Ugly dog seeks lovely owner as RSPCA struggles to find a home for bald, speckly ET

With the head of a meerkat and the body of a spotted piglet, ET the dog would come last in any beauty contest. And sadly for him, he fares equally badly in the popularity stakes.

For the last three months he has been ignored by visitors to the kennels which took over his care after his elderly owner was unable to cope with him. Yet staff say he has a delightful personality and would make someone a perfect pet.

'Normally it only takes a few weeks to find a dog a new home but no one wants ET,' said Dawn Fields, head kennelmaid at the Hillside Boarding and Rescue Centre in Waltham Abbey, Essex.



'I think it's purely because of his looks. We put him in the first kennel people see as they come in but they hurry on past him.

'Then we put him in the last kennel but nothing seems to help. I can't understand it - he's so ugly he's adorable.'

Four-year-old ET, named for his resemblance to the Spielberg movie alien, is one of only 27 Mexican Hairless dogs in the UK. Miss Fields said: 'I think his owner obviously had a sense of humour with his name, it suits him though.'