Let Sleeping Dogs Lie…And Don’t Dress Them
Ok. I don’t think I am capable of softening this, so I am just going to say it unapologetically:
People who dress their dogs in clothing (or do anything more ridiculous that, like take their dogs to get manis and pedis or Swedish massages) make me sorry to be part of the human race. This goes so far beyond just griding my gears.
A friend of mine told me that her sister dresses her dog up and that she would get me a picture to use for this post. I steeled myself for the worst, but the picture was a pleasant surprise:
Sure, I still think this is ridiculous, but giving your dog (though I am not even sure this punt-able creature can even be called a dog) an accessory isn’t that bad and can actually be kind of cute.
No, I am talking about monstrosities such as this:
There are no words...
Dogs are animals for God’s sake! They are meant to be dirty and furrily naked. They should be allowed to feel the freedom of having their paws touch the ground without having booties between them and the pavement. They should be allowed to feel the cool breeze blowing through their fur, not floating over a wool sweater emblazoned with “Fashion: Doggie Style” (ha…ha…get it? The people who find this little pun laugh-out-loud funny are the same people who bring their dog to a gym and make it run on the treadmill for exercise.)
And what I think a lot of people miss about this whole dog pampering movement is the impact it will have on dogkind. Every time you tie that hoodie on your pug, that dog becomes less likely to be able to adapt to cold weather without it. The little pads on its Golden Retriever feet lose their calluses a little bit every time you lace up its tiny shoes. And the Terrier loses the ability to successfully act on its instinct to hunt and kill every time you file and paint its nails (but I just crossed into a whole other realm of crazy).
It is basic Darwinism– survival of the fittest, and I guarantee you in no scenario will the fittest dog ever be one with a little bow in its fur and socks on its paws.
Ugh.
Dog pamperers (and, for good measure, punt-able dogs): consider yourself Meccanized.
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September 13, 2009 at 8:55 am
[...] Let me preface this by saying that you all know how I feel about dog clothes. [...]