," Morones said.

For the last seven years, he has worked as a therapy dog, bringing smiles to the elderly at the Sebastopol Senior Center.

But Scamp likes to help people of all ages. He also pays weekly visits to local first graders to listen to them read. He crawls in their lap as they make their way through the book.

Morones and Scamp went home with a big trophy, $1,500 and wagging rights. A donation matching their prize money will be made to the Humane Society of Sonoma County, Angels Fund and Compassion Without Borders. 

Last year's winner was Zsa Zsa, a 9-year-old English bulldog with a very long tongue.

RELATED STORIES