About dogs wearing clothes?

Dogs don’t really need coats. Maybe when they’re elderly in very cold weather. I feel sorry for them as they must get too hot. It’s this daft idea that they’re fur babies and small humans.

Couldn’t agree more, Dickens - I deplore the idea of dogs as fashion accessories.

Not that I’ve seen one for ages, but ditto the ludicrous clipping of poodles - especially big standard poodles - that makes them look so ridiculous, poor things.

nanna8

I don’t care one way or another about coats for warmth but I can’t stand things like bows and silly decorative items. Just plain tacky.

Protecting animals from the extremes of weather makes sense, particularly if the dog / horse is getting on in years or has an ailment, but I'm with you on the bows and frills.

I assume it doesn't harm a dog to put a bow in a clump of fur, but I do think it's disrespectful. A dog, however small and dainty-looking, is an animal, not a toy. I have seen one - a tiny little thing - with a bow, 'diamond'-studded collar and frilly 'blouse', sitting in a shoulder-bag, on a shopping trip with its owner. It was nervous and 'twitchy'. Would it not have been happier running around, unencumbered, in a field investigating - as dogs do - the sights and smells of nature?

Lap dogs were bred for their willingness to stay close to their owner and generally be messed around with. My BT is a lovely friendly chap but he tolerates my cuddles rather than likes them and will quietly slip off my lap to curl up in a corner of the sofa as he likes his own space. I think most animals tell you what they like and what they don't so tbh if I see a little dog dressed up by his owner, although I wouldn't want that for myself, I really can't get upset by it. Live and let live!

I have a very long, thick haired dog and when she gets wet, she has to be groomed otherwise she gets really knotty which is uncomfortable for her. Without having her hair dried she get very smelly too. She doesn't like having her hair dried much and so she wears a fleece when it is wet which is amazing for keeping everything clean and dry.
Black dogs are often targets for aggression by other dogs. The wearing of a bandana breaks up the black so a dog is less likely to be attacked.
I put my dog's hair up in a bow (Sorry Nanna8) because the ones I buy come on small enough rubber bands. I tried plain bands but they weren't made of the traditional material and just kept breaking. If I don't put her hair up, she can't see anything.
I don't buy her fashion items or costumes and I have had loads of other dogs who never wore anything but their fur but with this one, needs must.

So can anyone explain why a cat that walks past my flat on a regular basis wearing a bow tie has recently started wearing an ordinary tie (presumably clipped to his collar).

It seems weirdly Alice in Wonderland.

Our 16 year old border terrier has lost her rough tough outer coat and has some bald patches where she has lost some of her soft haired undercoat too, so she wearsa coat to keep warm and dry.
She still loves to go out even though her walking distance is limited so we use a dog buggy.
When I have a you ger, robust, dog I won’t use either of these things. But , just as for humans, vet care has improved so much that our pets live longer and experience vulnerability.

We used to put a bandana on our spaniel well sprayed with fleas and tic spray as spraying it directly on him gave him a rash! He was very prone to collecting sheep ticks and the flea bandana worked.

I laughed as I read the title of the thread, because I was just thinking about this!

On the TV last night there was an ad for a pet shop, showing all the Halloween costumes available for dogs and cats. What's next I thought? Then as soon as I went to work this morning, two co-workers were discussing how they were going to dress their dogs for Halloween. One has a little French Bulldog that is always in the latest fashions. I have to admit she is very cute and lovable.

We have an Australian Shepherd; she does not have any jacket. A good shake and a towel-off before she comes in from a rainy walk will do for us, and for her.

Each to his own.

Mollygo

Frilly bonnets, no except when my DGD persuaded our last dog to wear one.
A pushchair for a dog that’s no longer able to walk, that’s OK.
In general. No!

Yes, I have a photo of a little DD with a little dog dressed in hat and scarf, both grinning.
Happy days!

Frilly bonnets, no except when my DGD persuaded our last dog to wear one.
A pushchair for a dog that’s no longer able to walk, that’s OK.
In general. No!

What about dogs being wheeled around in pushchairs, wearing frilly bonnets?

When my son got together with his girlfriend, their family dog had a very smart wardrobe and when we our family met the dog sometime down the line, I did under my breath whisper to son "he's got a better wardrobe than you" son at the time hadn't been at work that long and was in the stages of updating previous student garb. I think he thought the dog's wardrobe was somewhat over the top then. Moving on a few years, having got their own house when Covid struck, the lockdown puppy arrived and in time so did the smart winter coats, for the dog that is I've so many photos on my phone that have been sent to me of the dog in his clothes, especially for wet weather days, where apparently, in spite of having waterproof whatever on, he, the dog, gets to the door sees the rain and develops what my son describes as "stone feet" Well galoshes and his own umbrella somehow attached clearly!

When my friend had her horse, that always had a coat, as many do, I'm sure they need them in the winter!

My old rescue boy with a thin short coat had a snug winter coat, he was very cooperative about wearing it
My spaniel plants her paws and refuses to move if I put a coat on, I’d bought it because for health reasons her long show coat was shaved. She’s a character who also digs her paws i if it’s raining
My lab has a proper thick coat, swims rolls about doesn’t need any coat other than the one he was born in

Mine wear purple bandanas around Poppy Day to commemorate animals killed on the front lines.
They have a Christmas bandana
Otherwise I don’t dress them up

I don't have a problem with people putting coats on dogs in wet and cold weather, it makes sense. What I have a problem with are those people who dress their animals in silly costumes just so they can post a picture on social media - I am sure the animals don't enjoy it

Unless for medical reasons or protection from the weather I dislike seeing animals wearing clothes. I once tried to put a coat on my JR, if looks could have killed I would have been a goner on the spot. Didn't try again.
One of my rescue mixed breed dogs has a coat that doesn't repel water at all and she is soon soaked to the skin if it's raining so she does wear a coat if it rains.

People near us have Chihuahuas who wear pink frilly dresses. Mind you they never walk anywhere

foxie48

Sometimes people who criticise aren't particularly knowledgeable. I've owned many horses and dogs over the years and used rugs and coats for both. Most of my horses have liked to wear fly rugs in the summer and I had a welsh pony with sweet itch who needed to be really well covered or kept in when the mozzies were around or he rubbed himself raw. I would pop a lightweight rain sheet on my daughter's unclipped pony as you can't tack up a filthy wet muddy pony and all the horses were clipped out so they could be "worked" so wore either a stable or turnout rug. My ruftie tuftie border terriers have all hated wet weather despite having a "double coat" because they are house dogs not kept out in kennels but will happily walk all day in their little coats. Daughter's Viz can cope with hot weather but shivers in the cold and wet as he's so fine coated so he has a coat to wear.
Would I dress any animal up as a fashion statement? No, but I will keep them comfortable so they can enjoy their activities.

Agree totally. We have previously kept horses and ponies, and in summer used a fly rug especially with our thorough bred. In winter we put coats on both horses even the welsh cob because it can get very nippy in January!

They soon tell you if they are not happy, just trying this on for size!

My greyhounds and lurchers feel the cold wheras my little dog doesnt. My policy is if I'm cold then so too are my hounds. A new coat arrived this week for one of the dogs - cost £43.

Dogs are like humans in that, if they go out in the rain, they get wet. Our dog dislikes going out in the rain, but will happily go if we add a waterproof cover. We benefit because we only have to dry her feet and ears and the all pervading smell of wet dog doesn’t last as long.
It doesn’t altogether make sense, when I watch her rush into the beck or the sea in the summer or leap into the spray when I’m watering plants with a can or a hose.
Shoes? We don’t currently use them but if we’re told not to walk our dogs on very hot pavements or sand, is it kind to walk them on icy pavements.

It’s interesting that dogs will always curl up in front of a fire and love napping in the sun, so assuming that they like warmth, they probably aren’t too fond of the cold. I dislike seeing dogs dressed up like dolls, but I do think that waterproof coats are a sensible idea for all concerned.

All more of humanising animals
They have their own coats as nature provided but of course humans know best perhaps an old dog whose coat is balding but fit healthy coated dogs, no need.
My dogs in the past (I don’t have one now) have never needed coats hats bandanas or shoes (as I ve seen some dogs wearing) but then I ve never had an expensive made up breed just a simple cross breed or mongrel as we would call them although I m sure they d be offended by that term now and goodness knows I wouldn’t want to offend them
Dogs with bows in their hair like dolls, my friend puts a nappy on hers and boots on it’s feet when it’s wet or snowy poor thing 🙄
Let dogs be dogs and cats be cats (that’s another story declawing them so the don’t scratch the furniture 😥 and never letting them go out to do cat things)

I haven't got a dog so this may be way off, dogs today are used to heated houses so I would assume they are not acclimatised to the cold like dogs that used to live outside.

As for bandanas, I would assume they are decorative, people wear decorative items so why not dogs? A dog would not wear anything if it didn’t want to.

wagwalking.com/daily/the-history-of-doggy-dress-up

It looks like we've been dressing dogs a lot longer than realised