Posted: October 2, 2009, 5 a.m. EDT
A dog owner is barking mad over a dog named for comedian and TV anchorman Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report.”
Cara McCool entered her dog, Mozart, in All American Pet Brand’s Cutest Dog Competition, which awards $1 million.
McCool’s pup, nicknamed MoMo, won second place in the competition last week, but is running neck-and-neck this week with an upstart challenger named Stephen Colbert el dos, a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mixed-breed puppy.
“It’s just coming out of nowhere,” McCool told CNN. “It’s just unfortunate. MoMo is named after a famous person too, but he’s dead.”
Colbert and his fans are famous for swamping online contests. When NASA announced a contest to name a room in the International Space Station, Colbert and his fans handily won the popular vote. NASA resisted and instead sent a treadmill to space with Colbert’s name.
Colbert el dos’ owners did not want to be identified, but told CNN that they will appear on “The Colbert Report” if the pooch makes it to the top 12.
The contest’s grand prize winner will be named Thanksgiving Day.