DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — If at first you can't clean the Slobber and try again.
Just ask 4-year-old pup Huckleberry, who was crowned Monday as "Beautiful Bulldog." this year
Huckleberry competed for the title in 2010, just walk away empty-pawed. That changed this year, when he strutted along a blue track at Drake University in Des Moines, dressed in a beige dress as the main character in the movie "Forrest Gump".
"He is just a lover, said its owner, Stephanie Hein, Huckleberry sitting next to her toy miniature basketball and a suitcase similar to the one owned by Forrest Gump.
The competition is now in its 34th year and is held in front of the track and field meeting annual Drake Relays. The University mascot is a bulldog, and each year the winner becomes the mascot for the relay event.
Huckleberry beat other 46 bulldogs to wear the Crown and mantle, and competition was stiff. There was a bulldog dressed as a character "Thing" by Dr. Seuss, another wore an eyepatch and Earring hoop fake to match its owner dressed as a pirate. Diva, wearing a Tutu, took home the award for best dressed.
Huckleberry seemed unfazed by all the attention, more interested in a dog pie that is served annually from his throne, painted in gold. He threw in a few kisses slobbered its owners.
When not competing, Huckleberry loves to cuddle and hang out with a girl bulldog who lives nearby, according to Hein and her husband, Steven.
Huckleberry wore a Mohawk when he competed in 2010. But Stephanie Hein spent weeks narrowing and sow together this year's outfit, which included a checkered blue shirt similar to that worn by Forrest Gump.
"It was just a baby then," he said of his first attempt. "But it's definitely grown itself now."
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