Rudy Giuliani speaks to the Pets.com sock puppet during an event celebrating the release of the 20th anniversary edition of the board game Trivial Pursuit Sept. 24, 2002, at the Toys R Us flagship ...

Meanwhile, if you want to buy a talking sock-puppet toy or other puppet product from Pets.com, the clock is ticking fast. The home page of the company’s Web site says it will stop taking orders ...

The company spent millions plastering his mug on prime-time television, and the Sock Puppet’s career crested in 1999, when he got his own balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.