The mysterious case of the oozing dog has finally been solved.
After nearly a week of consternation, flying e-mails filled with CAPITAL letters and multiple exclamation points, duelling eyewitness accounts, nasty social media postings and many, many bruised feelings, it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that SweePee Rambo is the ugliest dog in the world – but she is not the most disgusting.
That honour goes to the aptly named, acne-ridden Icky.
The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest has been mired in controversy this week over reports that the winner, SweePee Rambo, had oozing sores.
Those reports were traced to a local journalist whose story for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, based on overheard remarks from a judge in the contest, was picked up by the Associated Press and published worldwide.
SweePee Rambo’s owner Jason Wurtz protested that judge Neal Gottlieb’s remarks about oozing sores were a reference to another dog – although footage of the incident initially appeared inconclusive.
However the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds & Event Center said in a written statement late on Wednesday that they had investigated the controversy and reached a verdict.
“During the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest on Friday June 24, 2016, Judge Neil (sic) Gottlieb made a comment while bantering with the MC about a dog having an oozing sore,” the statement said.
“We have reviewed video from the event and the dog he was examining when he made the comment was not SweePee Rambo,” the statement continued. “Our staff at no time before or after the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest observed any sores of any kind on the winner SweePee Rambo.”
Officials at the annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest in Petaluma do not want you just to take their word for it. Along with an apology to Wurtz for his pain and suffering during this ordeal, their statement included a clean bill of health signed by a veterinarian and video evidence of Gottlieb’s faux pas.
The winner
SweePee is most certainly ugly. The 17-year-old Chinese crested is blind, incontinent, nearly bald, almost toothless. Her spine is bent at a 90-degree angle, and her arthritic legs are permanently akimbo.
Wurtz adores the creature and takes her everywhere. He repairs communication lines for a living, and SweePee climbs up telephone poles with him in a backpack slung over his shoulders. He modifies nappies made for human newborns to accommodate the dog’s scrawny tail.
In its initial story about SweePee's victory in the contest, which attracts global interest, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that "Judge Neal Gottlieb seemed particularly impressed with a sore on SweePee's leg, noting dogs get extra points for ooze".
Unlike the contest officials’ statement, the Press Democrat spelled Gottlieb’s first name correctly. But it misidentified the oozing dog. And the judge responsible for the “extra points” part of the comment. However, when the paper reached Gottlieb earlier this week for clarification, he stood by his story. He did, though, downgrade his assessment of SweePee’s dermatological problem from “sore” to “scrape”.
The video tells a different – and more disgusting – story.
First, the mistress of ceremonies introduces challenger Icky, who is carried to the judging table by his mullet-haired and much-tattooed owner. Then she instructs the three-judge panel “to get your hands all over Icky, ‘cause that dog feels like somethin’.”
The judges smell the bumpy Chinese crested’s feet. One judge squeals. Icky’s owner begins to walk away. Gottlieb calls out: “Would you bring him back here for a second? He is actually oozing. He’s oozing. There’s an open wound on this dog.”
Case closed.
Guardian service