As you know, in honor of the Mercury's first annual Pets Issue, we held a "Cross Dress Your Pet" photo contest, in which readers submitted photos of their pets dressed as another type of animals. And boy did you guys produce (mostly dogs in bee costumes, but still!). It was a squee-filled decision-making process, but eventually we found a winner: Herbie the Three-Toed Box Turtle Dressed as a Pterodactyl by Allyson Barlow and Drew Clark!

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Developed by Anna Flagg, it can sense and react to nine different kinds of gestures. By using conductive fur, Cuddlebot can tell if someone's scratching it, tickling it, or blowing on it — and, after a while, can even tell who's doing it. (Via.)

My life will feel excruciatingly empty until I get a Cuddlebot.

Yesterday the story broke about a massive rescue operation outside of Salem, in which nearly 150 animals (all dogs, plus two cats) were liberated from an ostensible "animal rescue" that had them crammed into filthy stacked travel crates without food or water. It's pretty horrible. I'm not bringing it up just to ruin your day/week/life, but to point out that the Oregon Humane Society, if you don't know, is a world-class institution that serves as a model for the entire world. They have amazing adoption rates, a teaching hospital, on-staff investigators whose entire job is to nail abusers like this, and even a freaking restored wetland area on its campus where volunteers walk the dogs two or more times a day. (And yeah, sometimes I volunteer there.)

OHS is currently housing and treating most of these rescued animals, which brings them up to double their capacity for dogs. Because it's a criminal case, the dogs are technically in protective custody as evidence, which means they won't be eligible for adoption until the legal system allows it. In the meantime, if you have been considering adopting a dog, now is the time: they are lowering the adoption fee for dogs over a year old to $50 through Friday in hopes of making more room. They also have a wish list, and maybe it's an inspiring time for you to make a monetary donation to help them stop shit like this, too. I just did.

• Belmont Stumptown

But I love dogs. I love them. I'm that person who stops in the middle of a serious conversation with a friend to point and ogle a cute dog walking down the street. It doesn't even need to be that cute. Just fuzzy.

I've gotten to the point of puppy-fever where I'm a dog mooch: I specifically patronize businesses where I know there will be dogs outside, so I can spend a few minutes petting other peoples' friendly dogs or, if they're not the petting type, just staring at them while shopping.

So, question: Where is the best place to mooch dogs in this town? Clearly the park with the best dog to area ratio is Couch Park in NW, so that's not even a contest. I'm talking about dog-mooching businesses. I put some of my dog-mooching-business picks into a poll below, but if you have any recommendations, please add 'em in the comments. Happy mooching!

OH SWEET JESUS, look at this stupid, stupid Corgi! Man, I have seen some STUPID, mouth-breathing dogs in my time, but this idiot Corgi takes the cake. Earth to Corgi: You are dressed as a hot dog—you're not an actual hot dog... so stop trying to eat yourself, stupid! Holy frikkin' Christ in a cup. YOU ARE ONE STUPID CORGI. (Oh, and stay in your stupid cage, Corgi.)

Behold, the first-place winner in yesterday's presidential-themed pug crawl costume contest:

Full disclosure: Very recently I began volunteering at the Oregon Humane Society (I'm building up dog walking hours to become an off-campus dog runner), and this Sunday I'll be lending a hand at the 12th annual Pug Crawl, dorky OHS apron and all. However we've put this event on our My What A Busy Week! page many times over the years, and it just lost by a hair this time to some dumbshit indie rock band or something, so this isn't just my bias speaking. (Besides, every time I go into that building I come out carrying a torch for a favorite underdog, and exercise great restraint in not posting their adoption pages regularly, so just let me have this.)

So anyhow, here's the drill: "Pug Nation" is a round-up of about 500 dogs (non-pugs are welcome) for a day of food, beer, live music, and the crown jewel of the day's festivities: The Parade of Pugs, a procession of 100+ costumed pugs competing for the title of "President of Pug Nation." If you haven't caught it yet, this year has a presidential election theme, which has borne out an array of puns that even I have to hold my nose before uttering, most notably "Repuglican" and "Demopug."

Ugh, ok forget I just said that. The point is, it's set to be a gorgeous day and we should be outside drinking beer, watching dogs in silly clothes (they love it), and making fun of my wildly unflattering volunteer badge photo. Meet me on Sunday at MacTarnahan's Taproom at 1 pm for a party that boasts both a pug kissing booth and pug washing. A $10 donation is requested and 100% of proceeds go to help the animals.

• Oregon Humane Society
• Last year's Voodoo Pug winner at yet another pun-tastically themed "Puglandia" event.