Gus, a nine-year-old Chinese dog that won the title of world's ugliest canine, had died following a long battle with skin cancer.
The one-eyed, three-legged dog won the title last summer at the 20th Annual World's Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in northern California.
Gus, from St Petersburg, Florida, which was bald except for a white tuft on the top of its head came from humble origins.
The dog had one eye, after it lost the other years ago in a fight with a cat, and hobbled through life on three legs after the fourth one was amputated because of a skin tumour, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Jeanenne Teed and her daughter Janey rescued the dog when it was a puppy after they learned that it was being kept in a crate inside a garage.
After her pet won the contest in June, Teed had said that she will spend the prize money on the dog's radiation treatment.
Chinese crested dogs come either with or without fur, and, despite their name, the breed's origin does not lie in China, but in the US in the 1920s, in the Crest Haven Kennel.
The breed, either in purebred form or as a cross with a Chihuahua, has won the top title at the last seven World's Ugliest Dog competitions.
{{/usCountry}}The breed, either in purebred form or as a cross with a Chihuahua, has won the top title at the last seven World's Ugliest Dog competitions.
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