This weekend's Houston World Series of Dog Shows offers a ton of content for dog lovers. For Houston’s various pet rescues, it’s also a chance to get the word out, raise money, and educate the public about specific breeds.

“The best part of attending the show is introducing the sheltie breed to the public and sharing our knowledge about Shetland sheepdogs,” Jenny Poti of the Houston Sheltie Sanctuary tells CultureMap. “We bring our foster dogs and some adopted shelties to the show, and the children and families love meeting and petting the shelties and learning about rescue and adopting. It is also really fun to see former adopters and their adopted shelties, as they always come by the booth to say ‘Hi’ and catch up. Many of our adopted shelties train and compete in sports like Fly Ball, Doggie Dancing, and Agility, and it is great to see how far they have blossomed since coming into rescue and getting adopted.”

Houston Sheltie Sanctuary has been participating in the World Series of Dog Shows for more than 20 years. Over those two decades, they have adopted out 1,515 shelties to forever homes.

Rescues at the World Series of Dog Shows use a variety of ways to attract people to their booths (aside from the obvious chance to pet the dogs). One local pug rescue regularly has themed costume appearances for their dogs such as steampunk or The Wizard of Oz. The more common approach is raffles. Houston Sheltie Rescue is running four raffles throughout the weekend, with prizes ranging from Squishmallows to gift cards.

A tip for attendees: while some of these booths take cards, others are cash only. It’s a good idea to bring some bills for the various donation boxes and raffle games.

For obvious reasons, the World Series of Dog Shows is very dog friendly. Because of that, it can be a great place to take your own dogs to see how they interact with specific breeds. This lets people “test drive” possible adoptions before they commit.

“It’s a wonderful event in that it encompasses many facets for dog loving people,” says Debbie McCormack, president of Golden Retriever Rescue of Houston. “We have some of our dogs who come out so that people who are thinking about getting a dog are exposed to the option of adopting from rescue.”

Rescue booths are only part of the happenings at the World Series of Dog Shows. Held July 17-21, the event includes a traditional dog show, agility courses, and vendors selling everything from puppy couture to elaborate themed dog houses. Find a full schedule of events and ticket information at the official website.