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After a rough day, nothing makes you feel better than cute dogs and beer. And while we hope that Monday, October 28th doesn’t end up being a rough day for you, our friendly neighborhood pet store Bushwick Bark will be ready and waiting with the cure for what ails you if it is: at 7pm, the shop is hosting its inaugural annual Doggie Costume Contest, followed by a ‘pup crawl’ involving something called Doggie Beer for the canines and a bar tab for the human member of the costume contest’s winning team.

Bushwick Bark’s proprietor Dottie Evans tells Bushwick Daily that things will be kicking off around 7pm, and that a lot of her regulars have expressed interest participating already; she’s got some puppy costumes for sale in the shop (the most popular ones are Star Wars-inspired), but she anticipates that the really unique looks won’t appear before the night of the event, since she expects Bushwick’s creative pet owners to bring their pets in homemade costumes.

The judges for the contest include Dottie and reps from both the Wyckoff-Starr and MILES; the event is free and there’s no registration process, so you won’t have anything to worry about if your dog decides mid-contest that he or she can’t handle being the Wicked Bitch of the West or Hamlet the Great Dane anymore.

First-prize winners get a $50 gift certificate to Bushwick Bark and a $60 bar tab at an as-of-yet undisclosed location, and quadruped attendees can count on a doggie treat or two and, if they’re into it, some chicken or beef-flavored doggie beer, a non-alcoholic malt beverage to which Dottie’s dogs have given rave reviews (maybe we can get them to wrote a contribution to the Bushwick Brews column)!

The lovely Leila modeling a Yoda costume (All photos by Dottie Evans for Bushwick Bark and used with permission by Bushwick Daily)

So that’s Monday, Otctober 28th, 2013, 7pm at Bushwick Bark: 175 Knickerbocker Avenue between Jefferson street and Melrose street. Bring a four-legged friend, and your fave camera!!