Meet Champ! An ‘Invincible’ 3-Legged Therapy Dog and the Winner of the 2026 World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest

Susan Carmody with her rescue dog Champ in Cohoes, N.Y., on October 14, 2026Credit: Amy ZounesChamp, a 10-year-old Yorkie mix from Cohoes, N.Y., is the champion of PEOPLE’s World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by the PEDIGREE® Brand

Champ is the winner of the 2026 PEOPLE’s World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by the PEDIGREE® brand

His win includes a year of PEDIGREE® food and a $1,000 donation to a pet rescue

The 10-year-old Yorkie mix was saved from the streets of Texas and now is a beloved therapy dog in New York

Champ is the champion of the PEOPLE’s World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by the PEDIGREE® brand, and he got there with a little help from his ears.

In 2023, his “signature” feature caught Susan Carmody’s attention as she searched for a dog to fill the void left by her recent pet’s death.

“I saw his ears. I saw he was missing his leg and I thought, ‘I could help him,’” Carmody, 58, says of seeing Champ’s photo for the first time. She contacted Wagging Tails Rescue NY, in Westchester, N.Y., about the Yorkie mix, originally named Chunk. She learned he was a stray from Texas, where he was found with a serious back leg injury by My Chi & Me Rescue of The Woodlands, Texas.

The rescue also noted that the canine, while living on the street, managed to gain a few extra pounds. “He was probably the only stray found overweight,” Carmody jokes, adding My Chi & Me named him Chunk for a reason.

After his initial rescue, Champ was evaluated by veterinarians who determined that the dog’s back leg should be amputated so he’d have “the best chance at a pain-free life.” He made it through the operation without issue and was transferred to Wagging Tails Rescue to find a forever home.

Carmody, whose previous rescue dog was blind and deaf, was eager to give another “imperfectly perfect” pet a home. “They’re the ones; if they’re given that second chance, they’re the most appreciative of having it,” she says of special needs animals. So in November 2023, the special education teacher drove from Cohoes, N.Y., to officially adopt Champ, who was one month past his amputation date. She was immediately smitten with the pup and surprised by how easily he could run, jump, and play.

“Nothing held him back. He was invincible,” says Carmody, who promptly changed his name to Champ.

Like Carmody, thousands of voters in PEOPLE’s World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by the PEDIGREE® brand were enamored with 10-year-old Champ. As were the competition’s judges, including Dolores Catania, The Dogist’s Elias Weiss Friedman, and the hosts of CBS Mornings: Gayle King, Nate Burleson and Vladimir Duthiers.

Champ the rescue dog sitting at home in Cohoes, N.Y.Credit: Amy Zounes

With this support, Champ earned the World’s Cutest title and grand prize, including a year’s supply of dog food from the PEDIGREE® brand and a $1,000 donation to a rescue of Carmody’s choice. She plans to give the donation to Wagging Tails as a thank-you for introducing her to Champ and for helping hundreds of rescue pets.

Of Champ’s big win, Carmody says, “I was in total shock and disbelief. I started shaking.” She adds that when she told him the news, his ears got a “little bit bigger” in excitement.

Champ’s new title is not his only achievement: Since his adoption, the pooch has become a certified therapy dog with Alliance of Therapy Dogs. Carmody pursued certification after quickly noticing how the “true adventurer” loved visiting new places and being around people.

Champ the Yorkie mix, a 10-year-old therapy dog from Cohoes, N.Y. and the 2026 winner of the World’s Cutest Rescue Dog ContestCredit: Amy Zounes

Today, Champ regularly visits airports, schools and assisted living facilities to provide cuddles, comfort and smiles to anyone who needs a bit of support or a pick-me-up — uplifting work he documents on his Instagram. She also brings Champ to her special education classes, where her students treat the dog like a celebrity. “He just wants to be out and spreading joy,” she says.

The therapy visits are as rewarding for Carmody, who says she can tell they’re “making a difference when we see the faces light up.”

In his owner’s eyes, Champ is also a teacher. “He reminds me to focus not on what’s missing, but what’s possible,” she says. “He just approaches life with such enthusiasm and joy every day, and he doesn’t let anything stop him.”

Champ wasn’t the only top dog to come out of the World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest; the competition also found two adorable runners-up: Tiberius and Bean.

Tiberius is an 8-year-old blind dog from Philadelphia. His owners, Amy Ernst and Pamela Tremarki, shared the canine’s rescue story, saying, “Tiberius was found as a stray in Germantown, Philadelphia, in dire medical shape. He had a complete urinary blockage causing him excruciating pain, and his only eye did not work. He had cuts and scrapes all over from wandering the streets as a blind dog, and he was severely underweight.”

The Pennsylvania SPCA rescued the dog and “did emergency surgery to clear the urinary blockage and performed an enucleation on his remaining eye.” After the operations, Tiberius started focusing on learning to navigate the world as a blind dog, and not long after, Ernst and Tremarki decided to adopt the pooch.

Tiberius the rescue dog sitting outsideCredit: Courtesy

“We saw Tiberius through Facebook, and since we work from home, we thought it could be a perfect fit to have a blind dog to whom we could offer the little extra support needed,” they shared, adding, “It worked wonderfully. We had never had a blind dog before, so it was an adventure and a learning process.”

Today, Tiberius, who has his own Instagram, moves through the world with much more ease. And it is a world full of friends, since “he is the absolute calmest, most grounded” dog, who “loves people and wants to greet them constantly.”

Welcoming Tiberius into their family has been a gift for the dog’s owners, who say they’ve learned from watching him take on challenges.

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“He bonks into things and doesn’t skip a beat. He never seems to let it impact his ability to enjoy his life or to give and receive love,” Tiberius’ pet parents said. “He just slows down a little and takes in the world at his own pace. There is an ever-present lesson in how he lives.”

Like Tiberius, Bean, the pug, was found struggling alone on the streets. According to his owners, Emma and Nick Flannery, “Bean was abandoned at just one year old and found alone, eating trash at a gas station in Nogales, Mexico. He had clearly suffered prolonged neglect and weighed only 12 pounds when rescued, less than half his healthy weight.”

The rescue organization Alianza Pro Adopción Nogales saved Bean from this sad existence and found him a foster home in Arizona. The Flannerys saw Bean’s adoption profile after unexpectedly losing their pet pug Phoebe, and felt called to give the dog a home.

Bean the pug, a runner up in the 2026 World’s Cutest Rescue Dog ContestCredit: Courtesy

“We flew to Tucson to pick him up and bring him home to Atlanta, where we were living at the time,” Bean’s owners shared, adding, “Bean came into our lives when our hearts needed him most, and he turned out to be the missing puzzle piece of our family — and so much more.”

Now, Bean lives in New York City with the Flannerys, where he enjoys walks in Central Park, making new pals at dog parks, and meeting new people wherever he goes.“Bean has so much personality!” his pet parents said. “Above all else, he is extraordinarily kind. He has the biggest heart of any creature we’ve ever known and genuinely loves everyone and everything he meets. He’s gentle, goofy, endlessly affectionate, and happiest when he’s included in whatever we’re doing.”

They hope seeing resilient rescue dogs like Bean thrive after adoption shows all animal lovers the power of rescuing a pet.

“Bean came to us having experienced more hardship in his first year than any animal should, yet he was completely ready to love and be loved. All he needed was someone to give him that chance,” the Flannerys added.

Source: Nature