Miss Ellie, the beloved Chinese Crested hairless canine winner of the 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog Competition (pedigree division) at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Northern California, has died at the age of 17.

She appeared on The Animal Planet cable show “Dogs 101” that was broadcast internationally, was featured on Fox News, seen on billboards and a commercial, and was the star dog at The Comedy Barn Theater in Pigeon Forge.

Miss Ellie was rescued when she was 7 years old and brought to live with her owner, Dawn Goehring, and 13 other rescue dogs. In her final days Miss Ellie was continually working on raising awareness and money for rescue animals.

She was entered in the 2010 World’s Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif., and had planned to travel to California next month to compete one more time for the Ugliest Dog title before her retirement.

Sorry, I thought we could use a little humor in all this doom and gloom.