ugliest_dogThe paper’s editorial Moriarity, Scruffy McPoochie, continues to wield awesome power from his perch in the paper’s Living section.

Lesser editors vie for his favors by running as many dog stories as they can.

Today, in the Valley & State section, there’s a story about a crazy dog who was running around and attacking people and then threatened a cop, who shot the thing.

That’s a pretty simple story, but the Republic, splaying it all over the front page of the local news section, plays it thusly:

Gilbert police officer’s killing of dog divides neighborhood

It’s a gunshot that has divided a Gilbert neighborhood.

On one side, a family is mourning the loss of its 2-year-old “goofy” bloodhound and is angry that a Gilbert police officer would fire a handgun near their house in the 500 block of West Laredo Avenue.

On the other side are two women who claim they were attacked by a confused, aggressive dog roaming the street. At least one, Janet McLellan, says the officer’s use of deadly force was appropriate.

The neighborhood isn’t “divided.” There aren’t neighbors running around who are “pro-rabid dogs.”

The owners, who had a violent dog on the loose, are mad because their dog got killed.

The hed should have been “Reckless dog owners mad their rabid dog got shot.”

And the bloodhound wasn’t “goofy.” It was running around attacking people.

But it’s clear at the Republic that no one wants to offend the canine-centric sensibility of Scruffy McPoochie!

The Arizona Republic runs more dogs news than Dog Fancy. Our complete archive of the momentous rise of Scruffy McPoochie is here.