The Artist's Uggie pipped to pooch film prize by Red Dog star Koko

Koko wins best dog in a foreign film at the first Golden Collar awards in Los Angeles

Uggie the Jack Russell was catapulted to fame after his role in the multi-award winning silent film The Artist. He won a Palm Dog Award at the Cannes Film Festival last year and there were even rumours he might be nominated for an Oscar (he wasn't). But there is now another famous canine looking to steal some of Uggie's limelight.

Koko, the star of the new film Red Dog, based on the novel by Louis de Bernières, was awarded the prize for 'best dog in a foreign film' at a new award ceremony in Los Angeles last week.

The film tells the true story of Red Dog,  who befriends the members of the mining town of Dampier, in Western Australia.

The Golden Collar awards were set up by Alan Siskend, of the dog blog dognewsdaily.com, in order to celebrate "canine achievement in film".

The six-year-old Kelpie shouldn't rest on his laurels just yet though, as Uggie was a winner in the overall award for best performance in a theatrical film.  Uggie was there on the day to collect his award but Koko was unable to attend. Luckily, you can see his acceptance speech (complete with Aussie accent) below.Red Dog is out in cinemas from Friday 24 February.