DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260800

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   50 lines

AN UGLY DOG, MAYBE, BUT HE WON - AS DID SPCA

Many braved rain and Greenbrier traffic Thursday morning to strut their ugly stuff, but there would be only one Ugliest Dog in Hampton Roads.

The competition at Petsmart off Greenbrier Parkway was hosted by FM 99 morning guys Tommy and Rumble, and coincided with National Dog Week. When they weren't singing the praises of the SPCA, where abandoned pets may be adopted, the DJs mocked ugly dogs.

There was plenty of fodder.

Bill Portt brought Lou, his neighbor's dog. Lou is part Chihuahua and part terrier, which means he is constantly freaked out. He spent the morning perched on Bill's shoulder.

``That's all he does,'' Portt said. ``He just sits there.''

``Your goiter is growing fur,'' DJ Rick Rumble told Portt.

Allison Vardeman, 18 and a senior at Hickory High School, brought her dog, Baby, who has a growth on her eyelid.

``Veterinary science is stumped,'' Rumble said after one look at Baby.

Vardeman thought Baby had a shot. ``She's ugly. She's got messed-up teeth and a thing on her eye.''

Christi Lee of Portsmouth brought her pit bull, Mes Amie.

Lee, 21, was working at 7-Eleven when she heard about the contest on the radio. She knew her friend had a shot. He has a face only a frying pan could love.

``Everyone tells me he looks like a cow,'' Lee said.

But her friend did not win.

``They didn't think he was ugly,'' Lee said.

A big-eared Chinese Crested dog named Wudnshu's Rudolph Valentino was named the Ugliest Dog in Hampton Roads. Mr. Valentino, who will be a breeding dog when he gets older, is stone-cold naked, except for shocks of fur atop his bean and around his paws. His ears are Yoda-like. He is jittery.

DJ Tommy Griffiths suggested that Valentino looked like David Bowie ``in the '70s.''

``Andy Warhol,'' countered his partner.

Gerry Colligan, owner of the hairless lover, donated the 40 pounds of prize dog food to the SPCA. The gathered folks clapped, and for a brief shining moment, everyone was an ugly winner. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

On a day when bad looks counted for something, Wudnshu's Rudolph

Valentino won Ugliest Dog in Hampton Roads for his owner, Gerry

Colligan, Thursday. Colligan donated the 40 pounds of dog food she

won to the SPCA.

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