Los Angeles:
Walle, a four-year-old hunchback mixed breed dog has beat out 29 other gruesome- looking competitors to win the 25th annual World's Ugliest Dog Contest held in California.
Walle - who is a beagle-basset-boxer mix - has a huge head, a short and thick stature, and waddles like a duck won the contest held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma.
"He's unique," said Tammie Barbee, owner of the Walle. The dog won a trophy and USD 1,500 at the competition held on Friday.
"Everybody always says that there's something wrong with him his heads too big, his back is too short. It's nice to win at something," Barbee was quoted as saying by ABC News.
While Walle is more photogenic than last year's winner, "Mugly," whose images are gasp-inspiring, his overall presence was what swayed the judges, contest producer Vicki DeArmon said.
"You have to see him walk to appreciate him," she said.
Some of the contest's judges included football legend Joe Montana and Jon Provost, who played Timmy on classic television show "Lassie."
"Walle looked like an experiment that went wrong," said Provost.
For his win, Walle and Barbee will also receive some fame as they are scheduled to appear on the Today Show today and Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, media reports said.
All of the dogs entered a pre-qualifying round to make sure they're truly "ugly" before taking the stage.
"The advantage of coming to an Ugly Dog Contest is probably the less you do, the better," said dog owner Dane Andrew.
Owners also had to provide documentation from a veterinarian proving their dogs were healthy when registering for the contest.
The breeds of the other contestants included Chihuahua, Chinese Crested, boxer, terrier, pug, poodle and Peruvian, organisers said. Friday's competition marked the 25th anniversary of the ugly dog contest.