It’s the height of summer time now, which suggests it’s as soon as once more time for PEOPLE’s annual “World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest.” Sponsored by Pedigree®, The World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest offers adopters the prospect to share their canines’ unimaginable tales (and lovely faces) with the world.
All rescue canines and the individuals who dedicate their lives to them deserve reward, and PEOPLE’s yearly contest actually exhibits the worth of rescuing a shelter canine, no matter who wins.
Beyond that, the canine who wins the title additionally will get some fairly cool prizes. The official World’s Cutest Rescue Dog wins a customized photoshoot, a function each in PEOPLE journal and on People.com, a yr’s provide of Pedigree® pet food, and a $1,000 donation to the animal rescue group of their selection.
How To Enter Your Rescue Dog
First: go to www.People.com/rescuedogcontest. Click the “Enter Contest” button. Then you simply need to fill out the entry kind, share slightly bit about why your rescue canine is so particular to you (not more than 150 phrases), and add their photograph. There’s no price to enter the competition!
According to the competition guidelines:
- You need to stay throughout the 50 U.S. States or D.C. to enter.
- All [human] individuals have to be not less than 18 years outdated.
- Each participant can solely enter one (1) pet.
You can submit your entry between June 29 and August 10, 2022. Then, sadly, you’ll have to attend till October to seek out out who the winner is.
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Once submissions shut, PEOPLE editors choose 10 finalists from hundreds of rescue canine entrants. After that, readers can vote to slim the listing right down to a high 3. The grand prize winner will finally be chosen by the competition’s panel of judges: Akbar Gbajabiamila, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, PEOPLE Pets editor Kelli Bender, and Pedigree® Foundation ambassador Evan Satinoff.
View the extra detailed guidelines and necessities right here.
Previous “World’s Cutest Rescue Dog” Winners
2022’s would be the fifth consecutive World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest. Last yr’s contest winner, a combined breed canine named Heaven, beat out over 10,000 different rescue canines to say the title.
Heaven is a component Chow Chow, half Labrador, half Boxer, and half Pekingese. As a former stray in Kentucky, Heaven finally moved from an overcrowded shelter to the Starfish Animal Rescue in Illinois. After the whole lot Heaven went by, she was very fearful (particularly of males and the outside).
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According to Jackie Rakers, her adopter who submitted her to the competition, the rescue pup displayed “intense” anxiousness at first. Rakers helped Heaven work by her fears, slowly introducing her to parks and dog-friendly companies to change into comfy with new stimuli.
“Anytime a cart came past and made noise, or a man walked past, she learned that if she made eye contact with me instead of reacting, she got a treat. We worked through a lot of fears together.”
Today, Heaven has actually “found her smile.” That toothy grin is now well-known on Instagram (@heaven_is_a_dog has 15,000 followers). This previously extremely anxious canine has come a good distance.
“I feel like the biggest thing that I learned from her was just not to give up,” Rakers advised PEOPLE. “Heaven went through a lot really early in her life. Things that no dogs should have to go through. But she still loves life.”
Heaven’s predecessor, the 2020 World’s Cutest Rescue Dog, is a pet mill survivor named Lamb Chop. Prior to that, the winner was one other pet mill survivor named Kacey.
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Even in case your canine doesn’t win (outrageous!), this annual contest is a pleasant reminder that rescuing a canine has a huge effect on so many canine and human lives.
Featured Image: Facebook