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I am the king...not the princess! Ugh!
One small person in our house is about to celebrate her birthday…and that means party! (For clarity sake: party – 3 year old style!) Oh yes, there will be silly hats! You just can’t humiliate a 3 year old dressing them up in crazy attire; they do that themselves.
But does it humiliate a dog (or any pet) when you dress them up? My boys don’t look too enthusiastic modeling party hats in these pictures but they really didn’t seem to mind.
I'm a dog, not a eye wear model.
I’ve seen some hysterical photos of pet attire, and it leads me to wonder if it is cruel to dress your pet or just good clean fun.
Thoughts?
I don’t think it’s cruel in general. If the pet just hates it, then maybe. I have a chihuahua that absoutely loves to dress up. He’ll bring me shirts, I hold them out and he’ll stick his head in. He leaves them on until I take them off. I have another dog, she doesn’t actually like it just tolerates it. She is a Chinese Crested, meaning she has no hair so she has to wear sweaters when it’s cold, and shirts in the sun or shell get sun burnt.
We recently bought a tie from Petco. (on clearance now for only $3.00)Its a nice balance for us. HE doesn’t seem to notice at all that we switched out his collar for some fancy attire. He doesnt seem too bothered by a standard cotton tee shirt if no one makes a big deal but I think otherwise, my dog is extremely embarrassed. I think the trick is to dress them while their young and they wont know the difference.
I should point out that the other dogs notice when my dog is in a tee shirt, we have sent him off to play and he has come back peed on. Amongst the dog world, I think a dog in a tee shirt is the dog to pee on. The tee shirt is like fresh meat for them and everyone wants to claim it.
When we dress him on Halloween, it seems his legs stop working and the look he gives us look like tears are about to pour from his eyes.
I have tried to put my Bengal cat, Hiro, into a football jersey since he insists on sitting, wathcing, and get in the way of the TV during football season. I can tell how much he truly hates it when I put it on. His ears lie flat back and he yowls like he is in pain. My husband thinks it is kind of funny. I don’t think that we are being cruel but it just might be unusual punishment for him…or maybe that punishment is really for us? I wonder what Hiro would say on the matter?
I don’t think it is punishment or cruel, but most animals don’t need us to cloth them. It is just unnessesary in general.
I don’t feel that it’s cruel to dress up our pet’s,in fact I dress up my 5 month old miniature poodle hazuki she love’s dressing up I guess it makes her feel like a princess,she also wears doggie diaper’s only cause she pees every where and the diapers help to train her and helps me not worry about haveing dog pee on my moms carpet.
Cruel? No way! I dress up my pups as payback for every “potty” they leave on the lawn is picked up exclusively by my bagged hand, not to mention they have more outfits than some children. My dogs have the life I tell ya, therefore they must entertain their beast!
Katie, your post brought me to tears…with laughter. I got such a mental image of your poor pup with a soiled tee shirt. Thanks for brightening my day (and weighing in with your comment.) Erin
My Shitzu/Lahsas used to be humiliated by bad haircuts, but not by costumes. They just hated the costumes and would do everything in their power to get them removed.
On the other hand, should we be dressing our children in animal costumes? Does that make our pets feel inadequate?
Yep! Every year I put poor max in his super man costume.
cape included. He still gets that look……”what the hell is this?”
Are these boots on my feet? But every year, he dutifully poses for his
picture with our son in HIS super hero costume. Just to amuse us.
thanks max! you rock
I tried to dress my 2 Jack Russell Terriers in sweaters in the winter, one thought it was a blanket and curled up inside of it like a turtle going into a shell and refused to come out and the other ripped it to shreads in about 2 minutes!! Needless to say I will not be doing that again anytime soon. I see lots of dogs that are very happy in clothing and I think if they like it then go for it, but take the hint if they turn it into mulch.
I dressed up my parents’ welsh terrier once as a joke, and by doing that, we discovered a little diva. Brecon LOVES to dress up, and would do it himself if he could; challenging due to the lack of opposable thumbs and all!
ps – hi frank!!
I agree with Jennie.Besides,they look sooo cute!
Dressing up is OK if the pet is on board, but putting shoes on dogs? They hate that stuff! With the clothes, they get that “OK, put it on. Let’s get it over with!” look.
When the shoes come out, it turns into “Hey! Knock it off!! I’ve got to be able to dig and that ain’t happening in these doggie Nikes!!!”
omg you pet is so cute and no, dressing pets up is not cruel-its cute.
cute not cruel!!! (:
I only put very soft sweaters on my 3 poodles in the winter not tee shirts and things like that in the spring, fall or summer. All 3 love them, and wait their turn getting them put on. With hard wood floors it is cooler there in winter. Silly hats and goggles a little over the top and now someone is selling wigs for our wee family members that’s really stupid. I do so much poodle grooming and the best for them is a bath weekly and rinse a lot and then some more. Poodles have hair like you or I not fur and need to be kept clean.
Most animals don’t need us to cloth them. It is just unnessesary in general.
I would disagree about clothing dogs being completely unnecessary. In some cases, for instance paw protection and cold weather, it can be very beneficial. My mother’s Scottie got a sweater one year for Christmas and was so embarrassed by it, that she hid under the coffee table and wouldn’t come back out. When we went out in the snow later, we were able to remove the sweater and also the snow and ice chunks from her. Without the sweater, she had snow and ice packed into her fur in places until it melted off. After she realized that the sweater helped keep her warm and ice free, she loved it!
why dont most petstores feed the feeder rats and mice?