With my favorite holiday Halloween coming up soon, costumes are on the mind. We have to help the kids get theirs ready, and maybe some of us still dress up ourselves (I certainly do). But what about buying or creating costumes for our pets?
I’m curious what you guys think about dressing pets up in costumes. For the past few years I’ve managed to come up with partnered costume ideas for my husband and I (which is a feat, because he won’t wear many types of costumes) to wear to our friends’ annual Halloween party. We usually stay for the weekend at our friends’ house, so we bring Chihiro with us. She enjoys it, because our friends have a beagle with whom Chihiro loves to play.
So I always thought it might be fun to try to include Chihiro in our costume theme each year. But at the same time, I know how miserable she’d be if I tried to dress her up, and because the costume probably wouldn’t stay on for that long I never actually go through with it.
That also led me to think that I’ve never seen costumes for most dogs. Chihiro’s not that big; she’s only 20 pounds, around beagle-sized. Yet the only dog costumes I’ve ever seen are for purse-sized lap dogs. I wonder why; maybe they’re the only sort of breeds that suffer costumes for long? Or is there another reason?
Either way, Chihiro gets to remain costume-free each year, no matter how much I might want to spread my love of Halloween. I don’t think she’d appreciate it, so I don’t want to force her into anything unnecessary that she doesn’t like. That, however, leads me to wonder about putting “human clothes” on pets at all.
I admit I’m guilty of putting hats or scarves on Chihiro long enough to snicker at her consternated face and take pictures. But I’ve never seriously considered putting clothes on her for anything more than that. Of course, I know in the case of some dogs it’s necessary.
During the winter when it gets too cold, I know some people having to deck out dogs, even larger ones like labs, in little booties and snuggies. The dogs might not be happy about it and the owners don’t do it because they think it’s cute, but because it gets too cold outside and the dogs can’t walk directly on the frozen pavement.
So dressing dogs in sweaters for cold weather makes perfect sense to me. But what about putting dogs in normal clothes, like shirts or dresses? I never understood the concept; I can’t imagine the pets enjoying it.
But then I think of Chihiro. When I’ve put a hat or something on her, she refuses to move until I take it off. She’ll sit in place with a long-suffering look and refuse to go about her business. So if the dogs who do get dressed up really don’t like it, wouldn’t they do the same? So they must not mind, or do they just get used to it and eventually move on with their lives wearing their new get-ups?
What do you think about putting dogs in Halloween costumes or just normal clothes? Do you think it’s cute, or should we just leave our poor pets alone?
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