Adorable Maltese called Lamb Chop is named 'world's cutest rescue dog' of 2020

By Jamie Middleton
last updated

People magazine honours puppy mill survivor who became ‘super-cute face to an ugly industry’

Maltese dog called Lamb Chop
(Image credit: People magazine, Sharon Vanorny)

Lamb Chop, a 12lb Maltese, has been declared the winner of the World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest 2020 – and we can see why!

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People magazine, in partnership with Pedigree Petfoods, asked for people to share pictures of their adorable rescue dogs and their heartwarming adoption stories and let their readers choose the winner.

After two weeks of voting, the public, along with celebrity judges Carrie Ann Inaba from Dancing With The Stars, singer-songwriter Cassadee Pope, and Good Morning America's Lara Spencer, named Lamb Chop the victor. The competition was stiff, with over 10,000 submissions, but this Maltese puppy mill rescue dog, who is now an advocate for neglected animals, took the title of World’s Cutest Rescue Dog 2020. 

Her prize? A year’s supply of dog food and $1,000 to donate to the pet rescue organization of her choice.

Lamb Chop, named after ventriloquist Shari Lewis’s famous puppet, because she too has no teeth and her tongue lolls out of her mouth, had been rescued from a puppy farm. She had been there for six years, likely giving birth to litter after litter until her rescue.

When her owner, Christin Schubert, adopted Lamb Chop, she was in such a bad state she had to have all her teeth removed and needed treatment for mammary tumors and a cauliflower ear. She was also scared of humans and other dogs. 

She has now almost made a full recovery and even works with her owner at a non-profit called Bailing Out Benji, which is dedicated to exposing the connections between pet stores and puppy mills, and educating people on the importance of adopting pets.

In joint second place were six-year-old Lunas, found covered in fleas in Jackson, Mississippi, and Diana, 3, who had previously been abandoned with a broken back in Oklahoma.

Jamie Middleton
Jamie Middleton

Jamie Middleton is a freelance editor and writer who has been editing and creating content for magazines and websites for over 20 years. As well as writing about the pets he loves, he has helped create websites about tech and innovation like TechRadar.com, Innovate UK and TechSPARK, written programmes for music festivals, books on inventions and architecture, TV listings magazines, and edited publications about cars such as Lexus, Toyota and Jaguar. In his spare time he writes fiction books and poetry - or at least he does when he is permitted to by his cat Pirate, who enjoys the warmth of laptops too much to allow being creative to get in the way.