Do any of your friends think dog clothes are cruel and unusual punishment?
 

Some of my friends think it is mean to make a dog wear clothes. Toby really doesn't mind wearing them, and sometimes I think he is thanking me for putting something on him to keep him warm in the winter.

Right now we are living in a rental that was built on a slab of concrete. When Toby is in any room without carpet he starts shaking. Our floors are so cold in the winter---even for me! :rolleyes: And when he is outside, I think he prefers to be in something warm.

I try and remind them that Yorkie's don't have an undercoat, and they cannot take the cold, but they just keep telling me how mean they think it is...

Do you have people that criticize you for this? :mad:

My boss does this! She will come into my office and see pics of Simon and Hallie and tell me how stupid it is that they wear clothes. The way I look at it, I simply don't care what people think. My monkeys are healthy, happy, and warm!

Can you say JEALOUS:laugh: They just wish that they had Yorkies:p

Yep, a couple of my girlfriends think I'm "torturing" the poor dog with clothing, but I said HEY, if you weighed 5 lbs or less, you'd want something warm to wear too:D

Actually, no - none at all. Everyone I know thinks it's totally adorable. They ALWAYS comment me on how cute he looks in all his clothes. And whoever told you told it is torture for the dog, obviously hasn't met my Stedman! lol :p He actually PREFERS wearing clothes. I know I've said this half a dozen times on here - but if for some odd reason he is "naked" lol, and he sees one of his shirts laying on the counter or wherever - he will STARE AT IT and BARK until I put it on him. It's like he is LITERALLY TELLING ME that he wants his shirt on lol. It is hilarious! :p

I will say that the only thing I DO NOT make him wear are shoes. Now THAT is torture for him. I do have a pair here in case it were to ever get SUPER cold, but I would NEVER force him to wear them just because of the "cute factor" - because THEY really ARE torture for him - he cannot walk right in them, and they are just extremely uncomfortable for him, he hates them.

I also don't make him wear bows or anything else in his hair. He just doesn't like anything in his hair at all - it drives him NUTS! So I simply don't put anything in there :) I won't do it if my baby doesn't like it.

So I say that if your baby doesn't LIKE clothes or whatever, then NO - don't make them wear them. We DO have to understand that clothes, shoes, pants etc. ARE NOT "normal/natural" for a dog (despite what some of us crazy mom's who spoil our kids ROTTEN might think LOL) so if they don't like it, let them be comfortable and simply DON'T put it on them! ;)

on the news this morning they said all small breed or breeds with less hair HAVE to wear jackets and boots in the winter

I don't get the "your mean thing" but, people tell me that I am insane for dressing my dogs...I don't dress them all the time..People who don't own these little ones don't understand the "no undercoat" and "they can't take extreme temperatures". They think..."It's just a dog!" We know better than that! LOL! I just do what I want and ignore them!

Well, none that say it to my face! lol I do get some giggles, though - especially when I recently bought some booties for winter.

Now, I used to poo-poo all that "dressing up dogs like people" stuff, but that was py (Pre-Yorkie ;) ). I would still rather see a natural coat, when possible. Especially the ones that have such lovely coats to show off.

No all our family thinks its cute. In fact my Father in law and Mother in Law make goose clothes and sell them at festivals and we have talked them into making dog clothes. So i might get some more cute clothes from them

I don't dress my yorkies unless it is very cold and live in California so it's not very cold much (although today it is really really cold). Pretty much the only dressing up they get is the occasional sweater. I have nothing against clothes on yorkies, I just don't do it myself. I would have to say that some people that like to dress up their yorkies and keep their yorkies in full coat or even a longish haircut may be somewhat cruel if they are constantly having to dematt their dog. I know someone who paid quite a bit (almost $5000) for her yorkie and has also invested hundreds of dollars in clothing (Juicy Couture...) and keeps her dog trimmed down to about 1/2 inch with a cute little trimmed head and ponytail. The dog is the happiest little girl you will ever see and always dressed to the nines and her mom is definitely not cruel because she makes sure the dog never gets matted or too hot with the short haircut.

I don't think so...

I don't CARE what my friends think -- they all think I am a bit Loony Toones where my furchildren are concerned.....

However, my FURCHILDREN feel that wearing clothes is the worst of all Cruel and Unusual Punishments on the face of the earth :teethysmi

Some of my co workers think I'm just crazy period when I talk about my babies with fur, but my bosses wife is always telling me about doggy web sites that have all sorts of accessories. Our 5 month old Abbie likes to wear light weight shirts to stay warm. Reesie our oldest walks around all stiff legged when I dress her. Parts of Texas is going thru this Artic cold front right now and we just pulled up our carpet to lay wood floors. Burrrrrrrr :thumbdown

yes
 

they think Im crazy but the big question is do I care NO NO NO the only opinion that matters when it comes to my girls is MINE.

I never gotten any rude comments for it. People will ask me if I dress him up, but thats about it. But I even dressed up one of my boxers before, so I guess everyone just expects it from me :p

My daughter said Sunshine has more clothes than she does, LOL

My son does want me to take Sunshine no where when he's with me he said ppl would make fun of him. LOL

My hubby like it,if Sunshine doesn't have clothes on, He tell me to put her dress on her :p :p He doesn't like to see her NAKED :eek:


I'm learning not to care what ppl think about me or my Yorkies!!!!

heheheheh....does he mean NAKED, or NEKKED? There is a considerable differnce, y'know :winky:

My DH was "not going to be walking a froo-fee, dolled-up pooch" - until Ms. Abigail-Ceana put her :Pawprint: all over his heart. :D

And can't they worm their way into our DH hearts. I walked past the bedroom this morning and Hubby was having a sleep-in and thers Bailey... shes on the floor cuase she wants the option to run out of the room to see whats happening but cuddled up into his housecoat. Sorry didn't mean to high jack the thread!

I have to put clothes on my dogs IF they go out in the winter. Today in Thompson with the windchill its -45c or -49F. Or should I say its nasty cold!!!

CRUEL ?? If anyone could see my girls hop into their clothes they'd change their mind - mine LOVE being dressed. They go into Goofy mode and show off whatever they're wearing and know they're too cute. In the cold weather they NEED to be dressed - mine shiver and I'm in TEXAS !!

HOLY COW Baileysmom - that's WAY WAY TOO COLD !! I'm canadian born and am VERY glad I was brought to the states when adopted after reading that !!

I don't put dresses on my Yorkie girls, but I do make them cute harnesses, and I'm always on the lookout for fancy sweaters, so if anyone here can knit, and would knit my girls some sweaters, I'll pay them. I also have to put PJ's or night shirts on them at bed time because they wont sleep under the covers, and they get cold and shiver otherwise. During the day when it's cold (like it's been lately here) I keep them in their sweatshirts. Everywhere I go people just love seeing them looking so cute. Fact is when they find out that I make their cute harnesses, they ask if I would make their dog one.
I don't do the boots, but if the asphalt was scorching and it was too hot to carry them, you bet they would be wearing shoes. I went to LA to the Pet Expo and you should have seen all the dogs, especially the big dogs, wearing shoes. They would have blistered otherwise.

I've had a bad experience. I was at the fabric store buying a HUGE amount of fabric and the lady cutting the fabric asked me what I was making. I told her I had a dog clothing business. The woman went off on me. I'm not kidding! She was pissed at me and went on about hollywood's terrible influence on our poor dogs and how cruel...blah blah. I was speechless and OFFENDED. I mean this is my BUSINESS and she had no right to even express her opinion to me as the customer. I took the pile of fabric she already cut, walked right over to the manager and said this is the sale you just lost because of your horrid employee. And walked out.

People that talk like that obviously do not OWN a small breed dog! They've never seen them chitter at the very thought of going outside on a cool day! They've never experienced a hypoglycemic episode because their dog couldn't warm themselves back up after being outside on a freezing day just to pee pee....:rolleyes:

I know what you mean -- when I am in a fabric store buying silk and expensive lace and am asked what I am making I reply very sweetly that I make dog clothes. I try to PUFF UP and look bigger -- I am only 5'1" and I don't like to deal with nasty people so I try to not give them the opportunity. :D

I get weird looks/comments too. Lately, I've been putting a mini topknot on my boy and people tell me "it's gay"...........really irks me :mad:

Do any of your friends think dog clothes are cruel and unusual punishment?

Probably .... do we really care?? Nope!! ;)

My family think I'm crazy too for dressing my little girl, but "I don't give a crap"..... Trea has about 45 outfits and a pet stroller, so I don't worry about what people think I should or should not do with her. She is sooooo funny because when I put clothes on her she goes right to the garage door and waits for me to open it, as to say "lets go mommie".

So keep dressing your little one......

Good for you for walking out and taking your business somewhere else.:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

These small guys need to be protected from the extreme weather/temperatures and I dare someone to make an unnecessary comment to me about my baby's attire.

I took Gypsy on her first walk today and being the UK Winter it's pretty cold. I didn't want Gypsy to get cold and it's not common to see dogs "dressed" over here... so I wasn't sure what reaction I would get.

Well.... I put her little pink hoodie on and her harness over the top and set off around the pond with her. I got mixed responses... some people said, "Awww, look at her all warm", "Isn't that cute?", "Mummy why is that dog wearing clothes?" and then the disapproving people that stared at her then me in disgust, the ones that said "How ridiculas!" and the ones that just laughed.

I told one particularly rude person, "How would you like to be that close to the cold floor and naked?"

Some people do, yes. But that's until I take the clothing off and reveal the fact that she's 1/2 chinese crested hairless and only has fur on her face/feet & tail. :P
Shuts them up pretty quick.... lol.

Kuddos to you for walking out of that store. Too bad that one person can ruin a business. The place I buy material has some older women who work there and they know me now. :) They always want me to take pictures of my dogs in the things I make. :) I have never had a negative reaction from anyone...........yet anyway.

yorkiedaze,what kind of harnesses do yoyu make,have any pictures?
I only dresss Rocco and Rosie in harnesses,t-shirts and hoodies. I don't care for fu fu things.Thats just my taste for me and my kids. I usually get "ooo how cute" or a giggle.

LOL !! GOOOOOOD FOR YOU ! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: There is nothing cruel about dog clothes - I admit some dogs look tortured with hats and costumes on but I think they're good sports and most ALL of us do it to see how they like it ....snap a few pictures and take the offensive costume off lol - My girls will never wear anything they don't LOVE to wear - I just wouldn't do that to them. But being the hams they are - they pretty much love everything

cept for the Santa Suits. I got the evil eyes for those....then Chanel ran all around the yard for 20 minutes in her Santa hat. She obviously just didn't want it captured on film LOL

There are people out there that just do not understand that small dogs need clothes!It really sometimes is not about being cruel, more to being a neccesity. Mine shivers out of cold because it is cold especially when we go out! Sometimes, when he is too cold, I even dress him in two layers. I'd rather him be warm then catch a cold and I put a t-shirt on him when we sleep or a coat when the heater is turned off for the night. I have had experience of him catching a cold in the fall and I am not about to let him get it again. I had a man in the elevator laughing and being sarcastic about me dressing him up...according to him, dogs do not need clothes but hey his daughter is in a jacket too..why doesn't he try to not let his daughter wear the jacket and see if she is cold...I know I sound a little out but I was pissed when someone talk so rudely but of course, I didn't say it out loud. I would have said, "Your daughter is in a jacket too and she is much bigger than my boy is" :mad: