Puppy problem?

The governor took a picture with a pit bull, and it stirred up social media.

Gov. Jared Polis drew both ire and support Sunday evening after he tweeted a picture of himself and a mixed pit bull puppy in Denver, two days after Mayor Michael Hancock cemented the city’s ban on the breed.

“Freda, a friend’s new pit bull rescue pup, joined us at the governors mansion in Denver tonight (shhhh…),” Polis wrote on Twitter, captioning the picture of himself and the dog lounging in a couch.

The tweet was an obvious allusion to Hancock’s decision Friday afternoon to veto a City Council measure meant to repeal Denver’s ban on pit bulls and form a mechanism to safely reintroduce the breed, which has been outlawed since 1989.

Hancock replied to the tweet with another, simply saying “Wow!!”

Representatives of Hancock’s office said later Monday that the mayor had no comment on the exchange. Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Polis said in a statement that the governor’s tweet came during family time Sunday with a friend’s new puppy.

“The governor’s children love puppies and were delighted. He has held several adoption fairs at the mansion and looks forward to helping find forever homes for more dogs and cats,” Cahill said.

“Unfortunately, what was meant as a light-hearted post came at a sensitive time,” Cahill continued. “The Governor respects that there are hard decisions to be made and has faith that even if he might not agree with every local government decision, the Mayor and City Council did what they believe are the best thing for Denver.”

Others on Twitter responded swiftly to Polis’ tweet. At least one person called for the Denver Police Department to investigate.

Denver Animal Protection has not been asked to investigate the incident, said spokesperson Tammy Vigil. Nor would the organization investigate because the puppy was less than 10 months old.

Animal protection doesn’t evaluate dogs that young because they’re not developed enough to positively tell their breed, Vigil said.

Some people voiced their strong disapproval online.

“Leave it to an elite member of the ruling class to blatantly and publicly violate the law and think it’s cute,” one said.

Others took a more positive position.

“What a cute little doggo,” one said. “All dogs deserve love.”

Hancock’s decision is not yet final. The City Council will vote Tuesday evening whether to override his veto, but it appears unlikely the group has the nine votes needed to do so.