A potbellied pig went for a waddle over the sun-dappled fields of Game Farm Park last Saturday, snurfling up treats, rolling up admirers, generating buzz.

Under a picnic shelter, within agonizing snoot-shot of the food and grills, three miniature pinschers did their best routine for a passerby, sad eyes seeming to say, “What, all this food, and we’re not getting any of it?! C’mon, guys, give us chow, distend our bellies, they can handle it!”

Across the field riled up dogs barked like mad at a disturbing — who knows, perhaps toothsome — sight — a man stuffed, a la Nike, into a giant tennis shoe suit.

Bull Dog Haven Northwests, operator of a series of bulldog foster homes throughout Washington and Oregon, advertised “free bulldog kisses,” at its booth. Yes, said vendor Lou Green, people would actually line up for the lip locks Buster and his snorting cohorts were eager to drool out.

Indeed, Green added, a group of folks followed her lovelies from pet event to pet event across the state, pining for just such a smack.

“Chuck here will kiss on demand,” said Green, nodding to one beauteous specimen. “Tucker back there, he kisses on demand, too. Buster, now, he’s a combination, rub-my-belly, kiss-my-face sort of guy.”

And there, in the center of a field, standing tall against the sky, a veritable dog of Gibraltar, was Magnuson, an enormous, and enormously gentle, great dane.

“No, he doesn’t need a saddle,” owners Troy and Tammy Bohlen said with a laugh. “We hear that all the time.”

Just the merest cross section of the barking and mewling, whining and whinnying, yipping, howling, slithering, hopping, slobbering, hee-hawing, oinking horde that commandered the park for the eight-hour reign of Petpalooza.

The City of Auburn’s annual spring nod to the beasts in our lives has grown into a tremendously popular event since its beginning five years ago, pulling in animal afficionadoes from throughout the state.

“We’ve grown substantially since we started this, and every year I think it exceeds our expectations,” said Kristy Pachciarz, events coordinator for the Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation Department. “When we were first talking about this in 2007, we thought we might have 100 dog trotters, 50 vendors and perhaps 4,000 people in attendance. We don’t have the final numbers for this year yet, but we know that 450-plus people and their dogs took part in the Fun Run, and that we had 160 vendors and 10,000 to 15,000 people in the park.

“There was lots of entertainment and lots of fun,” Pachciarz said. “We added some kids’ components and tons of fun for kids.”

Fun was the key. Seems only a dyed-in-the-wool dullard could have failed to be entertained with so many critters about, including giant bunnies, purely aquatic frogs, a dwarf horse and here and there, a ferret.

Great big monster dogs with booming barks mingled with squeaklings so small you might ask yourself if they could fit in a thimble, but all doing the doggie thing, wagging their tails, getting into the occasional dustup with others of their kind, mooching for treats and of course, sniffing each other’s posteriors.

If birds were your thing, there was Allie, a spectacular green-wing macaw over at the Northwest Exotic Bird Society booth. Not only could she repeat human speech, she had the passion for dangling from her owner’s finger, suspended by a beak capable of applying 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch.

“Yes, I am risking my finger,” said Debbie Goodrich, The Parrot Lady, who runs an entertainment and educational show business with her exotic birds. “It’s a pair of pliers that could break your arm or your finger.”

Yards away, Seattle Fly Dogs amused the crowd, sending dog after dog down the track to demonstrate their tennis ball-chasing prowess. Of course, like the course of true love, the course of these dog wonders didn’t always run smooth, as announcer Tammy Foss’ amused commentary made clear as it sailed out over the field: “Another foul …Hey! No peeing on the court!”

Maxwell, a 2-year-old boxer, wearied after hot hours under the sun and fed up with putting on a show, opted instead to stick his square head under a fountain just outside the picnic shelter and suck up a restorative midday slurp.

Sometimes perhaps the people amused the critters.

One man, having secured a hot dog and soda, eyed a tree to sit under and headed toward it before a Burmese mountain dog hustled to claim it first.

“Come on, Booger,” said a male voice, not to a dog, however, but to a small boy in boots, most of his upper body concealed under an enormous hat.

“Petpalooza is a great thing,” said Mike Seitz, owner of Tiki Tails Dog Salon in Auburn, and proud owner of Luwa, a shitzu mix dyed green for the occasion. “Last year he was tie dye.”

“It’s another festival that Auburn can produce that is fun for the community and the surrounding areas,” Pachciarz said.