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Ike The Pug Is The New Face Of Alpo

BARRINGTON HILLS, Ill. (CBS) ― A family in Barrington Hills is particularly proud of its pooch. He beat more than 300 dogs to become the new face of Alpo. CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman has more on why people like Ike, the pug.

Ike is a regular pet that is getting to follow in Lassie's paw prints. His path to canine fame began when his mom, Mary Beth Holsteen, put him in a dog food company contest.

"The people at Alpo said they were looking for a meat maniac," said Mary Beth Holsteen, Ike's mom.

In a spokesperson's words - they wanted a dog that goes "bonkers" when he eats.

Mary Beth was pretty confident her "Ikie" fit the bill.

"He loves his meal time," Mary Beth said. "Ikie, you want some Alpo?"

Those words send the relatively tame dog into a spintastic slurp fest. He licks the bowl clean at every meal.

So Mary Beth put it all on tape, and sent it in

Online voters and the folks at Alpo took notice with big results.

There's no dog on the current label. Ike's will be the first "consumer" face to grace a can of Alpo.

So how did Ike score the ad?

Since he's the strong, silent type, Ike's dad Frank Holsteen says, "It does go beyond the eating," Frank said.

Groupies point to Ike's star power.

"He is particularly special, and cute, and a little bizarre," said Karen Rosene, Ike fan.

For all those reasons - plus his appetite - the pug's mug goes national in 2009, and he gets a free trip with his favorite humans.

"I think he's going to enjoy Hollywood," Mary Beth said. "We get to go to the spa together."

"Mary Beth has been talking about it for weeks, saying, 'I hope we win. I see myself and Ike going into the spa in matching terry robes,'" Frank said.

Ike also won $10,000, some time with a Hollywood animal trainer and a meet and greet with some celebrity dogs. But the big deal is the face time. He gets an Alpo print ad and will be on more than two-and-a-half million cans - the first non-model dog to represent Alpo.

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