It’s like a lot of Thursday night happy hours: Workaday folk enjoying the final school night of the week, gather to imbibe and hang with friends. Except this one involves a lot of barking, the occasional canine scuffle, and the wholesale sniffing of butts.

Even though this DCist doesn’t care for dogs, or, frankly, any domesticated animal, she enjoys basking in the friendly weirdness of the time-honored tradition of Doggie Happy Hour, held in the courtyard of the Old Town Holiday Inn.

Every Tuesday and Thursday between the first Tuesday in April to the Tuesday or Thursday closest to Halloween, owners bring their canine pals to this veritable social gathering — frankly, more for the animals than for the owners. After all, it seems that the pets are more apt to meet new friends than the owners are. Still, there’s quite a few remarks like “oh, you have a yorkie, too, how old is he?” or cooing along the lines of “oh, she’s beeeauuutiful!” This little courtyard is an oasis of laughter and camaraderie, and it’s run by the dogs. Oh, and sometimes, a pig. A pig wearing a Dior cap and sunglasses that alternately sits quietly on its owner’s lap and participates in the fellowship of butt-sniffing. Yeah, the pig knows how to hang.