CANNES WATCH: ‘Arabian Nights’ pooch wins Cannes’ Palme Dog for best canine performer

CANNES, France – A small white dog named Lucky has taken the award for Cannes’ best performance on four legs.

The maltipoo — a cross between a Maltese terrier and a poodle — was awarded the Palme Dog at the film festival on Friday for a sparky performance as Dixie the dog in Miguel Gomes’ “Arabian Nights.”

The Portuguese director’s three-part film is a six-hour story set in present-day Portugal but inspired by Middle Eastern classic “The 1,001 Nights.”

Runner-up for the Palme Dog was Bob, the canine companion — and brother — of Colin Farrell’s character in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Lobster,” a surreal story in which people who can’t find mates are turned into animals.

An unofficial part of the Cannes Film Festival, the Palm Dog was founded in 2001 and is judged by a panel of film critics. Its name is a play on Cannes’ top film prize, the Palme d’Or.

Previous winners include Uggie the terrier from the Oscar-winning movie “The Artist” and pampered poodle Baby Boy from Liberace biopic “Behind the Candelabra.”

—By Jill Lawless, http://Twitter.com/JillLawless