Puppies in costumes – is it cruel to dress up your pup?

Social media is flooded with images and videos of puppies in costumes.

Pumpkins and spiders, Santa’s and Christmas pud’s, Birthday and cowboy hats. Paired with gushing comments and love heart emojis, laughing faces or music to set the scene.  

In fact, a recent study by PetSmart revealed that a whopping 75% of pet parents are planning on dressing up their pet for Halloween.

Dressing puppies in costumes is a popular pastime, but is it cruel to dress up your pup? 

In this blog post we’ll answer the question, share a few examples of puppies in costumes, and provide 4 reasons to resist dressing up your puppy. 

Puppies in costumes – is it cruel to dress up your pup?

Unless your puppy enjoys dressing up, yes, it’s cruel.

Dressing puppies in costumes is generally for human pleasure, not theirs. 

I’ve not seen a photograph or a video yet where a puppy looks happy and comfortable in a costume. 

As puppy guardians our job is to help them to feel safe around us, not to dress them up in costumes because we find it cute or amusing. 

3 examples of puppies in costumes

Look at the pup’s face in the central image below. 

This poor pup looks absolutely petrified. Her tail and ears are down, and her body and face are tense.

Sure, it might be the environment or something within it that’s influencing this pup’s emotions and not the costume. The photograph shows one split second and we don’t know what happened before, during or after this photograph was taken. 

But this image doesn’t show a puppy enjoying “the spooky fun” as the advertisers put it.

She is clearly communicating her feelings of distress. 

Which are being ignored. 

Worse still, they’re being celebrated. 

We can presume that: 

• Her head has been pushed through the top of the costume (unless there’s a strip of Velcro along the back).
• Her legs have been handled and bent through the holes.

Do you think being dressed up is an enjoyable experience for her? 

The costume to the left seems easier to put on the dog due to the straps around the chest and tummy. However, the hat is tight under the dog’s chin. I’m sure most of us can appreciate how annoying this would be.

The harness on the right is the least intrusive, but is it comfortable because it’s a harness? Look at the shape around the neck area. If the dog is pulling on the lead whilst wearing this harness, she may as well be wearing a collar.

I found these images within a matter of seconds after searching on Facebook for ‘puppy Halloween costumes’. The company’s name has been edited out. It’s a big one here in the UK.

4 reasons to resist dressing up your puppy

1. Puppies don’t enjoy wearing costumes

Your puppy might not run and hide, growl and show their teeth, but this doesn’t mean that they’re comfortable wearing a costume. 

You might see:

These are all signs, amongst others, that your puppy is saying, “please stop”. 

When your puppy sees the costume, they don’t know what it is. 

They don’t know if it’s safe or dangerous. 

They can’t predict and imagine what’s about to happen to them. 

They don’t think, “oh, I’m going to look cute in that costume” or “this is going to be funny”. 

Dogs’ brains aren’t wired that way. 

You’d need to explain to your puppy (in a way that they understand) that the costume is safe and you’d need to take things at the pup’s pace. Gradually building up their confidence, so they want to partake in being dressed up. 

Otherwise you’re ignoring their body language; their way of communicating how they feel inside. 

And when this happens your puppy learns that you aren’t to be trusted. You don’t have their back. 

Which is a sad and lonely place to be. 

Something I know you don’t want for your puppy. 

As a puppy guardian, one of the most important things you can learn is dog body language. A great place to start is with this book: Doggie Language: A dog lovers guide to understanding your best friend by Lili Chin. 

2. Puppy costumes are not essential for your pup’s well-being

They don’t keep them safe from harm, they don’t improve their health or lifestyle. 

In fact, for most pup’s, the opposite of this is true. 

So, what’s the point? 

Forcing a puppy to do something with no real benefit is cruel.

3. Puppy costumes are fiddly and uncomfortable

As I’ve described in the examples above, you’ll find them difficult to put on your pup which can be stressful enough.

We can imagine they’re uncomfortable to wear. 

They’re constructed cheaply using poor quality materials, made for the masses.

We’ve all had to wear a uniform or outfit that’s driven us crazy, but the difference is we understand why, and have a choice. Our puppies don’t.

Not honouring your puppy’s choices when there’s no reason to do so, is cruel.

4. Puppy Costumes can be dangerous

Most puppies will remove a hat from their head in seconds, which will no doubt become their chew toy.

If there’s pom poms, beads, googly eyes, or bells etc. attached, there’s a potential vet visit right there.

You want to keep your pup safe. Putting them in unnecessary danger is cruel.

---

In this blog post we’ve answered the question; puppies in costumes – is it cruel to dress up your pup? 

We love our pups and they’re part of our family. Dressing them up can make us think we are treating them as such. 

But unless your puppy enjoys dressing up, you’re causing more harm than good. Treating your pup like a family member includes listening to them and taking respectful action.

Spend your hard-earned cash on something your pup does enjoy. And if your puppy is amongst the few who are happy and comfortable wearing a costume, go and strut your stuff. But please do it with your eyes wide open.

I hope this blog post has helped you to understand your pup and how they might be feeling inside. 

If you enjoyed this blog post, please share it and leave a comment in the section below. 

You might also like my blog post: 5 puppy tips for a wicked Halloween.

And if you’d love to learn more about dog body language and how you raise a happy, confident and well-behaved dog, click here to watch my FREE Puppy Start Right Workshop.

It’ll transform you from puppy parent novice to puppy parent pro in no time!

Happy training!

Lindsay xx