halloween dogs scary podcast school for the dogs annie grossman

Episode 31 | Halloween & Dogs: How to make costumes less scary for pets

Click here for our guide to acclimating a dog to a costume!

Halloween can be a scary time… for dogs! But it can also be a time to think about how to use training to reduce fears and overcome challenges. In this episode, Annie discusses, among other things:

-Ideas for low stress, easy costumes that most dogs can wear without anxiety.
-Acclimating a dog to a costume by creating good associations with it over time.
-Teaching your dog to wear costumes made out of muzzles, cones, and other things you actually may want to train him or her to feel okay about wearing.
-Noticing stress signals your dog, or other dogs, may display to show their discomfort.

Transcript:

Annie:

Hello human listeners, and dog friends. So I want you to take a moment to imagine a scenario where you are a foreign exchange student and you just arrived in this new country where you don't speak the language. And you've been placed with a family and they're pretty nice to you. You generally like them. You don't understand what's going on a lot of the time, but they're pretty kind to you and they tend to help you figure out what's what, where to be, what to do. And over time you pick up little things here and there and you get really good at just sort of reading situations in order to figure out what's happening.

 

And then one day they take off all your clothing and they don't let you put other clothing on. And they don't seem to be doing this for any kind of sexual reason, but they seem to be getting a real kick out of it. And they begin taking your photo. They take you on a long walk throughout the city. Maybe they even take you to a park where there are a lot of other families who have foreign exchange students who are also naked and they don't speak your language either. And all you can kind of do is look at these other poor souls and feel great empathy and discomfort because everyone around you is staring at you and really enjoying the fact that you are naked.

 

Now you have no idea whether or not they're ever going to give you back your clothes, or if this nudity situation is the new normal. You aren't clear why all of these other foreign exchange students also don't have any clothes. It's not clear to you why your family seems to be enjoying you being naked so much and you're doing everything you can to show that you're uncomfortable. You're crossing your legs. You're crossing your arms. You are trying to hide your private parts and, kind of, making faces of discomfort. But no one seems to notice they just keep snapping pictures and showing you off to their friends.

 

I think that this must be kind of what it's like for a lot of dogs on Halloween because I think we take our clothed-ness for granted just as they take their nudity for granted. And for many dogs having to wear clothing is probably as jarring as being forced to be naked if you're a human. 

 

Now, of course, we all know some dogs who are just totally game for whatever, who you could flop around in any position and they're happy to be there. Who you can dress up all day long and sit down and pretend you're having a tea party with them and your kids and they're just happy to be there wearing whatever goofy hat or wig or shoes you happen to put on them. Just like there are people like that, right, where everything's slides off their back. They totally don't mind how you mess with them or how the world screws with them. They're just happy to be there and game for whatever. But then there are certainly dogs, on the spectrum of emotions and behavior, there are certainly dogs who are super, super stressed out by having to wear anything unusual. And if there's one day where dogs are asked to wear something unusual, it's generally Halloween.

 

Now, if you dress up your dog, if you're dressing up your dog this year, if you have dressed up your dog in the past, I don't want you to feel like, “Ugh, Annie is here telling me I'm a bad dog owner” because I have certainly put my dog, Amos, in many, a silly costume. I just think it's a good opportunity, first of all, to think about how we can acclimate a dog to anything or many things, at least, including a costume. How we might be able to use this moment  where we put dogs in costume to, like, sharpen our ability to notice when they are uncomfortable. And, you know, because you might be bringing your dog to a parade or a party, it might not be your dog who is uncomfortable, but you might build your ability to notice what we call stress signals or displacement behaviors in other dogs, which can only help you be a better dog owner.

 

And lastly, I just want to talk about some creative ways you can put your dog in a costume and celebrate this holiday and maybe be a little silly, have a little fun without stressing them out, sort of like, low stress, really easy costume options or alternatives. And I'm always looking for new creative, low stress, easy costume ideas. So if you have any, please, please share them with me. You can post them in our Facebook group, facebook.com/group/schoolforthedogs or tag us on Instagram or DM me on Instagram at School for the Dogs. 

 

And actually I was gonna talk about low stress, easy costumes at the end of this episode, but gosh, darn it, it's my podcast. And  I can do whatever I want. Let's talk about them now. 

 

So whenever I think about the sort of low stress, easy costume ideas, I always remember this kid in high school, on Halloween who thread a teabag through his teeth and announced to everybody that he was dressed up for Halloween as a cup of tea.

 

And, of course, this was sort of silly and stupid in the way that high school kids are silly and stupid. But it was also sort of genius, I think, I thought. And I'm always trying to figure out what's the cup of tea alternative costume that we can come up with for a dog. What could be that easy and funny and clever. And I think like the easiest, best costume I've seen that people tend to hit on is putting a “TY” tag on a dog T-Y. These are like the heart shaped tags that come on Beanie Babies, or were used to come on Beanie Babies. I don't know if Beanie Babies are still a thing. But certainly, if you were a child or teenager of the nineties, you remember them and it's certainly something you can make yourself, or you can buy them– I will link to them in the show notes. But they're,you know, putting a tag on your dog to make your dog look like a stuffed animal. I'll also link to instructions online of how you could make your own if you're in a pinch and don't have time to buy one. But super sweet, super simple attaches to your dog, your dog's neck, of course, your dog is probably already used to wearing things on his or her neck, such as tags. So not a big deal. 

 

Um, I also really like a couple of costumes that I've seen that you can get them on Amazon, that are kind of like harnesses, but they have like a stuffed animal person attached to the top of the harness. So there's one that looks like a jockey, there's one that looks like a cowboy.

So it looks like, you know, you have a jockey or cowboy kind of riding your dog and because it just straps on like a simple harness and I don't think the stuffed animal that's a top, the dog has much weight, it's, I think, generally not going to impede your dog's movement and most dogs can wear these without a lot of anxiety, I would say. I have one of these for my dog Amos, and I'll put a photo of him too, in the show notes wearing it. 

 

There are lots of adorable bandanas also that you can get for dogs. And there are bandanas that look like little capes. If you want to address your dog as a superhero. Etsy is full of a holiday themed bandanas, which are really cute for Halloween. There's one that I like that  it looks like a triangular piece of candy corn.

 

And, you know, one thing that, I think is kind of a cool idea is actually painting on your dog. A few years ago, we did this with some of our dogs, students at School for the Dogs. We got a bunch of what's called Pet Paint, and we hired some artists to spray paint the dogs with this dog-safe, pet-safe paint. That's kind of, it's kinda chalky. It comes out pretty easily. You can just brush it out or just like with a bath that'll come out,  it's not permanent in any way. They also make stencils so that you can stencil things on with these pet safe spray paints. And there are blow markers that a lot of groomers use that you can also use to put little stencils onto your dogs. They also make dog safe nail polish, which you could do something with, if you want to paint their claws.

 

My only problem with the pet safe paint, which is called Pet Paint was when it comes out of the can it makes a really loud “SHHH” kind of noise, which scared some of the dogs we were working with, so I think there's money to be made out there if somebody could make a pet safe paint that could actually be painted on rather than sprayed on. But when you think about it, I think, you know, painting your dog can actually be a lot less stressful for your dog because they're not actually having to wear something. They don't necessarily feel the paint. 

 

And, of course there is a whole world of what's called, creative grooming where people go to, uh, extremes to sculpt their dogs. It's mostly like poodle breed, kind of dogs, using sheers and buzzers and clippers and all kinds of dye to sort of create these sculptures out of their dogs, which is sort of a different thing. But, I'm all for it because I think it doesn't harm the dogs. The dogs are getting a lot of attention both during the time that they're being worked on. And from other people afterwards. I think some dogs can or might really enjoy that kind of attention. 

 

Now, if you are going to train your dog to wear a costume, it's going to be all about helping them create good associations with wearing whatever it is you want your dog to wear and to do it over time. I think one problem with Halloween is often the first time someone puts a costume on their dog it's on Halloween or when they're going to whatever dog parade or dog party they're going to. And not only is your dog now dealing with the stress of wearing this strange get-up, he or she is also dealing with having to be in crowds, having to be around people who are wearing weird things, having to be around other dogs who are wearing weird things and because your dog doesn't have a lot of experience with the thing coming on and off, for all he knows he is going to be dressed up like Princess Leia for eternity.

 

So simply getting your dog used to having the thing come on and off and on and off is a good idea, but what you can start doing ideally in the weeks before you plan to dress up your dog is to put the costume on your dog and then feed him his meals. Put it on right before meal time. And this is an easy way to help your dog create that association, “gosh, when I'm wearing this weird thing, I get my yummy dinner” plus breakfast plus lunch or whatever, of course you could also just put it on and feed treats, but if you're going to be giving your dog meals anyway, that certainly a good time to be forging the association between yummy stuff and weird costume. 

 

Now, if you put a costume on your dog and your dog is too stressed out to eat, that's certainly some good information for you. A dog who is not eating his food is often a dog that is super anxious. So in that case, you might just start out having the costume near your dog's food bowl while your dog is eating or you could just try putting on some element of the costume rather than the whole costume. Or you could see if your dog will take something very high value,in lieu of food, when the costume is on, you know, maybe hot dogs or roast beef or cheese or peanut butter or something like that. But it's an easy way to help create good associations with wearing something weird. It's something you can do a few times a day, and you're also getting your dog used to having the outfit come on and off and on and off so that he's not fearful about it being on forever.

 

Now, it really, this isn't so different than the way that we get dogs used to any strange thing that they may have to wear, which may not have to do with Halloween or any holiday. For example, a muzzle or an e-collar like they often have to wear after any kind of medical procedure. In our Puppy Kindergarten classes, that's one thing we practice doing- we practice teaching a dog that when they have the cone on, they get treats and they get good stuff. And then the cone comes off. That it comes on and off. And that when it is around the neck, good things happen. 

 

Otherwise kind of the same thing with my Halloween scenario of the dog, putting on the costume and then going to a possibly stressful event, what can happen is the first time your dog is in a cone. It's also the first time that they're recovering from surgery, They're groggy. They're not feeling well. And so why not set them up for success by getting them used to the cone when they're feeling just fine. 

 

Same thing goes with the muzzle. Sometimes dogs have to put on muzzles at the vet when they're having a procedure done.  Any dog can bite and certainly dogs who are scared and in pain are more likely to bite than other dogs. Most veterinarians have muzzles on hand just for this reason, but isn't it a good idea to get your dog used to wearing a muzzle before they're going to be poked and prodded while having to wear it for the first time.

 

Same thing goes with a coat or a sweater. If you think you're going to want to put those on your dog. Or with booties. A lot of times we don't think about getting a dog acclimated to wearing booties and until it's really rainy or really snowy outside, which adds a whole other layer of stress possibly. So you can get your dog used to having things on his or her feet or wearing a jacket when they're inside just eating their regular food on a normal day. 

 

Now I'm kind of a fan though, of combining training a dog to wear the weird things we sometimes need them to wear because of health or safety or weather with Halloween. One thing that you could do is train your dog to wear a cone, for instance, that is also a costume. And that way you're doing something that's actually useful training-wise and also may sort of scratch the itch you have to dress up your dog.

 

A few years ago at School for the Dogs, we did another event where we decorated cones in all sorts of funny ways. We made it. So a cone kind of was decorated with cotton balls and a red triangle at the top so it looked like the dog was Santa Claus. We had a cone that had a skewer in it with some foam olives so it looked like the dog's head was like a martini glass. You can totally get creative in that way and also at the same time, be training your dog to feel okay about wearing an e-collar or aka an Elizabethan collar or a cone. 

 

Um, ditto with muzzles. There are actually some crazy looking muzzles out there. There are ones that look like duckbills, there are ones that have scary teeth and stuff on them. And I've talked about this before, but I think it's never a bad idea for a dog to learn to wear a muzzle, even if you're pretty certain your dog's never gonna bite anyone. It still might just make other people feel comfortable to have your dog in a muzzle, cause not everybody's comfortable around dogs. There could be a situation, and like I was talking about at the vet, where your dog may need to wear a muzzle. So teaching your dog to wear a muzzle, that is one of these, let's call them creative muzzle, again, it's kind of, you know, two birds, one stone. Because like so many things, your dog doesn't know the difference between the things we want him to do because it's useful and the things we want him to do because it's silly and it pleases us. So your dog doesn't know that wearing a wig is just for fun, but wearing a muzzle is necessary, but you can use the same slow acclimation process and you can make use of associations to train your dog to wear either one. 

 

And just a little plug for our Facebook group last week, Anamarie, our trainer who's now living in California, did a little video about teaching dogs to wear muzzles. So definitely go check that out. 

 

And actually a few years ago, I had a class where I challenged my students to teach their dog to wear something really, really crazy to the point where it seemed like the dog would feel okay about it. And I took the challenge myself and the crazy thing I taught my dog to wear was a sock on his head. Now I made holes for his nose and mouth. I made holes for his eyes. I made holes for his ears, but it was basically a sock mask that I taught him to put on his face and to walk around with happy body language over time, by putting it on, feeding him his meals, taking it off, putting it on, feeding him his meals and then getting him used to doing normal things with it on. And,you know, again, there, it wasn't something I was doing with great purpose. I was just trying to see if it would be possible to teach him to feel okay about this weird and sort of obtrusive kind of costume. And it totally was, and it actually looked pretty hilarious. He kind of looked like a Panda bear or like Snoopy ‘cause the sock was white and he was black and he had these like two black holes for eyes and this black nose and his black ears. And he definitely got lots of attention on the street, which I actually think he enjoyed. 

 

So if you kind of want to weight the bat, that is something that you could try and do. You know, I've heard of actors for example, who, um, when they're preparing to go on an audition will sit in some sort of really crazy position and recite their lines that way in a really sort of uncomfortable position. Because if you can learn to recite your lines and be relaxed in some strange physical state, you're going to feel a lot better when you're sitting normally. So I think sort of the same, the same idea applies. If you can teach your dog to wear a sock on his head, you are making great strides to teaching your dog to dress up like a bumblebee or to wear a muzzle when necessary. 

 

Now I know I've been talking a lot about how many dogs are uncomfortable in costumes and you might say, “well, how do you know Annie? Are you having conversations with these dogs? Are you doing some kind of dog ESP?” Uh, no, I am not doing either. I am really just guessing as so much of interpreting dog behavior really is about guessing, but it's informed, guessing based on the fact that I'm pretty familiar with certain pieces of dog body language that I think every dog owner can learn to read.

 

There are certain things dogs tend to do when they are uncomfortable. And like I mentioned earlier in the episode, we call these, we often call these displacement behaviors or stress signals. And I just wanted to point out a few of them because if you are going to put your dog in a costume, it's a good thing to keep an eye on whether or not they're showing these kinds of stress signals. And if you see other dogs in costumes, it's good practice to start reading these kinds of signals in other dogs. 

 

So a really big one, a common one that I think every single dog does probably at some point every day is a lip lick or also sometimes kind of looks like a tongue flick.Basically, unless your dog has just swallowed something, in which case they're very likely to lick their lips or if your dog has like a mouth full of peanut butter, your dog is likely to lick his lips. But, otherwise, if you see your dog's tongue coming out of his mouth and it's not obviously happy tongue, right, not an, obviously a sort of loose panting tongue. If you see a tongue that going up across their upper lip or coming out really quickly onto their upper lip, that is generally a tongue flick or lip lick, like I said, we call it both things and it's usually a sign of discomfort. We think it has something to do, maybe, with how they relate to their mother. It might be a way that they're communicating to each other that they mean no harm. It could be some sort of self-soothing behavior. There are lots of things that humans do that we do with our mouths when we're stressed out that probably we do because in some way it makes us feel better. So the lip lick is certainly something to keep an eye out for. And like I said, most dogs do it really frequently if they hear a funny noise or if they spot an unfamiliar object or they're feeling weird about another dog who's passing by. There a million things that I think trigger a tongue flick throughout the day, but in a situation where your dog is in, in a costume that he's not comfortable in, it's certainly a time where you're going to see it more than other times. 

 

Yawning is a similar signal that dogs give when they're uncomfortable. I think it's something that dogs probably do more when they're stressed out, than when they're simply tired. 

 

Scratching their ears with a hind leg is another sign that your dog might be feeling a little weird about whatever's going on. Yes, of course it's possible your dog just has an itchy ear or is uncomfortable with his collar, but we tend to lump it together with displacement behaviors. I think of it kind of as like your dog is, is trying to be busy, look busy. I had one client who said, “Oh, when, when he scratches his ear, is that kind of like when I'm at a party and I check my phone, even though it's dead,” like yeah, probably is something like that. I actually also think that ear scratching is something dogs tend to do when they're getting a little overwhelmed or tired. Often in training, if I do a 90 minute session with a puppy, which is a long session for a puppy, but often our first sessions are that long. Towards the end, I'll start to see a lot of ear scratching, which to me is a sign that it's time to wrap things up. 

 

Similarly, shaking off can be a sign of discomfort, especially with anything relating to clothing. My dog who is pretty used to wearing clothing, I'll still see him shake off. Certainly when I take something off of him, it's kind of like, “oh, that was weird” sort of motion. Or at least that's how I interpret it when your dog is shaking, but when you know, he or she isn't wet.  Usually it's a sort of like a reset, like, “okay, I didn't like that, but  let's just shake off that funny feeling and move on to the next thing.”

 

And the last stress signal I wanted to mention is what we call whale eye or half moon eye. That's when you can see the side white part of your dog's eye and the rest of his or her body is usually standing very, very still. I kind of think of it like your dog thinks, “well, if I'm very, still and only move my eyes, nobody can actually tell that I'm here.” A fearful dog is often a very still dog who is only moving his eyes in that way. It might be accompanied by your dog pushing his ears back, or what's called piloerection, which is like the hairs on the neck and the back standing up. But it's just another bit of body language that dogs are using to communicate to each other and to us, “Hey, I'm not that comfortable with what's going on.”

 

So when you see these things, if you see it in another dog, certainly give that dog some space. Don't let your dog rush that dog. And if you see it in your dog, see what you can do to relieve some of the stress. That might be, like I said, creating a better association with whatever is going on, whether that's using food or treats or play, or, you know, your own soothing voice or attention. Or, you know, certainly alleviate the stress, if we're talking about putting your dog in a costume, take your dog out in the costum or take off some element of the costume, but your dog does not have the capability to talk to you about being uncomfortable with words. He does have the capability of doing it with these little bits of body language that he's trying to use to communicate his feelings. So use this as an opportunity to get good at a speaking dog in this way. 

 

So if you're celebrating Halloween with your dog this year, I hope that, it's a good chance to do some good training. If you have a low stress, easy costume that you've come up with something super clever, please share it with me. I would love to see it, and I will share it with others if that's cool with you.

 

And I also just wanted to mention that for an upcoming episode, I'm trying to put together some ideas on how to be an environmentally friendly pet owner, sort of, how to provide for your dog without leaving a great footprint on the earth. Eco-friendly products and ideas, i you have any, uh, please share them with me. Again, you can do so in our Facebook group or through Instagram, or you can just go ahead and email us podcast@schoolforthedogs.com

 

Our Woof Shout Out this week, goes to Nelson. Speaking of muzzles, Nelson belongs to Joni Comenzo and where's a muzzle and I'm gonna  link to a photo, if I can find one of him in one of these crazy scary muzzles that they make that have like bloody teeth all over them. But, I wanted to just give Joni and Nelson a hello because not only did they do an amazing takeover on our Instagram this weekend in our stories that was just kind of epic. I hope you saw it.  They also, uh, were featured in a little video we did on Facebook. And the episode that featured an interview with Joni last week was our most listened to episode to date. A lot of people seemed to get a lot out of it, were really touched by her story. So if you haven't heard that episode yet, please, uh, go back and check it out. I think you will definitely get something out of it. It's called We need to talk about Nelson:Life with a muzzled dog 

 

And our Fun Dog Fact of the day is that the most popular dog costume this year, I got this from a representative of Ruby's, which is a company that makes all kinds of costumes, including many different kinds of dog costumes, they told me that the most popular costumes for dogs this year were from their Disney princess line of costumes. Apparently there are a lot of people out there, I'm guessing both children and adults, who are dressing their dogs up this year as Elsa and Belle and Cinderella and Snow White. Of course, the real question is what will the real princesses dress up their dogs as. What will Kate Middleton's dogs be? What will Meghan Markle's dogs be dressed as. I am excited to learn or maybe they're not into that kind of thing. Who knows? Anyway, I will report back if I find out.

 

Links: 

Etsy TY Tag

DIY TY tag

Jockey Harness costume

Cowboy Harness costume

Superhero Bandana

Candy Corn Bandana

Pet Paint

Dog Nail Polish

Creative Grooming

Cone Costume

Duckbill muzzle

Nelson’s Facebook Video

We need to talk about Nelson

Annie Grossman
annie@schoolforthedogs.com