British Expatriate Network

My wife came home yesterday with a fancy corduroy coat for the dog. It even had loopholes for pens in case he ever gets the urge to write "Weston was 'ere" in something other than urine. Anyhoo, I convinced her that dogs have managed fine for thousands of years without wearing small childrens clothing, and that I'm not prepared to be responsible for this evolutionary change. So we took it back to Petco and I think I convinced the cashier that Weston hadn't worn it to a party the night before. This morning my wife suggested buying little boots for him. In jest I suggested a monacle and a trilby. I shall not repeat what she said to me.

So clothes for animals - weird or not? Am I being foreign here or what? I remember my dog when I was a kid had a coat, but it was a basic a tartan blanket not a frikking tiny human's smoking jacket. And it wasn't designed by a pillock like Izaac Mizrahi. Tell me I'm being sensible here.

For the most part, I think daft idea. However for animals that can't regulate their body heat so well (like chihuahuas) a small jumper might be good for toilet visits.

Our Boxer has a fleece jacket, for going outside on business visits. He does not have any fur on his belly and the rest of his hair is very short and does not give him protection from the cold up here in MA. There does not seem to be many suitable jackets around for that size of dog. The jackets are usually long enough but are never big enough to fasten round his chest. They must have skinny dogs in China where most of the jackets are made.

I have a friend here who likes to put bonnets on her (male) pug. She also dresses her son and husband in matching outfits. it's a bit shock ??? 8) , but as this is her worst character flaw, I can live with it mrgreen

My dogs have halloween costumes. roll I've got a dinosaur, fireman and cowboy costumes.....the dogs seem pretty disgusted when they have to wear them, but I spose its a laugh. mrgreen

Depending on where you live, and the type of dog, boots and a coat can be a necessity. When a dog gets frozen paws, it looks excrutiatingly painful and they can walk on the sore paw. I made fleeece boots for a foster dog when that happened last year. He was mortified until he realised his feet wouldn't freeze, then he bombed around like a puppy. I agree that "dressing up" is pretty undignified for a dog, but as humans have bred out a lot of the necessary furry protection dogs once had, we now have a responsibility to help out when the temperature drops.

My husband is full of useful suggestions this morning roll , and says how about buying your a wife a dog costume so she can wear that......

Your husband is 3 years too late. 8)

Weird.

Not sure dogs understand the concept of dignity.

I thought all dogs came with a purpose home-grown fur coat...

We've just added a new addition to our family - a little (male) pug puppy. I won't be putting a bonnet on him though! :o :smile: I bet your friend's pug looks cute in his, in a hilarious kinda way. :lol:

I heard yesterday that he is rebelling against all forms of clothing :lol: BTW, learn from my friend's lesson -personalized, made-to-measure dog jackets from LLBean apparently do not cater for thick-necked breeds such as pugs. :shock: :lol:

Thank you for the 'heads-up'. I'll bear that in mind. :lol:

just a fleece jacket if they do not have much a coat and its freezing outside. Anythign else is just too gay.

I am not a big believer of animals in clothing, but every small dog my grandmother has owned, always ends up in a sweater of some sort. She even cuts the sleeves off of old sweatshirts, and fashions them into attire for the little guys.

I suppose as they are little dogs and smooth haired, they do shiver a bit in the bitter northern Ohio winters. I think for her, it's ok, as she has had nothing but male dogs, and never puts lace on them. If she did, I think the other dogs would laugh. lol

As fo dogs not knowing dignity, I do think some of them have an idea of it, some of them don't.