genuinegirly

It's nearly Halloween! To get into the spirit, let's talk about dressing up our pets!

Have you ever dressed up your furry or scaly loved ones?
What was their favorite costume? Was it the same as your favorite costume?

I'm not sure how I'll dress up my CinnaBun. We adopted her in February, so this will be our first Halloween together. She doesn't seem to mind wearing clothing. She does not chew on them or try to rip them off. She just hops around like everything is normal until the clothes eventually fall off.

I'm thinking she'll either be a pumpkin or an ewok on the 31st. I'll post photos of her in costume once we have it figured out.

In the meantime, here's Cinna cheering on her team:

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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

skizziks

Putting clothes on your animals is just wrong and should be considered some kind of abuse. When I see a poodle with a sweater, I want to slap the owner. Haloween costumes are equally offensive to me. Not trying to be mean or lash out at you, just my opinion.

snowy

My kitties would not tolerate such a costume. Well, Tumble would probably be okay with it, but Rough would shred whatever you tried to put on her. She might even try to eat it. She eats all sorts of crazy things. So dressing up my cats for Halloween is pretty much out of the question.

But somewhere I have a picture of one of my childhood cats wearing the reindeer antlers intended for the dog at Christmastime. He wore them all over the place, quite patiently.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Vigilante

CinnaBun?? Oh I had to laugh. That's fantastic. My wife would giggle...

I'm sure she has something up her sleeve. Last halloween she got a devil costume for this one:


...but he ate the horns off. The others aren't quite so spunky LOL

I'll take pics when she gets costumes.
-----Added 9/10/2008 at 01 : 59 : 11-----
Exactly how many pets do you have?

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We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

skizziks

Had a dog, he passed away. I now have a cat. Why?

Peaches

I'd like to understand why you think dressing an animal is abusive, skizziks. Not a challenge, just interested in your thoughts.

We have 5 dogs. Two have no interest in wearing clothes at all and will take them off. Two just love their sweaters in the cold weather. My little girl adores getting dressed up in just about anything I put on her. All it takes is for me to go to the drawer where her clothes are kept and she gets all excited, wagging, wiggling, barking, etc. They are all individuals with unique personalities, and I treat them as such. No abuse here.

I don't have enough posts yet to link to an image, but I do have a photo of Clarice in her parka in my album. As for Halloween, I'm not sure what we're doing yet, so unsure if she'll be dressed up or not. She has in years past been a princess, and a ballerina

little_tippler

I don't really care for dressing up pets. I have never tried it with my cats but I bet they'd rip them off in no time.

I think pets are not dolls to be dressed up, so I don't like to see it done, especially if the animal protests. I also don't think that just because they don't protest, doesn't mean they like it. But of course, there can be exceptions.

I won't be doing it any time soon. That being said, your bunny looks cute and happy enough genuinegirly.

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

Vigilante

Most dogs, if you don't fight them over it, either tolerate or actually enjoy being dressed. Don't get me wrong, I don't dress ours (my wife, who is a vet, does) but they think our reactions are hilarious and therefore they enjoy it. They actually get excited when they see a jacket etc being presented to them for wearing.

On a side note, we don't bother dressing our cats. They definitely would not like it. But to say it's cruel, especially when it's a short haired dog and it's cold outside, is incorrect by nearly anyone's standards, including the dog.

__________________
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

PonyPotato

My cats would not tolerate being dressed, I don't think. So I don't plan on dressing them up, though I do contemplate what I would dress them up as for Halloween if they WOULD tolerate it.

My parents' jack russell, though.. he loves wearing his blanket (it's like a horse blanket) in the winter, and would probably love wearing a sweater or jacket (we don't choose those, though, because he gets into burrs and luckily they don't stick to the outside of his blanket). He gets really cold with his short, thin coat and snuggles in to his blanket right away when you present it. His blanket is orange (we live where people could conceivably hunt), so he could easily be made into a pumpkin.

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"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Ayashe

That sounds adorable. Some dogs can use the extra layers, my parents have an adopted Australian terrier. He was left outside by his previous owner and frostbit his feet, now he has to wear boots when the weather gets extremely cold. If left bare-pawed he will walk until his feet hurt so badly he literally flops onto the ground on his side. Putting boots on him allowed him to walk and also allowed him to "do his business" outside where it belonged.

When I was a kid I would always dress my dog up. She didn't seem to mind it at all, in fact I would say that she enjoyed the attention she received.

SSJTWIZTA

i feel the exact same way.

i have a few Jack Russell's. They would kill me in my sleep if i attempted to dress them again.

yes i tried to dress them, but i was pressured into it.

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First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemoller

PonyPotato

My old golden retriever loved the attention we gave her, no matter what we put on her (we dressed her up when I was maybe 7 and my sister 5). I regularly put my tutu on her and took polaroids labeled "Ballerina Dog." She died last March at 13 years old. I miss her lots.

__________________
"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

genuinegirly

Here's Obi-Bun Kenobunny!

We had a lot of fun taking photos of her posing with my sister's children. We had Luke, Leia, Han, Yoda, and Obi-Bun. So much fun!

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Vigilante

LMFAO

__________________
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

genuinegirly

Glad to see you enjoy the costume.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Vigilante

Oh I'm amused, especially because my wife did the same thing for our little cold spell. I'll see if I can find some pics later haha...

__________________
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

genuinegirly

Oh! Do share if you find them! What fun.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

snowy

Her light saber is missing.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Yellow Tulip

I'm with Skizzicks on this - dressing animals up shouldn't be encouraged as their limbs can easily be dislocated. Fasten-round coats for dogs and horses, yes, but that's about it.

Vigilante

My wife is a vet and I've done plenty of dissection in college. Dogs and cats have muscular attachments on the forelimb, and no sockets for dislocation. Most clothes require you to slide in the forelimb and not the hind legs (see Obi-Bun above) therefore there is no risk of dislocating anything. If a person goes apeshit on the animal then they may tear a nerve, but then that person shouldn't have owned the animal to begin with, and dressing the animal wasn't the issue.

Additionally, I don't see many people just grabbing and lifting a horse's front leg, so slipping a jacket over a horse's forelimb and endangering the animal is very unlikely. Sorry to rain on your disinformative parade, but there is no basis for your claim.

Now, back to Obi-Bun and the case of the missing pictures. I dug around on the camera but I can't find any right now. I have alot more to dig through so bear with me

__________________
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

skizziks

HOLY CRAP that bunny is hilarious. The force is strong with that one, I can tell. I still feel bad for it, no matter how much it makes me smile.

genuinegirly

Yes, it is. My sis took some photos of her playing with a lightsaber. I'll see if I can get a copy.

As for the comments about injuring a pet by dressing them up - my rabbit is perfectly capable of chewing through anything I put on her. If she was uncomfortable, it would be off in .5 seconds. She chewed through a few collars and harnesses that she found uncomfortable, but she has yet to chew through an outfit. Her halloween costume was far less constricting than many of the harnesses they make for rabbits and ferrets. I really don't see how this could be construed as cruelty.

Luciferase - I'm looking forward to seeing those photos. No need to rush, I'm sure you have plenty to keep you busy.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Jetée

Even though I am wholly against the practice, the following is solely a phototypical awareness collage to owners for the better understanding & knowedge of the plight their pets must suffer, usually under the duress of their masters' whims.

Please, do not try this at home.



The jump . . . Here's The Reason Why Some Dogs Really Hates Their's Owners ~ www.popgive.com

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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi

genuinegirly

Well, it might keep the pup warm on a cool day. Thanks for sharing the silly image.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy