Everything we learned on the World Dog Awards red carpet

Once everyone processes the Oscar nominations, I’d like to drop some equally big awards news. The World Dog Awards are TONIGHT! (OK, technically they were this past weekend, but the show airs tonight on the CW.)

First of all, yes, the World Dog Awards IS A THING, the ceremony honors everyone from ordinary rescues, to doggie heroes to all the famous pups of film and television. Not to brag or anything, but I was invited to hang out on the “green carpet” (instead of the usual red, the WDA provides a fake grass carpet for the pooches) and talk to the owners of some of the doggie nominees and presenters! Being the owner of two rescues myself, I thought I would take the opportunity to ask for advice from people who CLEARLY know what they’re doing when it comes to pets. Here’s what I learned from some pretty recognizable nominees:

Bodhi “The Menswear Dog” and his owners David Fung and Yena Kim

Have you guys checked out the Menswear Dog? He’s got about 163k more Instagram followers than you do and he pulls down a cool 15k a month modeling. His owners had some awesome advice re: how to take awesome pictures of your dog and THEY WOULD KNOW.

David: Use lots of peanut butter to get your dog’s attention.

Yena: Put on some great music, set an atmosphere that will make your dog happy.

Duke, The Mayor, and His Owners Karen Nelson and David Rick.

Duke, a seven-year old Great Pyrenees, was elected this past summer as the mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota (his salary is a year’s supply of kibble from a local pet store). For those of us who would like to groom our dogs to someday hold public office, his human David offered some insight into what made Duke so voter-friendly:

David Rick: Everyone in town likes him, he’s kind of the town mascot. He was originally put on the ballot to raise money for charity and he ended up winning by a landslide.

Peanut, “The Ugliest Dog In The World,” and Owner Holly Chandler

Poor Peanut’s face looks the way it does because he was the victim of animal abuse and was injured in a fire (because the world sucks way more than it should). Peanut won this year’s “World’s Ugliest Dog” contest earlier this year and his human Holly has some words of wisdom on rescuing dogs:

Holly Chandler: Adopt, don’t shop, spay and neuter, and remember that just because a dog has a past doesn’t mean he can’t turn out to be a wonderful dog.

Sky, Showdog Of The Year,  and Her Human Diane Ryan and Diane’s Husband

Sky was the showdog of the year in 2014, she won all the televised dog competitions on American television. So I KNEW her owner Diane would have some amaze advice re: how to train your dragon  dog who may or may not act like a dragon when she’s hungry.

Diane: Know what breed you have or what mix of breeds your dog is, and find out what that breed was bred to do, then train your dog according to the instincts of his/her breed(s).

Lance Bass, Husband, and Their Dog Lily

LANCE BASS LANCE BASS LANCE BASS!

Lance Bass and his hubbie showed up on the green carpet with their rescue Lily (they have two more rescues, Dino and Foster at home). Bass had some awesome tips re: how to treat your dog like the king he is:

Lance Bass: We recently changed their food, we now use Darwin dog food, it’s a raw dog food that comes frozen and you thaw it out, it’s great for the dogs.

He also had some words re: why someone should get a dog in the first place:

LB: They add years to your life. We fall more and more in love with our dogs every day.

Paris Hilton and Her Dogs Prince Hilton and Prince Paris Jr.

Paris offered up, maybe not so much advice, but certainly insight into the life of a Hilton pet:

Paris Hilton: Each of my dogs has a little doggy mansion, and each mansion has both a heater and an air conditioner. They’re always playing with them.

When it comes to meal-time, Paris also does it up for her dogs:

PH: They love veal baby food.

And her favorite way to hang out with her pets?

PH: I like to get into bed with the dogs and watch American Horror Story.

If you’re like “I HAVE TO SEE THESE DOG AWARDS,” and if you like dogs even a little bit, you DO, it’s WAY cuter than the Oscars, you’re in luck, the CW is airing the awards show tonight (Thurs, Jan 17th) at 8/7 c. Get ready for ALL THE ADORABLES.

(Featured image via LAist, story images by the author)