National Dress Up Your Pet Day!

National Dress Up Your Pet Day is a fun day where you dress up your pet in funny outfits and take pictures!

National Dress Up Your Pet Day has been celebrated every January 14th since 2009, when the “howl-iday” was first created by leading pet lifestyle expert Colleen Paige. Paige encourages pet parents to take time on this day to have fun with their dogs, cats, and critters by dressing them up in cute and safe pet outfits and costumes.

People dress up to show off their personalities, so why shouldn’t your pet do the same? Whether your dog is flirtatious, tough, smart, or sassy, they also deserve an outfit that matches her persona.

In this article, we give safety precautions and great ideas for costumes.

Safety Precautions

Dressing up your pet can be lots of fun for you, but it may not be as fun for them. So if and when you decide to dress up your pet, make sure that they are comfortable and not stressed.

• It's essential to use a harness or leash when walking pets to avoid getting loose, attacking other animals, or getting hit by cars. So make sure your costume works with your leash.
• Remember, they don't cool off as efficiently as we do, so be sure they don't get overheated in their costumes.
• Make sure they can still go potty in their costume. You certainly don't want to clean up that mess!
• If they are wearing a hat, scarf, or collar, make sure it isn't choking them. If your pet decides they want to play, be sure to remove anything around their necks.

Costume Ideas

A few of the most popular styles are

   • Pirate

   • Cowboy/Cowgirl

   • Superheroes

   • Princesses

   • Knights

   • Lion

   • You and your pet dressing in similar outfits

Be sure to dress your cat in something cute too!

Did you dress up your dog? Do you have proof? If you didn’t take a picture, how can you share with your friends and family how cute your pet is all "dolled" up? You should commemorate your dog's sense of style! Have a mini-photoshoot, and upload the pictures to your social media. Or, if your friends aren’t nice enough to indulge you, take a selfie, or 3, or 10. Either way, the moment is captured.

We'd love to see how you dressed up your pet! Drop us some photos on social media, and be sure to tag us @vitalpetlife using the hashtag #nationaldressupyourpetday