Zsa Zsa, the recently-crowned World’s Ugliest Dog, has died, her owner Megan Brainard posted on Zsa Zsa’s official Facebook page on Tuesday. The nine-year-old English Bulldog whose lolling tongue and crooked underbite made her the winner back in June died in her sleep, the post stated.
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“She’s been staying over at my dad’s house. He woke up this morning and found her passed away,” Brainard told TODAY. She called Zsa Zsa’s passing “devastating.”
Zsa Zsa won the 2018 World’s Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, Calif., on June 23.
Although her final weeks alive were spent travelling and making television appearances, Zsa Zsa spent over half her life in a puppy mill before she was rescued by a non-profit organization and adopted by Brainard.
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According to TODAY, once Zsa Zsa’s body was returned home on Tuesday morning, Brainard, her husband Jesse and their 15-month-old daughter, Mareslie, held a special farewell ceremony.
“I picked Zsa Zsa up and took her outside and laid her down in the grass. We were all saying our goodbyes and Mareslie went right over and gave her a kiss. It was sweet. She was waving at her,” Brainard shared with TODAY.
— With files from Reuters