Chief Claims Title of Cutest Dog in Novato

The favorite toy of Chief, an 11-month-old golden retriever, is a 10-gallon plastic bucket left over from when the Cordero family bought a large plant. Chief clangs the bucket off nearby objects and occasionally gets it stuck on his head.

What's cuter than that?

By popular official vote, Chief is . The 83-pound blond bomber received the most votes in Novato Patch's survey based on reader-submitted photos and vote-casting comments over the past few weeks.

Chief is the companion of Ken Cordero and Allison Bunnell Cordero, who live in the San Marin neighborhood with their kids Brooke, Hayden and Reese. The family got Chief in Petaluma when he was a pup.

"He loves water," Bunnell Cordero said. "He swims in all kinds of lakes — Tahoe and all the other places we visit. He has his own baby pool in the backyard."

By the family's choice, Chief's reward for being Novato's Cutest Dog will be a $25 gift certificate for the Pet Food Express store in the Novato Fair shopping center. The family also gets two Patch T-shirts and two Patch water bottles.

Comet, shown romping in the grass after visiting some cows, took second place, and his owners will receive two Patch water bottles.

You can view all the dogs and continue to add more shots . Make sure you include captions if you upload a photo ... many people didn't, which meant readers couldn't vote for that dog by name in the comments. 

Thanks for participating! Hope you had fun with it.