New Orleans ? Sadi and Stella sat demurely in a corner of Louis Armstrong Park, a pair of perfect canine ladies waiting for their annual walk with the Mystic Krewe of Barkus Mardi Gras parade.

Like true Southern belles, the girls had endured tail-teasing and fur-fluffing to get their costumes just so for the annual pooch parade.

After much debate, their owner had decided to deck out the Labradors in the season’s finest Hurricane Katrina fashion: Neon-orange life preservers strapped snugly around their sausage-round bodies. Signs hung around their furry necks, “Follow the Water Line Home.”

Over 14 years, the Mystic Krewe of Barkus has evolved from a bar prank to one of the largest and most eclectic processions of the carnival season. So it was early Sunday afternoon, as a river of barking, yipping and howling dogs wound through the narrow road along Vieux Carre.

“There are a lot of strange and wacky things you see during Mardi Gras, but this is clearly the top dog,” said Melissa Hymel, 29, who owns Sadi and Stella. “It’s silly, but after everything we’ve all been through, it feels good to laugh.”

Originally just a few friends and a pack of parading pooches, Barkus now attracts more than 1,100 registered dog participants and as many as 4,000 people, said Charlotte Bass-Lilly, who sits on the Barkus board of directors.

Attendees paid a fee to join the parade, and proceeds were to be divided among animal-rescue groups in Louisiana and Mississippi. Last year, the Krewe raised about $75,000, Bass-Lilly said.

Barkus has its own royalty and an annual theme.

“We were going to go with ‘A Street Dog Named Desire: Meaner Than Katrina,’ but we decided that we didn’t want to have anything to do with the storm,” Bass-Lilly said.

Instead, the group opted for “The Wizard of Pawz: There’s No Place Like Home.” Scores of dogs were dressed up as “Wizard of Oz” characters: A golden retriever wearing a shaggy lion’s mane sniffed at a fuzzy male poodle decked out in red-glitter shoes, a gingham dress and blond braids pinned to his fur.

Both the parade’s king – a shepherd mix named Amigo – and queen – Patches – were rescued after Katrina.