Weeks after winning title, ugliest dog Zsa Zsa dies

Zsa Zsa, an English Bulldog owned by Megan Brainard, stands onstage after being announced the winner of the World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif., Saturday, June 23, 2018. (Jeff Chiu/AP)

ANOKA, Minn. — A 9-year-old English bulldog has died just weeks after winning the 2018 World’s Ugliest Dog contest.

Owner Megan Brainard of Anoka, Minnesota, told NBC’s “Today ” that Zsa Zsa died in her sleep Tuesday. Brainard says the dog was staying with her father and he found she had passed away when he got up in the morning.

Zsa Zsa — with her floppy tongue, crooked teeth and pink manicure — won the annual contest on June 23 at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California.

Brainard says Zsa Zsa never really showed much excitement, but that she knew she was special.

Dogs in the annual competition flaunt their imperfections. The contestants included a blackhead-covered Chinese Crested-Dachshund mutt, a bulldog mix with excess wrinkly skin and a Pekingese named Wild Thang.