{"id":39446,"date":"2022-07-12T20:07:35","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T02:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/worlds-ugliest-dog-mr-happy-face-to-help-other-animals-that-had-a-rough-start\/"},"modified":"2022-07-13T02:07:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T02:07:35","slug":"worlds-ugliest-dog-mr-happy-face-to-help-other-animals-that-had-a-rough-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/worlds-ugliest-dog-mr-happy-face-to-help-other-animals-that-had-a-rough-start\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s ugliest dog, Mr. Happy Face, to help other animals that had a rough start"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Din\u00e9
Din\u00e9 musician and activist Jeneda Benally celebrates with her shelter dog, Mr. Happy Face, after he was crowned the World\u2019s Ugliest Dog on June 24 at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. Mr. Happy Face, a cross between a Chinese crested and Chihuahua, will now help raise money to help shelter and rez dogs. (Courtesy of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, via ICT)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Din\u00e9 musician and activist Jeneda Benally wanted something special for her birthday last year, so she went to the local animal shelter and asked for the \u201coldest and most unadoptable dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Mr. Happy Face joined her family at their spacious ranch in Flagstaff, Arizona, along with the horses, sheep, rams, ducks and her mother\u2019s Chihuahua.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff prepared me for what I was about to see as they brought out this 17-year-old, hairless, toothless, hobbling dog,\u201d she told the \u201cToday Show\u201d on NBC, June 27. \u201cDespite being from a hoarder situation and being abused, he looked happy to me and made me smile. That\u2019s when I knew I should call him Mr. Happy Face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Happy Face is bringing smiles to a lot of faces these days since winning the World\u2019s Ugliest Dog competition in California on June 24. He\u2019s now a multimedia star with an Instagram account, @mrhappyface_wud, and a new title, Ambassador of Kindness, with a mission of helping elder dogs and rez dogs find a better life.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be touring with Benally\u2019s band, Sihasin, this summer, doing meet-and-greets along the way to raise money for the Tuba City Animal Shelter, where he came from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about respecting elders and adopting old dogs,\u201d Benally told ICT News. \u201cMr. Happy Face is doing what he can with his platform \u2026 to bring awareness to rez dogs not having resources and accessibility to vaccines and spay and neuter clinics.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if we can create a little bit of kindness, a little bit of compassion toward each other, we can make the world a whole lot more beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mr.
Mr. Happy Face, crowned the World\u2019s Ugliest Dog on June 24 at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California, relaxes at his Arizona home with his owner, Jeneda Benally, a Din\u00e9 musician and activist. An elderly dog with a string of health issues, he is going to help raise support for other shelter and rez dogs. (Courtesy of Jeneda Benally, via ICT)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Defying the odds<\/div>\n

A cross between a Chinese crested and a Chihuahua, the elderly canine has tumors as well as neurological issues, requires a diaper, struggles to stand up and walk with his bowed legs and has a tilted head.<\/p>\n

His long, pink tongue hangs out the side of his mostly toothless mouth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s truly a face only a mother could love \u2013 and she does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI vowed that day, he would be so loved that he would never remember how awful his previous life had been,\u201d she told the \u201cToday Show.\u201d \u201cLove, kindness and mommy kisses have helped him defy the anticipated short life that we all expected him to have with our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benally was in California doing a recording for a radio show she\u2019s doing for Indigenous youths when she heard about the World\u2019s Ugliest Dog contest, a popular event that returned this year after a two-year hiatus.<\/p>\n

She entered him \u201con a whim\u201d into the Sonoma Marin Fair, which hosts the contest in Petaluma, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just happened to be there, having reserved a whole chunk of time just to do some editing and mixing of my radio show, Indigenous Youth Nation. And we decided that it might be a fun thing to do at the end of the week with a group of youth and of course, my dog,\u201d Benally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had brought the dog with me, because the dog is attached to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI am attached to the dog. I am the dog\u2019s emotional support human; he kind of needs me. So, I took the dog and entered him. I thought, \u201c\u2019Hey, let\u2019s just do this because it will be fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Happy Face won the contest, beating out eight other competitors for a large blue-and-gold trophy and a trip to New York with Benally to appear on June 27 on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday Show,\u201d which is one of the sponsors and judges of the show.<\/p>\n

The pair sat with hosts Savannah Guthrie and Carson Daly in Rockefeller Center to tell them about his journey from unwanted shelter pooch to top dog. She stayed in New York a few more days to do photo shoots and interviews with the international press.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that Mr. Happy Face was way too glorious and way too beautiful to ever win a contest like that, but then we did win,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was such a shock and such a surprise to be able to win this title for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benally said she was surprised in other ways, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe enjoyed the fact that New York City is a really dog-friendly kind of city,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve never traveled with the dog before. He did so well; they were so kind to him. So it was actually a whirlwind trip to New York City, there for just over a day \u2013 just enough time to sleep and to eat Italian meatballs at a restaurant for the first time that Mr. Happy Face got to enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Create Kindness<\/div>\n

What\u2019s next for Mr. Happy Face?<\/p>\n

His social media platform has nearly 1,000 followers, and he\u2019ll be the one-of-a-kind face for a campaign called Create Kindness. She hopes to work with organizations that partner senior pets with elders.<\/p>\n

But Benally said the campaign goes beyond the title; it\u2019s also about traditional values.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen firsthand how much joy this happy face brings to people,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I love sharing. I love sharing that, and that he\u2019s able to do that for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandra Hale Schulman, Cherokee Nation descent, has been writing about Native issues since 1994. The recipient of a Woody Guthrie Fellowship, she is the author of four books, has contributed to shows at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of the American Indian, The Grammy Museum, The Museum of Modern Art NYC, and has produced four films about Native musicians.<\/em><\/p>\n

ICT , formerly Indian Country Today, is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers the Indigenous world with a daily digital platform and weekday news broadcast with international viewership<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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