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Meet Zsa Zsa, the winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest

English bulldog Zsa Zsa has been named this year's winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest which is a celebration of dogs rescued from shelters or puppy farms.

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Megan Brainard kisses Zsa Zsa, an English Bulldog from Minnesota after Zsa Zsa won the 2018 Worlds Ugliest Dog Contest in Petaluma, California, 23 June 2018. Source: EPA

A 9-year-old English bulldog was named the winner of the 2018 World's Ugliest Dog contest in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Zsa Zsa won the title Saturday night at the Sonoma-Marin Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma.

The dog's owner Megan Brainard of Anoka, Minnesota, will receive $US1500 ($A2015) for Zsa Zsa's win. Brainard found Zsa Zsa on a pet-finding site, according to the contest bio.

"She's just so ugly, she's beautiful," Ms Brainard told the New York Times. 

Zsa Zsa spent five years in a puppy farm before she was adopted by Ms Brainard, who put the win down to her charming the judges. 

“She was eating part of a Slim Jim on the table and just sneezed all over them and was drooling on them,” she told the New York Times.

Dogs in the annual competition flaunt their imperfections - some have hairless bodies, others have lolling tongues. The dogs and their handlers walk down a red carpet. The dogs are evaluated by a panel of judges.

The contestants included a blackhead-covered Chinese Crested-Dachshund mutt, a bulldog mix with excess wrinkly skin and a Pekingese named Wild Thang.

The contest is designed to promote pet adoption with many of the competitors rescued from shelters or puppy farms.

Last year's winner was a 57-kilogram gentle giant named Martha - a Neopolitan Mastiff with gas and a droopy face.

The contest is in its 30th year. It is usually held on Friday nights, but organisers moved the competition to Saturday in an effort to draw a bigger audience.


2 min read

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Presented by Davide Schiappapietra



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