Rascal the Chinese crested is in the Guinness Book of Records as having won the "World's Ugliest Dog" contest the most times, eight to be exact. In the second photo, in 2002, he's getting a big smooch from Animal Planet host Beth Ostrosky.

Owner Dane Andrew says of Rascal, "To me, he's a beautiful dog. Those who know him think so too."

Rascal's mother and grandmother, Mai and Tai, were both past Ugly contest winners, as was his grandfather Chi Chi, the former Guinness record holder for most wins at seven.

Now think about that a minute. Most of the deformed contest winners are second-chance rescues, rejectees for any breeding programs. But Rascal's owner seeks out poor stock to breed further examples of poor stock specifically to win ugly contests.

It seems abusive to me and the contest organizers should be ashamed of themselves encouraging the kind of improper breeding more commonly associated with the most rancid of puppy mills.

The intentional in-breeding has resulted in a toothless dog who can't keep his tongue in his mouth, warty skin, and malformed face.

Rescuing a dog and giving it a good life when it might otherwise have been destroyed is a good thing to be celebrated by the ugly dog contests.

But such dogs should not be bred. Breeding for deformity in order to win the perks of the ugliness award (television and even movie appearances; guest-stints at scores of events) is downright evil, and people intentionally breeding for deformities should be banned from the contests.

Still, though Rascal's owner seems rather a villain, the dog is famed for a sweet personality apart from his deformities. He's also appeared in three horror films -- he's the killer zombie dog in Tele-Zombie (2004) -- and has been a guest on numerous tv shows.

Rascal's Website