All American Pet Mounts Search for Million-Dollar Canine

Because nothing succeeds online like adorable puppies, natural pet food maker All American Pet Brands has launched a contest to find the nation’s cutest dog, holding out a $1 million prize as a bone.

Submissions at the Web site already have servers gasping to keep pace.

The competition, which launched last Saturday at http//www.cutestdogcompetition.com, has already received more than 4,000 submissions in three days and reportedly knocked the web server down for a short while yesterday morning.

Applicants can submit a color photo of their dog to the site through Oct. 23, view galleries of pets submitted and vote for their choice among the week’s entrants by awarding a thumbs-up or –down to the posted picture. To avoid automated voting, votes are limited to five per e-mail address per finalist. Visitors can also search for a specific entrant by name or see the 30 leading vote-getters at the moment.

Those interested in the competition can also follow the contest on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cutedogcontest.

Each week one semi-finalist pooch will be chosen based on the popular vote received and its owner awarded a $500 prize.

Before Thanksgiving the 12 semi-finalist contenders will be judged by a live panel of judges assembled by All American, contest producer IBeatYou.com, and pet shopping site Dog.com. A grand prize winner will be named and awarded the $1 million prize. Four finalists will reach receive $5,000. 

All American Pet makes natural Dog Food and Bow Wow Breakfast Cereal.