She has been mistaken for a baby werewolf and regularly prompts double-takes from alarmed passers-by, The Sun reports.
Quasi Modo, winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog competition
Meet the wittily named Quasi Modo, a hunch-backed hound who has just been awarded the World’s Ugliest Dog.
According The Sun, Quasi is a malformed mutt with a bizarre truncated torso, oversized bat-like ears, stumpy tail and long spindly legs. She even has a wart in the middle of her forehead.
She has a strange habit of sitting with her legs folded out of sight beneath her makes her look even odder, so her triumph is not surprising.
The annual World Ugliest Dog (WUD) competition, in Petaluma, California, is a kind of anti-Crufts and has forged a cult following in the 27 years it has run.
Quasi, the newly crowned canine celebrity resides in rural Loxahatchee, Florida, where she lives with Ginnie Sayre, 56, and her husband Michael Carroll, 69.
“My first encounter with Quasi was nerve-racking — she looks like a cross between a werewolf and the Looney Tunes’ Tasmanian devil,” the Sun correspondent reports.
“However, the friendly dog quickly shows I have nothing to fear by nuzzling against my legs.”
The prize-winning pet was born with a very rare condition called short spine syndrome, giving her body an unnaturally squat appearance. Only a handful of dogs in the world have it, and at ten years old, Quasi is believed to be the oldest.
Ginnie, who happens to be a vet, fell in love with Quasi nine years ago when the gangly creature was abandoned at the animal shelter where she works.
She recalled: “When she was brought in, some of my colleagues were afraid, but I have always had a soft spot for strange or unusual animals so I was called to look at her and I had to take her home.”
It was Ginnie who named her Quasi Modo after the famous bell-ringer in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
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Ginnie further said: “People have been telling us for years we should enter her in the ugly dog contest, but this year we were thinking of taking a vacation to mark our wedding anniversary so we thought, ‘Why not?’ ”
Quasi beat 26 other hideous canines to find herself sitting pretty landing the $1,500 (£960) prize money, which Ginnie is donating to the animal shelter where she works.
“I don’t think Quasi was necessarily the ugliest, but she has a very friendly personality, worked the crowd and somehow won people over. We think she is so ugly she is actually cute,” Ginnie said.
Quasi has been criss-crossing the US appearing on television talk shows, since scooping the title about a week ago.
Reports say she now has her own Facebook page, Twitter feed and even a sponsorship deal.
Moreover, she’s found herself top dog in her local town.
Meet the top dogs who scooped first prize in previous years.
Blind rescue dog Sam (2003 -5) and toothless Archie (2006)
Beagle/bassett/boxer cross with duck-like waddle Walle (2013) and rescue mutt Peanut (2014)
14-year-old Yoda (2011) and Britain’s first champ Mugly (2012)
Boxer-mix Pabst (2009) and one-eyed deformed Chihuahua Princess Abbey Francis (2010)
The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is an annual contest held in Petaluma, California, as part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, to decide which of the dogs entered in the contest is the ugliest.
The contest has been going on since the 1970s,with participation of dogs generally from across the United States and a few from around the world.
Along with the title of “The World’s Ugliest Dog”, the winner’s owner receives a check for $1,000 and a trophy.
There is significant media coverage, and as many as 2,000-3,000 people attend the contest during the fair each year. The fair now holds an all-day Dog Lovers’ Festival preceding the evening contest.
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