Yoda, 1.8-pound scruffy mutt from California, won the World’s Ugliest Dog title for 2011 Friday night at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, beating a field of 29 contestants.

The 23^rd annual contest at Sonoma-Marin Fair allowed the audience a vote this year via text and Yoda, the 14-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix with short tufts of hair, protruding tongue, and long hairless legs,  quickly skyrocketed to the top of the text voting. The judges concurred.

Yoda’s win comes a year after a one-eyed Chihuahua named Princess Abby claimed the ugly title. A pedigree Chinese crested won in 2008 and another Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix was the ugliest in 2007.

Yoda won a trophy 15 times her size and $1,000 as this year’s winner. She also received a photo shoot with Kira Stackhouse of Nuena Photography and a pampered overnight stay in the luxurious Loft Suite at the Sheraton Sonoma County. In addition, most dogs enjoy fame as the World’s Ugliest Dog ®, hitting the talk show circuit and become a star at local dog events.

Yoda’s owner Terry Devine Schumacher of Hanford, California, says Yoda has come a long way since she was found abandoned in a field behind an apartment building by her daughter 14 years ago. “I told her to put it down because I thought it was a rat,” Schumacher said. However they soon learned otherwise and the dog has been in the family since.

Source:LifeIsReallyBeautiful.com