Five Reasons to Take Those Dog Clothes Off Your Pet

Pet Clothes Are All the Rage....Why?

Rodney Southern
Rodney Southern, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jul 12, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Dog clothing is something that most people are either all for or all against - there seems to be little room for debate. The truth is, dog clothing has been all the rage in the United States for quite some time. Nobody seems to know for sure why, but celebrity dog owners surely are a viable candidate. Regardless of why, we should turn away from these dog clothes and return these poor pooches to their former glory. Here are five good reasons why dog clothes should be eliminated with pet dogs.

Paris Hilton Did It - There are plenty of good reasons to do something, but doing something "because a celebrity does it" is rarely ever a good one. The mere fact that Paris Hilton dresses her dogs to look like little children is reason enough to me to leave the dog clothing on the shelf of your local doggie boutique. If you were a dog, would you want to be a fashion accessory?

Dogs Can and Will Become Spoiled - Though many dogs will embrace the whole "doggie fashion" movement, it is not because they feel as though they are styling and profiling. The reason is because they are likely spoiled in every part of their lifestyle - food, sleep, lack of exercise and the like. Dogs get spoiled just like people do, and any dog wearing a 50K necklace is bound to have some entitlement issues.

Your Cute Doggie Will Eventually Need to Poop - Imagine if you will an adorable Maltese wearing a charming three piece dog suit. Imagine the attention that he draws as he saunters along in his fashionable dog clothing. Imagine their faces when the Maltese then needs to poop. I rest my case.

You Male Dog Will Become Emasculated all Over Again - It is bad enough our adorable little boy dogs have their equipment taken away. They should not have to endure wearing feminine looking dog clothing that makes them look like a girl. Just because your doggie outfit has him in a tie, it does not mean that he looks masculine to his fellow dude dogs. Don't do this to your male dogs!

Plainly Put, It Can Not Be Very Comfortable - Dog clothing is a bad fashion idea for the dog, but it also would seem to be very uncomfortable for a dog covered in hair. Adding clothes on top of their thick coats of fur seems as though it would be simply horrible. If you had hair all over your body like a dog, you likely would go natural as well. Don't make your dog uncomfortable like that.

While some of the dog outfits are rather cute as a one time thing, dressing your dog in that way every single day seems more like doggie torture. Let your pet dog wear what the good Lord gave them, and they are likely to be much happier in the long run. They don't know that they are naked, so I doubt they care much anyway.

Published by Rodney Southern - Featured Contributor in Sports

My name is Rodney Southern and I have a lovely wife, Julie, and two beautiful twin daughters, Brooke and Valerie. Also, I was the 2008 Ultimate Call for Content Winner, and awarded a Top 100 badge for Associ...  View profile

  • No dog clothing is necessary for a puppy to be cute.
  • Dog clothes seem to be driven by the celebrity trends.
  • It is simply unfair to subject your poor dog to those outfits.

10 Comments

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  • Stephanie Cooper5/17/2011

    Your argument is completely unsound. You have no factual or medical evidence to support any of your claims and are clearly writing based on your personal opinion only. More often than not, pet owners purchase clothes for their dogs because the dogs in question need extra warmth. Maybe it's never occurred to you that most dog apparel is available in small sizes only, or that larger sizes are rare. Dachshunds, Chihuahuas, poodles, Yorkies, and puppies of all kinds benefit from the added warmth. Furthermore, the opinionated nature of this piece is furthered by the fact that you aren't likely to find a "three piece dog suit."

    But I think the most important factor in this argument is the dog's opinion. Some dogs like wearing clothes. If you put a sweater on your dog and he doesn't like it, trust me, he'll be sure to let you know. Some dogs think it's fun. *shrug*

  • Kelley12/25/2010

    Origin of doggy cloths

    Actually this all started as a conditioning factor for dogs that lived in frigid environments. Keeping the wind off the body and pressing the fur down to the body helps to conserve body heat. Booties help fend off frostbite and the hazards of road salt. Very few people have their dogs in clothing 24 7 and you can tell the ones who do by the fur condition of their dogs and even the possible bald spots that develop. Some dogs like chihuahua need to be clothed during the winter months because of their small size and how quickly they get cold.

    I agree with you that you shouldn't do it just because you think they would be cute but do think on the function and need some breeds have. No one up north would be able to own a gray hound or chihuahua (or anything else with a short coat under 10 lbs) without the use of dog cloths to keep them warm.

    Also be careful not to humanize reactions. Dogs don't care one way or another on what it looks like. It&

  • Catherine Dagger8/18/2010

    I agree with Sandra - apart from that case, clothes for animals are creepy!!

  • Sandy Rothra7/21/2010

    Thanks for the laugh. I love your reasoning. The exception may be winter coats, when cold, for short haired dogs.

  • Anthony Ventre7/18/2010

    Great article, a pleasure to read. Cute GSD pup photo.

  • Sophie S7/14/2010

    I enjoyed reading this article, Rodney. It made me smile! I was recently visiting my sister-in-law and her pure bred pit bull was excited (I kid you not!) the moment she got his jacket out to clothe him with it. He was literally dancing and doing somersaults. You could tell he really loved wearing his jacket. So I suppose it really depends on the dog. If I had dogs, I doubt if I would clothe them.
    Sophie

  • Robert Lee Alford7/14/2010

    Hooray some one finally said it.

  • theBarefoot7/13/2010

    Dogs don't need clothes except a few Great Danes.

  • Vonda J. Sines7/13/2010

    Great title, Rodney. I noted in PetSmart last week that Martha Stewart is selling a line of pet clothing and accessories such as feeding dishes...ugh.

  • SFaloon7/12/2010

    I enjoyed reading this. I once tried putting a thin orange hunting vest on our black lab/newfie mix. He shredded it within 10 minutes.

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