World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by People Mag and Pedigree is Back!

The World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest is back! The contest, which is in its sixth year, is being presented by People Magazine and the Pedigree pet food brand. If you’re the paw parent of an adorable rescue pup, you only have until August 4 to enter!

Rescue canines of all breeds, sizes, and ages are encouraged to enter the contest, and one lucky winner will be given a feature in the magazine, as well as a number of other prizes. last year’s contest winner was a Shiba Inu named Gordon, whose dog mom, Wendy Wickersham, adopted him after reading a Facebook post about him and his disabilities.

Gordon, who is from Taiwan, is said to have survived a hit-and-run accident that left him paralyzed. After a Good Sam rescued Gordon, he traveled to the U.S. in search of a forever home.

“I’m reading this sad story, and then there was a picture of him, and he’s got the biggest, goofiest smile,” Wickersham explained to People about how she fell in love with him at first sight.

Wickersham and her husband, Jim Larson, quickly reached out to Love and Second Chances rescue about adopting Gordon. Based in California, they helped the couple in learning how to care for Gordon’s special needs. Once they adopted him, they even made their Arkansas home handicap accessible to accommodate Gordon’s set of wheels.

“I love to get him out in front of people, to let them see the joy and to let them see that, yeah, there are some things that are different, but different isn’t a bad thing,” Wickersham continued. “It doesn’t have to stop us or keep us from enjoying life to the fullest.”

If you’d like to enter your fur ball, visit people.com/rescuedogcontest. All you have to do is submit a photo of your pup, along with their adoption story. Per People‘s guidelines, “We want to know how your precious pooch changed your life and how you changed theirs.”

They also want you to include the name of the rescue organization or animal shelter that you got them from, because the group will be receiving recognition as well!

The contest closes on August 4, 2023. After that, the editors at People will select 10 finalists. Once they’ve made their selections, the public will get to vote in order to narrow the entrants down to the three top dogs. The final step involves judges from both People and Pedigree to choose the grand prize winner. That lucky pupper will win a custom photo shoot, a feature in People Magazine, and a year’s worth of Pedigree brand dog food.

Besides a shout-out to acknowledge the rescue you adopted them from, the organization or shelter will be gifted a $1,000 donation! But you’ll need to be patient because the winner won’t be announced until October, when they will share the results with the public.