New Yorkers and their dogs will get a shot at bragging rights next week when Industry City in Sunset Park hosts a dog and owner lookalike contest, inviting duos to compete for the title of the city's most matching pair. The free event runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on August 26 at The Bandshell, 220 36th St., and includes photo opportunities, giveaways and other dog-friendly experiences alongside the main event: contestants showing off their lookalike dogs on stage.
The contest is organized by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, which is hosting its first dog and owner lookalike contest this year, as reported by the Brooklyn Eagle. Judging the pairs will be Antwan André Patton, the Grammy-winning Outkast member better known by his stage name Big Boi; Dogfish Head brewer and founder Sam Calagione; and Lumi, a New York City canine influencer. Calagione said the contest gives matching dog-and-owner pairs a stage, a cheering crowd, brews and a chance at the best in show title, according to the Eagle's report.
Why Dogs and Owners Really Do Look Alike
The whole concept of a lookalike contest rests on more than coincidence. A 2013 study led by psychologist Dr. Sadahiko Nakajima at Kwansei Gakuin University, later published in Anthrozoös, found that participants could accurately pair photos of dogs with their owners at rates well above chance. Follow-up experiments that masked different facial features determined the eyes were the primary driver of the perceived resemblance — when researchers obscured that region, matching accuracy dropped to chance levels.
That kind of pet devotion runs deep in New York specifically. A 2024 Forbes Advisor survey, cited by Shelby Semel Dog Training, ranked New York state first in the nation for pet pampering, finding that 59% of New York dog owners buy clothes for their pets and 42% throw them birthday parties. With roughly 600,000 dogs living across the city's five boroughs, according to Business Insider, there's no shortage of potential entrants for a stage built around canine celebrity.
A Judging Panel With Real Dog Credentials
Big Boi's presence on the panel isn't just star power. He co-owns Pitfall Kennels, a 25-acre dog breeding and rescue operation near Atlanta that he and his family have run for more than two decades specializing in American Bullies and French Bulldogs, according to REVOLT. Its clientele has reportedly included high-profile musicians and professional athletes. Calagione, meanwhile, founded Dogfish Head in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in 1995, starting out as the smallest commercial brewery in the country, brewing 10-gallon batches on a homebrew system, per a history published by Happy Harry's Bottle Shop. Lumi rounds out the panel as a Samoyed influencer who has appeared on national pet programming including AKC Good Dog TV in 2024, representing the growing wave of NYC-based pets with national digital followings.
What's on the Line for Winning Pairs
The top three duos will walk away with prizes from Dogfish Head, Bark and Waggies. The grand prize winner receives a matching trophy and medal, a year's worth of Dogfish Head beers and cocktails, dog bark treats from Waggies by Maggie & Friends, and a dog-friendly getaway that includes a three-night stay at the Dogfish Inn in Lewes, Delaware, along with a $1,000 travel stipend, a $250 Dogfish Head gift card, and Dogfish merchandise for both human and dog.
Waggies by Maggie & Friends, the nonprofit supplying the winning treats, was founded in November 2007 by two mothers to employ adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities baking all-natural pet treats, according to DelmarvaLife. The trip's destination, the Dogfish Inn, opened in July 2014 along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal as a 16-room, dog-friendly boutique motel featuring an on-site library curated by San Francisco's City Lights Booksellers and outdoor fire pits, per Arlington Magazine. The property underwent a 10th-anniversary redesign in 2024 and still maintains dedicated pet-friendly ground-floor rooms.
Set Against a Century of Sunset Park Industry
The contest's Bandshell venue sits within Industry City, a 35-acre waterfront campus of 16 historic buildings spanning six million square feet that underwent a $450 million adaptive reuse transformation starting in 2013. Industry City says the site now hosts more than 700 companies and draws over 3 million visits a year. The property's roots go back to 1895, when industrialist Irving T. Bush built it as Bush Terminal, described as New York City's first fully integrated multi-tenant industrial shipping and manufacturing complex, according to Architizer Journal. At its peak, Bush Terminal was the largest multi-tenant industrial site in the nation and served as a U.S. Navy base during World War I.
Dogfish Head said the event celebrates community and the organizations helping dogs and the people who love them. Registration for the contest is free, and giveaways, photo opportunities and complimentary Dogfish Head beer and ready-to-drink cocktail samples are planned throughout the evening for attendees who come to watch or compete.
