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Mutt Named as the Dog of the Millennium

"Dixie" Lawrence, a two-year-old Chow mix and resident of Carthage, Texas was rescued from the local pound in Carthage on March 10, 1998. Dixie was only 10 weeks old and two days after her rescue she became very ill with Parvo. Dixie's new family refused to give up on her and after two weeks of worries, hospitals and vet bills, Dixie was on her way to being a healthy and happy puppy.

Dixie was entered into a web contest based in Vancouver, BC, Canada back in June 1999. The contest, Santana's Millennium Dog 2000 contest, is one of the largest dog contests on the web. Dixie was the winning dog for the month of July. The contest was a year long contest that took the 11 monthly winners from 1999 to compete in the December finals to see which dog would be named as the dog of the Millennium. The winner was announced on New Year's Eve and to the excitement of Texans, and her supporters everywhere, the winner was Dixie with 10,930 votes.

Dixie was the only mixed breed among pedigree dogs, which adds to the excitement that "America's Dog," a mutt, could be named as the Millennium Dog.

During the contest we tried to raise awareness for all homeless animals. Especially, at this time of year as rescues fill with unwanted and unwise gifts. We wanted to let people know that a dog is not just for Christmas!

Trevina L.
Carthage, TX