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2010 Cutest Mutt Award Winners
After sifting through hundreds of photographs of loveable mutts, PETA's panel of judges painstakingly narrowed the list to 10 finalists. Then we asked you to cast your vote in PETA's 2010 Cutest Mutt Awards to help us decide the winner.
While we fully recognise that all the mutts in our competition are worthy of the title (the judges are still recovering from "cute overload"), there can only be one winner and this year, it's Ben from Nottingham!
Not only is Ben cute, he also has a big personality! Ben is a happy 5-year-old mutt who was rescued from being beaten on the street when he was 6 months old. A bundle of doggie-pampering goodies will be winging its way to Ben, as well as a mention in our Autumn issue of Animal Times.
2010 Cutest Mutt Award Winner: Ben
Five-year-old Ben has lived with his guardian, David, 65, since the mixed-breed rescue dog was 6 months old. David adopted Ben after his friend saw the dog being beaten on the street and took him in. David's friend already had five dogs to look after, so David gladly welcomed Ben into his own home. Ben has a mischievous streak and enjoys relaxing around the house – and David wouldn't want to be without him.
And because we knew that we wouldn't be able to look at hundreds of cute doggie photos without plenty of "OMG how cute" shrieks, we decided to crown two other canine companions as runners-up.
2010 Cutest Mutt Award Runner-Up: Maisie
Born just before Christmas 2009, Maisie came to live with her guardian, Jackie, on Valentine's Day. Mischievous Maisie just loves to snore, "run" in her sleep, wake Jackie up at 5:30 am and steal carrots and toilet paper rolls when Jackie isn't looking.
2010 Cutest Mutt Award Runner-Up: Noodles
Gentle giant Noodles revived the hearts of her guardians, Victoria and Keith, after their previous canine companion passed away. She loves to fetch, play with the children and just have a lot of fun.
Whether from a pet shop, a puppy farm or an individual breeder, buying a dog means that another in a rescue shelter will lose the chance to find a loving home. This goes for cats, birds, rodents and all other kinds of animals.
If you don't already have an animal companion but you do have time and affection to spare, you can make a difference by adopting a loving "fixed" mutt from your local rescue shelter. And who knows? Maybe next year, he or she will take the top prize in our 2011 Cutest Mutt Awards!
