Santa hats on dogs

Totally agree, we had a relative doing the exact same thing this Christmas eve while we were there. My Son (5) had put a feather boa round his Gran's dogs neck who quite happily let him. Because she will let him do whatever he likes within reason and he is very gentle with her as she is old. The DSIL who also had her 6 year old staffy who isnt the most cheerful dog as it is, with her. (Baring in mind my DS is the only child she will trust to be round it because he wont try to do silly things with it) and thats only with adults present. He has respect for animals.
It growls a lot at some of the kids when they get too hyper and is only allowed in the room with my son because he is so good with animals and quiet around them and knows the signs of a dog starting to get upset. She saw that my Son was dressing up Grans dog and wanted part of the action and to get a photo of the two dogs together. Then wondered why he started growling as she is trying to tie a scarf around his neck and put sunglasses on him, He definately wasnt gonna let her put anything on him or even get him next to the other dog who was wary now he was growling and had hidden behind the sofa. Then she wasnt happy when I refused to tell my son off for been "cheeky" to her, because she basically asked him to do it saying "Your so good with dogs, can you get him to wear them" and before I had a chance to say no my son replied "No, I wont he doesn't want to wear it and I wont blame him if he bites your nose off, he isnt happy and thats when dogs bite when they arent happy and they have silly owners" it really annoyed me and most of the other adults im the room who where all telling her to stop and she insisted "he just growls he wouldnt bite, he is soft as muck really" when one of my Uncles had told her the 5 year old had more sense than her. She ended up leaving early insisting that it was all down to the fact we didnt like him because he was a staffy. Not the issue clearly as the older dog is a staffy labradour cross and there are 4 other staffys in the family (not all living together). Two of which are the parents to her dog who was well trained before she took him on. I think some people just shouldnt have dogs if they cant look after them and respect the signs of an unhappy animal before they cause it to bite.

Um

Brother has emailed me several photos of Ginger Tom Oscar wearing a collar and spotty tie. Poor Oscar looks like he's about to burst into tears.

Why?

I think we may get Peter Storm waterproof jackets for our two Lhasa Apso as they have quite long fir and don't like the rain. They would only be wearing them if pouring down all day and needed walk. I know a dog who wears a jumper when it has been clipped very short. I don't get why not just have clipped a bit longer.

Our daughter, who lives in New York, puts coats on her two little rescue dogs in the winter, as it is so cold there. One of them, Colin, was flown in from San Francisco to be adopted so he feels the cold terribly, and screams if she tries to put him down on the cold pavement without his little doggy boots! They love their coats. Of course, they don’t wear coats in the summer.

I can't bear seeing animals dressed up either, it's degrading for them. Some people think a dog looks "cute" wearing a hat, clothes or even glasses. Dogs look great as they are, and don't need adornments.

The local doctor's wife used to dye her poodles pink or blue in the bath,,,, the colour changing weekly depending upon what colour her hair was going to be. Ugh

I quite agree that no dog should be made unhappy or uncomfortable, but I have an awful show off Labrador who is first in line for hats, bandanas etc. if there's any chance of him being able to strut around in them.

Not just dogs!

Had our traditional boxing morning walk with my lovely sister and her two very muddy springer spaniels minus christmas hats.

We were passed by two riders in Christmas onesies (they were wearing riding hats and boots).
The first horse had turquoise tinsel around his neck and turquoise felt ear covers.
The other horse had the same but in red. ?.

a bit outing if any GNers had also passed a couple of horses dressed as xmas trees

Protection for one's pet from bad weather is a whole different ball game from dressing up an animal to get silly photos for Twitter.

My dog is a bearded collie and has thick long hair all over. I put a waterproof coat on him when it is heavy rain as it's a heck of a job drying him off!!

sarahellen, the point in the OP was that it clearly did cause the animal distress. The dog clearly didn't like it and yet the humans persisted. It wouldn't matter if the dog didn't mind but the dog in question did mind. I agree about choice: the dog's choice being paramount when it comes to human idiocy.

My daughter had a large dog; her and I took him home to hers as an eight week old puppy. In his later years, in fact his last Christmas (he died at 16 years), he had lost weight and I bought a waterproof coat for him that had a warm lining. She put it on him for the first, and only time - he hung his head, as if in shame, and you could almost hear him say "REALLY?, you expect me to walk round our neighbourhood in THIS? Puhlease!!" We took it off him, and never tried again lol

Yesterday I went to watch the Christmas Day swim ( I used to do it but feel a bit to ancient now) and every man and his dog was out and every one I saw was dressed up in some kind of gear from antlers and Christmas hats to full on Father Christmas outfits Hideous a dog should be a dog not a blooming dress up toy

I remember watching one of those Battersea Dogs' Home programmes where a young woman had to give up her little dog, for some reason. She tearfully handed it over, complete with a large wardrobe of clothes. She had spent hundreds of pounds on kitting out the poor creature with outfits for every occasion.
The dog was duly re-homed with a nice family who told them to sell or dump the clothes, because they didn't want them. I'm sure that the dog was much happier being a family pet, not a fashion accessory. Why do people who supposedly love their animals think that it's ok to maltreat them by putting clothes on them? Apart from a warm coat if it is really needed it is completely unnecessary.

I think its verging very close to cruelty to treat a living being as if its sole purpose is to amuse its 'owner'.

Aren't most things about choice ? We may tut tut ,but if it is only 'l don't know why they do this' .and doesn't cause human or animal life distress or physical problems then surely life is to short to let such things as treating ones animal like it was a child bother us. No, I would not dress my animal like a child but that is MY choice.

Haven't seen a dog yet that looks happy all dressed up. Why oh why do humans do this?

Our elderly JR has started asking to come back indoors when we're working outside on cold days so it's time to start thinking about a coat for her. Our last JR had a very natty Barbour jacket which was easy to keep clean.

Peggy, her daughter, has a much thicker coat so I doubt she will ever need to wear anything warm.

I don't get bandanas either...….why?

I would never dream of dressing my dog up like a doll.
How disrespectful.
I have seen some dogs, usually abroad, in a necker-chief and as they are used to a collar,that is not too bad.
But otherwise....... No!

I have never put a coat on a dog in my life. The only exception for me would be medical reasons. Even in cold weather a dog will run fast and keep warm. In heavy rain or snow just don't go out

Oh I hate this dressing up of dogs it really makes me angry I ve just seen a picture of a dog have a mandala pattern cut into its coat yes the dog looked happy enough and was lying chilled out but what the heck it’s not a blooming toy go and buy a Barbie and play with it
Dogs shouldn’t need coats unless they are elderly even that’s questionable or have a medical condition they must get so overheated in their own then a man made coat
Hideous

I don't agree with putting dogs in fancy dress either and our two year old spaniel doesn't either. I did try a coat fort he Christmas party at Agility but she was so miserable it came off within five minutes. She even hates having her harness on and that's essential when she's in the car.

Dogs hate dressing up in my experience - it upsets them and is not very kind if you persist when you can see they are not happy. They are not little people in fur coats!

Dogs have their own coats it's attached to their own skin! Only fine coated dogs or very elderly dogs need a little help to keep warm. How hot & uncomfortable some of these poor dogs must be. They are living animals, not dressing up dolls!!!!