Photograph by Finlay Mackay for TIME

This week, the most carefully coiffed dogs in the world gathered at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show to compete for the top prize. TIME takes you behind-the-scenes at New York City’s Madison Square Garden for a look at the prized pooches — and their doting stage parents.

June 3, 2012. Dachshunds sit in a performance artwork titled DACHSHUND UN by Australian artist Bennett Miller at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

From the final journey of the space shuttle Enterprise in New York and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in London to a landmark trial in Egypt and the once-in-a-lifetime Transit of Venus, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week. See more here.

Behind the cover with this week’s TIME magazine.

To shoot the cover photo for this week’s TIME story about animal friendships, photographer Catherine Ledner called on years of experience with cute critters.

“I had to make sure that the dogs that were coming were actually friends,” she says.

See more — (including outtakes from the shoot!) — here.