'Ugliest Dog' dies at age 15

HANFORD, Calif. -- When a beloved pet dies, manners usually dictate saying something nice about the departed. For Yoda, to say she sure was ugly was praise.

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.

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

The 1.8-pound pooch lived a rough life before Terry Schumacher found her abandoned behind an apartment building and mistook her for a rat.

The dog went on to bag $1,000 and a trophy 15 times her size when she won the contest in Petaluma, Calif., last June. Contest producer Vicki DeArmon said Yoda will keep the title until a new ugliest is crowned in June.

Schumacher told the Hanford Sentinel that she will miss "her funny little ways." -- AP