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Reigning Winner Of North Bay 'Ugliest Dog' Contest Dies

HANFORD, Kings County (CBS / AP) – When a beloved pet dies, good manners usually dictate saying something nice about the departed companion.

And for a recently deceased dog named Yoda, it was a compliment to say she sure was ugly.

Yoda won the 2011 World's Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma Marin Fair for her short tufts of hair, protruding tongue, and long, seemingly hairless legs.

>>Photo Gallery: World's Ugliest Dog Contest

The Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix died in her sleep Saturday. She was 15.

Her owner, Terry Schumacher, told the Hanford Sentinel that she would miss "her funny little ways."

Schumacher found the abandoned 1.8-pound pooch behind an apartment building and first mistook her for a rat. The two have gone on to international fame, bagging a $1,000 prize and a trophy 15 times the size of the winner.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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