Rosa McGee and her French bulldog Lisa took top honors at a Brooklyn lookalike contest for dogs and their owners.
McGee, an engineering manager on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, entered the competition held Wednesday at Industry City in Brooklyn after hearing about it this week. The event, organized by craft beer maker Dogfish Head in honor of International Dog Day, drew 400 attendees and 35 participating dog-owner pairs who believed they resembled their pets.
Before the contest, McGee went shopping. She bought Lisa — named after cartoon icon Lisa Simpson — a $60 yellow dress with an attached denim vest at a Chelsea pet boutique, then thrifted a human-sized version for herself during her lunch break the same day. She admitted she never expected to win.
“She’s going to get a whole T-bone when she gets home,” McGee told The Post, celebrating with her “perfect meatball” on her lap.
McGee and her husband adopted Lisa, now five and a half, after the dog failed her training as a show dog. Though McGee joked they shared a “compact body type,” she said the judges seemed to respond to deeper similarities.
“We’re both introverted, and we both love our alone time,” McGee, who wore her hair in pigtails as an homage to Lisa’s pointy ears, told The Post. “We’re highly suspicious of men we don’t know. She just likes to chill and be loved, and I identify with that.”
A three-person panel judged the pairs: Antwon Andre Patton, better known as Big Boi of Outkast; New York “pup-fluencer” Jackie Hornung and her Instagram-famous Samoyed Lumi; and Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione.
Sean Bracy, a Brooklyn-based plumbing business owner, dressed in brown plumber’s gear to accentuate his resemblance to his King Charles cavalier/poodle mix Venti — named as an homage to Starbucks.
“The shape of our eyes are very similar, along with our skin tones and sometimes playful attitude,” Bracy told The Post.
Christine Perea, a semi-retired flute player and Brooklyn dog walker, has groomed her 12-year-old poodle Bunny’s long brown locs to match her own since the dog was a puppy.
“People love to take pictures of [us] — they stop me in the street,” Perea added. “I’ve had people follow me into a building…I don’t do anything, it’s so easy.”
Others emphasized temperamental rather than physical matches. Hanna Rohani Wilson, a Bensonhurst dog walker, rescued her Aussiedoodle Shazee in May. Both came dressed in blue-and-orange, saluting New York’s basketball teams.
“What we relate most on is that she’s a very empathetic, social dog,” Wilson explained to The Post. “When people are scared of her, she wants to go reassure them, which is something I do, too.”
Lorraine Gates, a Carroll Gardens “dog nanny” and Guns N’ Roses fan, dressed herself and her Chinese crested powder-puff Jo-Jo Bon Jovi to resemble frontman Axl Rose.
“He dressed up this like this last year for Halloween, and I thought, I can match him,” Gates said.
In the viral moment that capped the evening’s festivities, six finalist duos took the stage for a final judging round featuring interview questions about their dogs’ most human-like traits and household dominance. The lighthearted event was briefly interrupted when two shouting young men — one leading the other across the stage by a belt used as a dog collar — were quickly escorted out before festivities continued. A raffle for a custom-made bike from Priority Bicycles and Xtracycles, both Dogfish Head partners, raised proceeds for nonprofit Badass Animal Rescue.
McGee’s first-place prize included a stay at the brewery hotel in Lewes, Delaware, a $1,000 travel stipend, a $250 Dogfish Head gift card, and matching dog and human trophies. Park Slope resident Alanna Duncan and her shepherd mix Willow, costumed with doggie crutches matching Duncan’s real ones as she heals a torn ACL, placed second. Brooklynite Suki Kwon and her fluffy white Pomoranian mix Kumo — Japanese for “cloud” — took third, with both runners-up receiving dog treats and swag.
Baha Men’s “Who Let The Dogs Out” played as the event concluded.