Congratulations to Scarlet and Lexi! Lexi is a proud Woburn Tanner, we're all so happy she came in second!! (But she'll always be first in our Woburn hearts!)

This dog approves the Romney/Ryan budget. It's probably the only Republican that actually read it.

This could be Mitt Romney's dog -- just remove the fur and add a little wind burn.

The GOP have issued the following statement about this dog: "Muzzle and chain this dog immediately, it is a female."

perfect example of the bitterness in this country that you take the joy from someone's pet winning a contest and you use the article to attack the dog and introduce the political divide.

makes one wonder are you a larry o'brien supporter? ok to drink and drive town employee? ok to run seniors from their homes for out of control spending?... but you think it's ok to attack a dog.

speechless.

We should be tolerant of Granny. Liberalism can strike at any time and has tarnished many families. Conservatives are kinder and gentler and you are forgiven, Granny.

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III

Seriously??? Can you please take your political discourse elsewhere? A cute pet contest is obviously not the place for it, and the fact that you would push your political agenda by picking on a someone's dog just shows your twisted state of mind. Way to suck the fun out of winner's moment and the other contestants as well. People come here because they want to see cute pets, not to be subjected to reading your verbal diarrhea. Why don't you grow up and post your views in the appropriate forums, or would you not be able to take the heat there if you did? Pathetic.

The cute dog in the photo could well be reading these posts. They could add to its education as a canine and help it make better decisions. For instance, a puppy being house broken needs to decide which sheets of newspaper to use... liberal or conservative editorials.

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III

This dog is a member of Karl Rove's Super Pack. She would gladly accept bones from any foreign country or corporation.

This dog believes in the Republican education agenda. After all, why should humans be smarter than dogs.

Granny, you don't matter. Soon you'll be dead and unable to spread your stupid hippie bull crap that has destroyed this country. This dog will deficate on your grave, and I take comfort in that. Have a nice life, or whats left of it.

15,000,000,000,000 in debt and you're talking about Romney's budget... If you aren't senile then you just might be retarded.

Hey, all: we have lots of other stories and blog posts on which go swap political talk. You've been asked by some other readers to take it outside, as it were. Would be so kind as to do that?

I agree. The heart of the matter here is that I gave Lexi full blown canine AIDS. While that is sad, it helped her to reach 2nd place. I got MY AIDS From drinking the woburn water. Go tanners!

This dog does not believe in global warming because it is cold out today. For that astute observation, the Republicans have given her Todd Akin's seat on the Science committee.

Let's leave the innocent dogs out of this! Congrats to Scarlet and Lexi!

Do you remember the old saying if you don't have anything good to say about someone keep your mouth shut. A beautiful dog won and some people get upset. Maybe next time GRANNY you or your dog will win!!!!

This dog loves to chew on Mitt Romney's flip-flops.

This dog believes that Romney-Care is an oxymoron.

This dog believes in equal rights for all. If she is allowed to bury bones in her neighbor's yard, why can't Mitt Romney do the same?

If these comments are bothering you, readers, please flag them as inappropriate so that the editors know that you feel that this is not the appropriate place for such a contentious, off-topic discussion.

No, Patch has done "nothing," SkimThreePercent, except request that people take their argument elsewhere. You and Wendy both mentioned the flagging capability; use it. I *will* delete comments or bounce commenters who break our Terms of Use.

You really want to censor some silly little dog jokes. Now you have put the Patch in a bind. Free Speech or Censorship. I've already seen some of the jokes disappear while it is OK to include hate like "deficate on my grave". This dog does not believe in censorship.

This dog believes the following 3 jokes should not be censored and should be put back. The jokes deal with a budget that many people think is a joke, animal cruelty that no one thinks is a joke, and women's rights which Todd Akin has brought to the forefront recently. All three are real issues. Current issues. Sometimes humor is the best way to get a point across -- ask Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert.

This dog approves the Romney/Ryan budget. It's probably the only Republican that actually read it.

This could be Mitt Romney's dog -- just remove the fur and add a little wind burn.

The GOP have issued the following statement about this dog: "Muzzle and chain this dog immediately, it is a female."

Political trolls ruin the patch. Please, delete these ridiculous comments from these inane posters.

Granny, why don't you channel all this energy into getting a job? The taxpayers are sick of paying for you to post your endless Romney/dog bad jokes on patch all day.

Don't feed the Trolls people. They only stay around when you do..

This dog believes that Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel, regardless of long standing U..S policy.

Skim, I actually AM employed by Patch which is why I suggested the flagging: it is the legitimate way to deal with the trolls. While we might not agree with what they are saying and the fact that they are (moronically) choosing to befoul this thread and unrelated topic with their nonsense, that IS the way to go about keeping them under control under Patch's ToS.

As we close out discussion on this thread, may I offer a final observation? It is very nice to see a cute picture of a puppy. But it is truly heartening to see a cute picture of a puppy which has chosen a political affiliation, not matter what it is. We should encourage involvement, at an early age, in the future of our country.

Reverend E. Raleigh Pimperton III

An observation: none of the comments made here were really out-of-line. BUT: they were in the wrong place. Sometimes people just want to read a pet contest story with fabulous photos of area cats, dogs and assorted animals. Sometimes they just don't want to assaulted with what, for you, is simply a brisk political discussion. As I said early on in this thread, there are lots of great times and places for that on Patch. This story clearly was not the time or place. But to those of you who got upset at the political turn of the thread, one note: the flagging function is not meant to be used when someone posts something you disagree with; it is designed to be used when something is truly inappropriate. So while I advise using te flagging function, don't start using it as a censoring tool, or you, too, will be bounced. I trust most Patch readers can gauge the mood of the comment thread they're in and respond accordingly. Am I right?

The fact that you are saying that someone's family pet has said these "jokes" is wrong. If you want to make political jokes, more power to you, but why use other people's dogs to do so? This is ridiculous. I get not censoring freedom of speech, but if I owned any of these dogs I would be pretty annoyed at Patch that they are allowing people to say their dogs said or did any of these things. All these people submitted their pet photos for a fun contest, not for them to be the butt of crude political jokes. I know people will say, so what? It's just a couple dogs, who cares! But true pet lovers know that pets are like family. Would this be allowed by Patch if it was a cute baby contest? I think not. I agree with a previous poster that if it's grossly off topic, then delete it! Otherwise, Patch will literally go to the dogs!

Peter, you misconstrued my comment. I was just suggesting that people use the flagging function to object to posts that violated our ToS, not the ones that Karla very correctly points out are not in violation. For example, as a teacher, in particular having someone call another poster "retarded" really offends me, and I believe it to be insulting to the point of being a violation. So I flagged that post. If it seemed like I was suggesting people flag posts they don't like or disagreed with, I apologize but that was not what I was saying so please be more careful before you go accusing people of trying to do what they are not.

Oh, and Granny, while I personally object to the hijacking of the thread for a political discussion, I really DO appreciate your compliment about my ears :)

Peter, again I am sorry you misconstrued what I said, but I know what I meant so there is no point in your telling me that I meant something that I know I did not.
And I assure you that there was a poster who used the offensive term I mentioned and, unlike the other posts which are -I still contend- ridiculous and off-putting, as well as off-topic, it was removed.
Sorry you don't like my whimsical picture. I am the food writer for my local Patch, and I thought the picture accurately reflected the fun, light tone I try to bring to my column. I think if you knew me better, you would find your classification of me as a "clown" incorrect, though. But, you are of course entitled to your opinion.

Also, food writer- not editor. I have no more editorial control or ability to censor than anyone else commenting here. I just have a bit more of a personal reason for wanting the publication with which my name is associated maintaining a certain standard and quality.

As I said, Granny, I can't DO anything, any more than you can. I flagged one comment, I believe- the one I referenced above that called another commenter an offensive slur. It was removed, and yes I am happy about that. But I have as little control over what goes on here as you do, I assure you.

I have absolute, unadulterated respect for Karla's editorial judgement. If she deleted comments, rest assured that it was solely because they violated Patch's rules. She is both my colleague and my friend, and I would never "throw her under the bus."

Oh my, are you all seriously debating this "free speech vs. censorship" issue in the comments section of an article about a cutest pet in a small town newspaper??? Even typing that I felt ridiculous...Trolls jacked this article and trolls ruin websites. This is not a "free speech" issue, it's a "let's use some common sense here, you all post this crap all over the patch, it doesn't need to be HERE" issue.

Peter Nixon, you keep failing to see that "gas all liberals" comments were removed as well, not just the Granny's. So there's that argument! Moving on!

Oh and boo hoo Granny! "Patch shouldn't censor people's comments but please censor mine in the various town Patch homepages!" Are you kidding me? Just because you made a fool out of yourself with your stupid dog jokes, don't ask Patch to CENSOR your comments off the Patch homepage for you!

I think the dog was going to defecate on her grave if I remember correctly. Come on, that's hilarious!

This is why I almost never comment on anything. If given enough time, all Internet discussions turn to arguments over politics or trolling. Grow up, people.

Cute dog, though.