It’s a dog’s life

Love it or loathe it dressing up your dog has become a modern day phenomenon and an extremely profitable industry. Even Harrods have their own Pet Kingdom department, compete with doggy deli, day spa, soft furnishings and clothing sections. It is a one stop shop for all your pets needs and it’s a pricey commodity.

In todays blog post Editor Sophie Maguire discovers the debated subject that is doggy dressing and meets 3 stylish pups and their owners who see nothing wrong with a little sartorial styling for mans best friend.

So without further ado meet the dogs whose wardrobes just might put yours to shame…

Name: Jacob

Breed: Yorkshire Terrier

Age: Four

Fave past time? Lazying around in his heated blanket (I don’t even have a heated blanket!)

Their personality? He’s a lazy puppy, with hyper half hours. I’m pretty sure he is a human trapped inside a dogs body, he’ll sigh, sulk and strop his way around the house if he doesn’t get 24-7 cuddles and attention. He’s a ladies man and doesn’t particularly like men, especially the mail man. I’m also convinced he is a vegetarian as he’ll choose a green bean over a piece of chicken any day!

Why do you dress your dog up? He secretly loves it and poses for the photos! Dogs become part of a family and therefore should be treated as such! Clothes are a perfect way to express their personality.

How many outfits do they have? He has multiple coats; he has a new one every Autumn/Winter as well as a cable knit jumper for nights by the fire. He also has a couple summer t-shirts and a baseball cap for BBQs. Next Summer we’re going to invest in a Hawaiian shirt.

How important is it to have a stylish pup? Very important. Dog’s are a blessing and give you so much unconditional love that splashing the cash on them should be a no brainer! Dogs have such short little lives and they spend so much of that time waiting for us to come home; the least we can do is make them look super fly!

How much do you spend on clothes/accessories for your dog? We don’t spend ridiculous amounts, he usually gets a new item of clothing on his birthday and Christmas. But you can pick up awesome, reasonably priced dog attire on the Internet – sometimes Jacob sits on my lap and chooses with me.

What do you say to those who say dressing up a dog is cruel and a dog should be a dog? I think these people are stuck in the dark ages. As long as the dog is not stressed whilst being dressed up then what’s the worry? I see nothing wrong with dog clothing, especially coats, dogs get cold too, I’d love to see their owner walking around without a coat on!

If he/she could speak what would they say? Jacob would be so demanding, he’d be the ultimate diva! Complaining about his dinner, demanding drinks and treats. I’m pretty sure he’d shout for us all to get up when we’re lying in on Sundays.  And most importantly, when we’re looking at dog clothing online he’d whisper in my ear “add to cart”

Name: Matt

Breed: Border Collie

Age: 10

Fave past time? Chasing cars and sunbathing in the garden

Why do you dress your dog up? He’s too fluffy to dress up, but we accessorise him with his token red collar and the occasional shades.

How many outfits do they have? None of his own…many of ours!

How important is it to have a stylish pup? Not at all. I would rather have a dog with a personality and character who loves to wind my mum up diving into muddy puddles than one that looked pristine all the time.

How much do you spend on clothes/accessories for your dog? Although we don’t buy clothes for him, the amount that gets spent on toys and treats, especially during Christmas time, is probably laughable.

What do you say to those who say dressing up a dog is cruel and a dog should be a dog? Some dogs need dressing up to get that extra layer of warmth their coat can’t give them, so in that sense it’s healthy. But if it was that cruel, there wouldn’t be a whole department dedicated to them in Harrods, would there?

If he could speak what would they say? “Please stop talking in that ridiculous high pitch voice and take me on another walk”.

Name: Louis

Breed: Miniature Schnauzer

Age: 10

Fave past time? I have to be honest and say Louis’s favourite pass time was birthdays, he is the only dog I know that knew the “Happy Birthday” song, as soon as he heard that his ears would stand tall and knew it was time for cake. He did however love nothing more than being all cuddled up to someone in front of the TV.

Their personality? There’s no words that describe Louis than just simply amazing, he loved everyone and everyone loved him. One of a kind and simply irreplaceable.

Why do you dress your dog up? How many outfits do they have? Louis loved being involved in everything and why shouldn’t he, he was family. Louis had a wardrobe ranging from Christmas t-shirts & antlers to a vampire outfit for Halloween and not forgetting his dressing gown that he would wear after having a nice soak in the tub.

How important is it to have a stylish pup? I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s important to have a stylish pup and I never would have put any clothes on Louis if he didn’t like it, our nearly 3 year old dog hates having any kind of clothing on, therefore we don’t do it.

How much do you spend on clothes/accessories for your dog? I wouldn’t be able to give you a figure of what we as a family spent on Louis but we did love spoiling him, he would always get a clothes and accessories for Christmas and birthdays. He always had the best of the best.

What do you say to those who say dressing up a dog is cruel and and a dog should be a dog? Its each to their own in my eyes and it comes down to no one but the owners, I’m sure just like me every owner knows what their dog does and doesn’t like. In then winter Louis would always wear a jumper and coat when going out for his walks, he hated the cold but he also had a skin condition which meant when it got to winter the cold would make his skin condition worse so in that respect we weren’t dressing him up because we wanted to, we done it to help him.

If he could speak what would they say? Sadly Louis is no longer with us but I hope he would say that we done the right thing and that he misses us all.

Louis Todd

22.08.2003 – 12.09.2013

 By Sophie Maguire