Dressing
Up Dogs for Halloween
By
Steve Dale
Halloween
costumes don’t have to be elaborate. For example, a reader
once reported seeing a collie with a sign draped over her which
read. “If he’s Timmy, guess who I am?”
Of
course, Halloween costumes aren’t required for all dogs.
Lemont, IL dog trainer and columnist for www.thedogdaily.com
Peggy Moran says she understands some dogs are totally humiliated
when they’re wearing clothes.There’s absolutely nothing
wrong with leaving well enough alone, letting these dogs simply
be – well, dogs.
|
Here
are some Halloween safety concerns:
- Candy
isn’t healthy for pets, chocolate can be very dangerous.
- Keep
cats indoors, and secluded in a room with the door closed
so there’s no chance of bolting out the front door.
Birds, ferrets, rabbits and all small animal pets should
be caged when trick or treaters come and go.
- If
you burn candles, make certain that curious cats and/or
ferrets aren’t going to be jumping on the table
to investigate. Keep pets away from Jack-o-lanterns with
candles inside. Also, birds might fly into candles. Birds
have sensitive respiratory systems, and scented candles
may be hazardous to their health.
|
But
then many dogs can be easily persuaded that wearing costume isn’t
all bad. In Atlanta, GA Angelica Praytun says dresses up her Bulldog
as a ballerina for Halloween, and Harry Potter fan Diana Urbauer
of Houston, TX says her Finish spitz will be Rowena Ravenclaw
this year.
For
dogs who aren’t all that sure about wearing an outfit, Moran
explains that a little lunch meat can make up for no taste in
clothing. Simply drape the costume over the dog, but – at
first - make no effort to actually put on. While you do that,
enlist a partner to offer treats.
When
you take the costume away, the treats go away too. Soon, your
pup will drool with pleasure at the mere sight of the outfit.
So, do what your dog wants. Actually, begin to let your dog wear
the costume, again as long as the attire is on your dog there
are treats. Be sure to praise your dog as well, and tell her she’ll
win first place in the costume contest.
Moran
says some dogs act humiliated because we humiliate them. After
all, what can be cuter than a ballerina Bulldog? We laugh. We
don’t mean to, but we do, and the dog gets embarrassed.
“Wouldn’t you?” Moran asks. Control your giggles,
no matter how cute or how silly your pooch looks all dressed up.
Soon
the dogs will eat up all the attention, and eat up much more if
they actually go Trick or Treating.
Moran’s
dogs go Trick or Treating and they’re trained to hold their
own goodie bags. She says, “People give us biscuits. Odd
though, that the dogs’ bags never fill up with biscuits.
Gee, I wonder what happens?”
Most
pet stores now sell costumes for pets. But you can also create
your own. Susan Tauber of West Bloofield, MI did just with her
pug, Yofi. “I dressed him up as a Dalmatian. I took a white
baby onesie that snaps at a baby’s bottom and fixed it to
fit him. Then I used black magic marker to make black spots. I
bought a baby hat that ties under the chin and added solid black
ears and more black spots. It was hysterical to dress one kind
of dog as another.”
K.
H. in Lake Orion, MI dresses both her black miniature poodles
as Elvis. The girl dog, Licorice, wears a pink Elvis circle skirt
with a black silhouette of Elvis swiveling his hips at a microphone;
the mike cord leads to her waistband. She accessorizes with pink
chiffon bows over her ears. The boy dog, Mojo, wears a white satin
cape high collar and a pattern of rhinestones with a matching
white satin belt. Clearly, Licorice is dressed as ‘early
Elvis,’ and Mojo as ‘late Elvis.’
Elvis
costumes are exceedingly popular for pets. “Well, he’s
nothing but a hound dog,” says Alison Jenkins, author of
Doggy
Fashion: Fancy Dress and Chic Costumes for the Dog in Your Life
(Barron’s Educational Series, Hauppauge, NY, 2003).
Jenkins,
who resides just outside London, says even across the ocean Halloween
is catching on, and dogs are being dressed up. “I believe
our dogs deserve a bit of glamour. At the parties, it’s
the dressed up dogs who get the most attention.”
Her
book includes detailed instructions on how to create costumes
including “Fairy Dog Mother,” “Prince of Darkness,”
and “The Blues Brothers.”
However,
even those costumes aren’t as elaborate as Moran’s
Halloween extravagances. One year, she created a presentation
called the Red Hot Doggy Diner: Phoebe the Great Dane wore a harness
which was attached to an embroidery hoop, which was covered with
a checkerboard tablecloth. So, it looked for all the world like
Phoebe was pulling a table. She created fake place-settings, including
plastic hot dogs and catsup bottles. Her daughters dressed as
diner waitresses Charlene and Darlene. Her dachshund brought up
the rear wearing a hot dog bun.
Moran
laughs, “I realize I have a problem. Personally, I do tend
to go overboard. Still, I believe if all the enthusiasm enhances
the bond you have with your dog, and that means you’re spending
more time with your dog – well, what can be better than
that?”
Beth
Stefani in Ann Arbor, MI illustrates that sprit; she’s very
proud of Tucker, her Maltese who she transforms into Superman
for Halloween. “I think Tucker enjoys it,” she says.
In
Ontario, Canada, S. Glassford is dressing her beagle as a devil.
She makes it clear the costume doesn’t describe her dog’s
personality.
Moran
says, “What all these people have in common is that they’re
having a good time with their dogs, and hopefully their dogs are
enjoying the experience too.
