Trick or Treat!

I don't dress my dogs up in costumes. Now mind you, I don't hold anything against those who do, and I giggle right along with everyone else at those forwarded emails of little wiener dogs wearing hot dog buns, and labs in Superman costumes. My one effort at a doggie Halloween costume a dozen or so years ago involved coaxing Jessie into a skeleton costume. She wore it nobly, as of course a German Shepherd would. Not to mention the fact that Jessie would do absolutely anything I asked of her without complaint. So that year for Halloween, I was a black cat, and Jessie was a noble skeleton. It was fun, but not fun enough to do again. I concluded that perhaps big dogs weren't exactly right for playing dress up. 

So how is it that I spent Saturday afternoon with Lucky and Katie all decked out as a "jolly band of pirates?" Temporary insanity perhaps? Well, whatever it was that took hold of me, it was a lot of fun. Animal Compassion Network sponsored a Halloween costume contest with categories for children, adults, pets, and people with their pets.                                                                                                             There were pets available for adoption, and booths for trick-or-treating (both people and doggie treats)! It was controlled Halloween dog pandemonium, but we had a great time. The show stealer of the day was Paula Deen with her little stick-of-butter dog. What a riot. Not only did this woman look like Paula Deen, she sounded exactly like her. She was carrying around a serving tray of grits and Bil-Jac. Hilarious. 

Paula Deen and her 4-legged stick of butter shared the grand prize with Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

Although we didn't win in the human-pet category, I won $25 for "scariest" costume, despite assuring the panel of judges that I had not entered as a contestant in the individual adult category! Guess my attempt at "jolly" didn't work (we were supposed to be a JOLLY band of pirates, remember?). 

But hey - far be it from me to turn down $25. All of the costumes were adorable, although some a bit confusing...like this little dog with the green blob attached to his back. 

Any guesses as to what he was supposed to be? One of my personal favorites was the "Thing 1, Thing 2" family from Dr. Suess. Check out that blue hair. I want a Thing suit!

All in all, we had a great time. Well, in the interest of full disclosure I should confess that some of us enjoyed it more than others. See if you can tell from this last photo which of us was grinning the entire time and having fun, and who just wanted to go home...

Ahoy Mateys!! :) 

Happy Halloween!

( thanks to my talented niece for the use of her pumpkin to open my Halloween post!)