Halloween might be my favorite holiday. There is just something about getting to pretend to be something else for a night that I think is so much fun. I’m not into the horror movies because I am a big baby when it comes to that stuff. But I have been to my share of haunted houses and enjoy a good scare with friends.
Watching Hocus Pocus, carving pumpkins and decorating the house are a lot of fun too but of course the best part of Halloween is trick-or-treating. Getting to put on the costume you were so excited to pick out and running from house to house gathering candy with your friends is one of the best nights of the year. But can you imagine what it is like for a dog?
Costumes completely change our appearance, the way we smell and sometimes the way we talk. Children running around the streets, people with buckets of candy, spooky music and strobe lights are chaotic enough for a person to handle, let alone a dog who doesn’t understand. Most of us love including our furry family members in our activities whenever possible, but Halloween night may be too overwhelming for many dogs.
This is Ares’s 3rd Halloween and I’ve dressed him up every year. His very first Halloween he was still a baby, just 3 months old and hadn’t learned too much about the world yet. I was very naïve then and took him up the street to my parents’ neighbors’ house to hang out while we passed out candy. He was the cutest little thing dressed in his froggie costume and I wanted to show him off. It was chilly that night but there were still a good amount of trick-or-treaters. I'm glad we brought his crate and some blankets but everything just became a little too much for him and I ended up bringing him back down to my parent’s house. Luckily he just seemed to be a little cold and sleepy from all the stimulation but it’s probably a situation I should have thought out better.
Last year was Chaos’s first Halloween so I dressed him as king of the jungle and Ares as an elephant. Chris had to work Halloween night so instead of trying to test them in the commotion of trick-or-treating by myself, we stayed home and did tricks for treats. Why did I buy them costumes if they weren’t going out on Halloween? Good question. We live very close to a farm with a pumpkin patch and dogs are allowed. We had taken Ares to one the previous year but decided to bring both boys, in costume, to Nelter Farms last year. Sure there were a decent amount of people, new things to see and yummy scents to smell, but much less intimidating than trick-or-treat night.
We picked pumpkins in the field and walked around the arts and crafts booths and I sampled some delicious local fruit wines. The boys received many compliments on their costumes and how well behaved they were. Our only problem was the horse drawn wagon ferrying people to and from the pumpkin fields. Ares and Chaos had never seen horses before and scaredy dog Chaos was a little skittish so we just kept our distance.
This year Chris and I had a little party at our place. This was the boys’ opportunity to show off their new monster costumes. Now they weren’t just any monster costumes, they were Mike and Sully from Disney’s Monsters, Inc. Of course Ares was Mike, the little one eyed green monster with a personality 3 times his size. And Chaos was Sully, the big scary looking guy who really is just a softy. They already had the correct color hoodies so I just used felt pieces and glue to create the eyes, horns and Sully’s purple spots. I stuck the eyes and spots to the hoodies with double sided tape and hand stitched the horns so as not to ruin them.
After all our guests had arrived I dressed the boys up and let them show off their costumes. Ares was very proud to wear his and strut his stuff, as usual. Chaos allowed me to dress him up without complaint but he spent some time rolling around on the ground, losing a few spots and somehow one of his horns in the process. Because it wasn’t a big party and they knew our guests already, it was a much better way to let them enjoy Halloween fun without actually taking them out Halloween night.
Maybe next year we will see if they can handle a dose of the treat-or-treating atmosphere but we will prepare them as well as we can in advance. Ares is pretty fearless but he tends to get over-excited in his quest for attention from people and other dogs. And Chaos, the large baby that he is, is afraid of the strangest things. I dressed as a witch for our party and he could have cared less about the dark eye makeup, my puffy black tutu or hot pink striped stockings, but he was initially terrified of my hat! It didn’t take long for him to realize it was still mommy under the hat but the poor thing was ducked down, tail between legs when he first saw me with it on.
I’m not sure if our dogs are the type of dogs who can handle being out on the big night of Halloween amongst the craziness, even in a small dose. But they will still dress up every year and we will always find a way to include them in the festivities surrounding this fun holiday. Do you dress your furbabies? Send me pictures to hilarykennedy1824@gmail.com.
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