We won, we won, we won!

After more than 7,000 votes were tallied, the results are in: Dogster was awarded the 2012 Beast of the Bay Award for Best Dog Social Networking (or, as we call it, Petworking) Site! Wahooo!!

I’d like to thank all the readers of Bay Woof for voting for us and making sure the whole world knew just how pawesome we really are! However, I wasn’t surprised; I always knew we had it in the bag (takes a bite of humble pie, spits it out, and proceeds to finish Snoopy victory dance).

But seriously, not only did we win this really cool award,

but me and Lori, Dogster’s beloved Community Manager, got to attend the Beast of the Bay Awards ceremony at El Rio in San Francisco!

If you’re a nonlocal reader, you should know that El Rio is synonymous with cheap drinks and cool outdoor seating, so it’s a great place to have a party.

There was also a funky little band, awesome-smelling food (I’m a bring-your-own-snacks kinda gal, read “cheap”), and a raffle to support Muttville, one of our favorite rescue groups! I SRSLY wish I’d bought some raffle tickets, because one of the prizes was wine tasting for 10 people avec chiens! Oh-la-la!

Here is the band, whose drummer only happened to be Lori’s manager at Chevy’s 20 years ago. It is a weeirrrddddly small world.

There was also a cute little doggy costume contest that only two pups pawticipated in, but it was still a-dor-able. Here is the winner and her best friend and/or lady who feeds her.

Here I’m snuggling with one of the many adorable fur faces at the pawty. (Please ignore my nasty-looking hair; it was raining.)

While lots of people were wandering about and networking, I was creeping on dogs with my camera. This dog was slinking around the entire event looking for handouts!

Look at that face! I would have taken him if I could have fit him in my purse but he seemed to really like his owner, le sighhhh.

There was also this little black smoosh-faced pug who HATED me.

Seriously! The little jerk wouldn’t even take a treat from me. Oh, well — he was still too flipping cute not to take 30 pictures of.

AND then there was this ginormous Red Tibetan Mastiff!

I’d heard legends of the World’s Most Expensive Dog, but I had never had the pleasure of seeing one, let alone snuggle and play-fight with it. (Yes, this happened; yes, you can be jealous.)

I didn’t want to harass his owner with questions like “Whoa! Did you spend $1.5 million on this little dude! Are you single?,” etc. So I just ignored him and wrestled with his dog, who still smelled like a puppy. It ruled.

Overall, this was an incredible way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. And once again, thanks for your votes! We love you tooooooo!