pets.com downgraded after puppet's obnoxious behavior on some late night TV show.

In the hoopla of the .com advertising frenzy, it's often difficult to make your company heard about the roar of other advertisers, even if you do spend 2 million dollars on a 30 second Superbowl ad. Pets.com, an online pet store, tried to rise above the din with a comical puppet dog, but it's efforts flopped when many viewers of the ads complained that the puppet was just "too lewd" for them to take. That's when 2 major firms downgraded pets.com from a "Strong sell" to a "hot potato" status.

"I'm all for a funny puppet, but that pets.com puppetdog thing was just too much." fumed one angry parent. "I let my little one stay up to watch some late night talk show, and that awful puppet came on, talking about how he wanted to "have his way" with a female guest, and how attractive the cameraman's leg looked, at least for him to shat upon, or something."

Several hundred people bombarded pets.com with complaints, which denies, thus far, any wrong doing. "We think our sock puppet is a great spokesman for families that have pets." said one beleagured marketing rep. "He's a little annoying, but I don't think he's over the top, like some are suggesting."

Bad dog! What was pets.com thinking?

Over the top is just what one broker, who refused to be indentified, felt the sock puppet was. "That sewer mouthed no talent hack did nothing but talk about pooping on things, and "scoring" with the Taco Bell chihuahua. Frankly, it's not funny, and it doesn't say good things about pets.com's commitment to a serious product for pet owners to go to. Why should I log into pets.com? The puppet will probably just pop up and insult me, like he always does on Leno. Why Leno keeps inviting him back is beyond me."

No word on if pets.com is going to pull the spokesdog, but at least one person I spoke to was so angry that he swore: "If I ever saw that dog riding shotgun in a car that just rear-ended me, I don't know what I'd do, but something over-the-edge, that's for sure."