Mozart, a 6-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, wants the $1 million grand prize to fund disaster relief agencies in his home town of New Orleans.

Steven Colbert el dos, a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix puppy, wants to help his newlywed owners, Bryan and Allyson, start a family with in vitro fertilization treatments.

Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on which cause you find more worthy - the Cutest Dog Competition determined yesterday that 428 of Mozart's votes were fraudulent, despite his 131-vote lead Saturday, and Colbert won this week's semifinalist spot.

To his credit, Mozart did get more than 4,500 valid votes last week. But the rest were made with 70-plus fraudulent accounts, with e-mail addresses only one number apart, that were created on the same days from the same computers and voted within one minute of each other, according to the Web site.

Mozart's newlywed owners weren't to blame, and the spaniel has been re-entered in this week's contest. He has size on his side in Week 9: It's a little dog-eat-big dog contest, if the first eight semifinalists are any indicator. He's even placed second two weeks in a row.

Meanwhile Colbert claimed $500 Monday as one of the 12 semifinalists, no doubt because of his viral name as much as his adorable little mug. The public will ultimately pick four finalists from the 12, judges will name the grand prize winner on Thanksgiving, and the other three will get $5,000 for their trouble.

Want to throw Mozart a bone in Week 9? Register to vote here. Or heck, pit your own super-cute pooch against the others here.

Just don't cheat unless you want to end up in the doghouse.

-- Sandra M. Klepach, SKlepach@News-Herald.com