Dressing Man’s Best Friends

Do you love to dress up for Halloween? Do you love to dress up your kids? Do you love to dress up your boyfriend/spouse/family? Then you probably can get on board dressing up your pet. Last year, I decided to try to get my dog, a toy poodle to wear a costume, and I think I’ve learned a few things since then.

Here are some tips on what kinds of costumes make for safe pet costumes and some tricks to getting them to stay put.

1. Cat in the Hat- Putting a red and white striped top hat on your cat may seem like a challenge, but if you make sure it has little slots for your feline friends ears to slip into, chances on the hat will last for at least an hour.
2. Chia Pet – Take fake greens and sew them onto a velcro doggie blanket to make your pooch into a real live chia garden. If you don’t like to sew, hot glue the greens onto the blanket, just make sure it’s completely cool before you put it on Fido.
3. Pirate Pooches- If you have a pit bull, you know how much they let you get away with.  This halloween you can get your dog in full costume with striped doggie pants, a red vest and a pirate hat complete with glued on parrot.
4. Dinos for small animals – There are plenty of small dinosaur costumes for dogs or cats that are plush, light costumes that stay out of the dogs vision, and away from their legs. This particularly costume allows your dog to do what he or she normally does, just a little more adorably.
5. A lion- Feline friends will appreciate being dressed in this larger than life lion headdress. Simply tuck the lion mane over your kitty’s ears and let loose. It may only last for a moment, but make sure you have your camera by your side.

When thinking of how to attach something to a pet costume I remember a few things. Mobility, sight, comfort and fur. You never want to block your pets ability to walk, jump or pee. If you cover up their eye sight, you will make them nervous. Don’t glue, velcro or tape anything onto your pets fur. That’s called animal cruelty. If your pet doesn’t seem happy having a costume on, take a quick picture and take it off. You don’t want to stress out your best friend.