I was on my way home from work at the cats only boarding facility the other day when I saw a young-ish (maybe in his early twenties) guy walking two dogs. One was a big goofy lab-type dog; the other was a shaggy little white dog that probably had poodle in her ancestry.
What caught my eye was that the little white dog had bright pink spots on the top of her head and the tip of her tail. It took me a while to decide that I thought it was cute and relatively harmless.
Why the dilemma? Well, I’m sure there are some folks out there who would think that giving your pup a dye job is a waste of time and money. Maybe there are people who’d think it was cruel to subject a pet to the process, or the possible humiliation of being a pink poodle. Which then led me into wondering about painting your dog’s toenails. Could that be considered cruel too? I’ve seen shelters do fundraisers where your dog gets a bath and a pedicure (and I’ve thought it was a cute idea, personally).
I probably wouldn’t do it, when it comes to my own dogs. As much as Moose likes the getting scrubbed part of a bath, he probably wouldn’t want to sit still for hair dying. Same goes for Lally. And I know they wouldn’t like the toenail painting — toenail trimming is bad enough already!
But as long as the dog isn’t bothered by the chemicals in the hair dye (or the nail polish) or the primping process itself, I don’t think it’s a horrible thing.
And the little white dog with the pink poof of hair on her head and tail was prancing along like she was proud of her colors. So I don’t think she minded one bit.