MIDDLEBURY — It looks like an attempt in Middlebury this past Saturday to score a world record for the number of dogs to attend a film screening failed by around 10 pooches. But organizers of the effort — related to the Middlebury premier of local filmmaker Andy Mitchell’s new documentary, “Inside the Mind of a Dog” — continue to pore over video to see if their initial count of 210 pooches might have been understated.

The Independent reported on Aug. 1 that Mitchell had hoped to collar at least 220 dogs for the Aug. 10 screening of “Inside the Mind of a Dog,” which released on Netflix Aug. 9 to considerable acclaim and viewership. A count of 220 would have eclipsed, by a single pup, the existing Guinness world record for most dogs to attend a film screening.

Independent photo/Steve James

“There were 280 registrations, but about 70 no-shows,” lamented Lisa Mitchell, who is Andy’s spouse, the director of Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater and a driving force behind “Middlebury Underground,” a local arts and event production organization that helped steer the dog-attendance-record quest.

Mitchell said some people showed up at Saturday’s screening with dogs who hadn’t been registered before entering the Memorial Sports Center, so there’s still a chance the record could become Middlebury’s.

OLIVER, A RED setter, and his pal, Charlie, double dated to the screening with Hannah Turner and her mom, Laura, of Leicester.
Independent photo/Steve James

And there’ll be a big silver lining even if the Guinness record continues to be tethered to the 219 dogs who attended “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” last fall in Los Angeles, Ca.; “Inside the Mind of a Dog” was in the top 10 of all movies on Netflix in the US this past weekend. And in England, it’s ranked #3 in kids’ movies.

Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].