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 Canine Contest.” Sponsored by Pedigree®, The World’s Cutest Rescue Canine Contest offers adopters the possibility 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.
Past that, the canine who wins the title additionally will get some fairly cool prizes. The official World’s Cutest Rescue Canine wins a customized photoshoot, a characteristic each in PEOPLE journal and on Individuals.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 Canine
First: go to www.Individuals.com/rescuedogcontest. Click on the “Enter Contest” button. Then you definately simply should fill out the entry type, share just a little bit about why your rescue canine is so particular to you (not more than 150 phrases), and add their picture. There’s no price to enter the competition!
Based on the competition guidelines:
- It’s important to stay throughout the 50 U.S. States or D.C. to enter.
- All [human] contributors should be at the least 18 years outdated.
- Every participant can solely enter one (1) pet.
You possibly 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.
As soon as submissions shut, PEOPLE editors choose 10 finalists from 1000’s of rescue canine entrants. After that, readers can vote to slim the record all the way down to a prime 3. The grand prize winner will in the end be chosen by the competition’s panel of judges: Akbar Gbajabiamila, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, PEOPLE Pets editor Kelli Bender, and Pedigree® Basis ambassador Evan Satinoff.
View the extra detailed guidelines and necessities right here.
Earlier “World’s Cutest Rescue Canine” Winners
2022’s would be the fifth consecutive World’s Cutest Rescue Canine Contest. Final yr’s contest winner, a blended breed canine named Heaven, beat out over 10,000 different rescue canines to assert the title.
Heaven is an element 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 all the pieces Heaven went by, she was very fearful (particularly of males and the outside).
Based on Jackie Rakers, her adopter who submitted her to the competition, the rescue pup displayed “intense” nervousness at first. Rakers helped Heaven work by her fears, slowly introducing her to parks and dog-friendly companies to turn out to be comfy with new stimuli.
“Anytime a cart got here previous and made noise, or a person walked previous, she realized that if she made eye contact with me as a substitute of reacting, she received a deal with. We labored by numerous fears collectively.”
Right now, Heaven has actually “discovered 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 great distance.
“I really feel like the largest factor that I realized from her was simply not to surrender,” Rakers informed PEOPLE. “Heaven went by rather a lot actually early in her life. Issues that no canines ought to should undergo. However she nonetheless loves life.”
Heaven’s predecessor, the 2020 World’s Cutest Rescue Canine, is a pet mill survivor named Lamb Chop. Previous to that, the winner was one other pet mill survivor named Kacey.
Even when 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 Picture: Fb
