Archie, the World's Ugliest Dog.

Heather Peoples’ Chinese crested dog "Archie" is ugly – really ugly. Actually, it’s so ugly that it won the 2006 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California.

The competition was fierce – there were lots of ugly dogs. And hackers, too – what’s a contest nowadays without a little hacking intrigue:

“The top four leaders were each missing around 35,000 votes. Clearly there was something very suspicious going on,” Vicki DeArmon, the California-based organiser of the event, said yesterday. “We were getting angry e-mails from owners and fans demanding to know what had happened. People were quite steamed up. There was a lot of finger-pointing — and paw-pointing.”

Way to go, Archie!

Links: Sonoma-Marin Fair Announcement | Gallery of Uglies Dog finalists | Times Online: Hacker | CBS5 Video Clip

Previously on Neatorama: Sam, World’s Ugliest Dog and news of his death.