After undergoing emergency surgery to remove life-threatening masses, Gov. Jerry Brown’s beloved corgi has again been called into service.

Sutter, having recently returned home following the cancer diagnosis, was at Brown’s side when he campaigned for a 2012 sales and income tax hike, Proposition 30. At the Capitol, amid tense budget negotiations, the pooch appeared on playing cards urging over-exuberant legislators to exercise some fiscal restraint, dispensing such wisdom as “bark if you hate deficits!” and “always keep a bone buried in the back yard.”