>>
it gives me
goose bumps
. that was the big moment at the sonoma-marin fair in california.
yoda
is here with us this morning along with her owners, teri and nicole. my heartfelt congratulations. let's give the backstory. this was kind of a sad thing. wasn't this dog found in a bag in kind of a lot?
>>
yeah.
>>
so someone clearly didn't want
yoda
.
>>
yeah, i guess not. they never claimed her.
>>
but it's a story with a happy ending. when you first laid eyes on
yoda
, did you see
big things
in her future in terms of ugly dog competitions?
>>
no. when i first laid eyes on her, i saw
big things
in terms of getting her to the doctor.
>>
you thought
yoda
was a rat at first, right?
>>
there's all kinds of -- i thought she was bringing me a dead field rat.
>>
nicole, when your mom said, put the dog down -- well, she didn't know what it was, but what did you -- why did you insist on keeping it?
>>
i don't know.
>>
you were just a
little girl
.
>>
i was little and i was, like, crying. i wanted her. i don't know why.
>>
why does
yoda
keep her tongue out like that, by the way?
>>
she always has-now that she's gotten older, she has no teeth.
>>
oh, so it just falls out. there's nothing to hold the tongue in. so you hear about this competition, and you entered. did you think you were a shoo-in or that you were going to face tough competition?
>>
honestly, i was going just for the experience, more or less. i figured maybe she might get a ribbon and that would be nice.
>>
and you got more than a ribbon. you got this trophy here that's, what, about ten times -- well, more than that, i think, bigger than she is. and also i think you got some time of monetary award as well. and you got to be on the "today" show. so if i gave you a coupon that said you could have a free jill rappaport makeover for
yoda
so she would no longer be the
ugliest dog
, would you take that coupon? or do you like her as she is?
>>
we love her just like she is.
>>
that's good because i don't think you could do anything with her. jill's pretty good, but i'm not sure. anyway, what's in the future? are you going to enter more competitions?
>>
i'll definitely go to next year's.
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