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Originally Posted by chinalee61  Well, I hope she outgrows it. She looks depressed with a dress on. I just want to see her romp around and play like she does without clothes. She better get use to them, because I have a closet full of clothes to spoil her in. It would be a shame to use them only for jammies  |
I think it is because in the natural dogs don't wear full-body clothing and don't require it, most feel restricted by it and rather than feel how uncomfortable it can be, they just detach mentally and physically in some cases. All dogs will adapt to whatever we ask of them eventually if we are pumped enough about it and are enjoying dressing them up and making over them and 99% of them will eventually go along with us and even act eager to get into their clothing but most don't like clothing to start with. Some have learned it gets them lots of attention, or warms them or makes us smile and happy when they get dressed and so they eagerly line up to get dressed but in the natural, dogs chew things off that are somehow put on them and fight to get out of anything that interferes with their freedom, preferring to live free and unencumbered.
If you don't believe many dogs love of clothing is learned, start ignoring your dog when dressed, frown, don't make over the dog as you dress it, move away from the clothing distastefully and don't show affection or excitement - rather show disgust or indifference when handling the clothing and dressing them and you will soon see they cool toward the dressing experience they have so learned to like.
Other dogs, rather than just checking out and calming themselves down and resigning themselves to the restriction of full-body clothing by napping or detaching, will readily adapt to clothing and accept its presence like they do a collar or bow. Some dogs never will really accept clothing and are unhappy when dressed. I think this is one of the reasons the Thundershirt works on many dogs - it is heavy and tends to make many dogs feel restricted at first - and it provides some compression which to some dogs can feel soothing, as when littermates are piled around them, so since they can't fight it, they "check out", detach mentally as much as possible or relax from the possible relaxation effect of the compression and restriction. In my experience, dogs that check out mentally and physically from clothing and act rather remote or "different" when dressed tend to be dogs still more in touch with their more natural instincts. Most behavioral & other dog experts(people who make their living from dog care or have respected reputations for working with dogs in the dog world) speak out against trying to dress dogs in full-body clothing type garments except to protect them from the outside elements in some circumstances.