by Joe Smith
Fashion trends recently have shown that dog clothes are all the rage. Everyone seems to want to dress his/her small dog up in some type of outfit and show them off to people during a walk or other type of outing.
The real issue that many owners are typically facing lately is that some dogs want to get rid of their clothes right away, often by chewing or scratching at the clothes. This can tear up a dog’s clothes in a hurry, wasting money that the owner may have spent on putting the dog in an outfit in the first place.
So, how can you keep your dog from tearing up his or her clothes? The main goal is to keep your dog from going after the clothes in the first place. You should try to keep your dog interested in chew toys, bones, or other objects that can draw his attention away from the clothes that he’s wearing.
It’s important to note that your dog should not be kept dressed up all day to begin with. That can cause him to become uncomfortable in his new dog clothes, which will simply end with him destroying what he’s wearing. Start off easy by keeping your dog dressed for 10-15 minutes at first to allow him to get used to the clothing he’s wearing. After your dog is used to wearing clothes for that amount of time, you can slowly progress to allowing your dog to wear his clothes for longer. Slowly building up the time your dog is dressed will help your dog feel more “natural” in his clothes. He’ll simply start believing that it’s normal to wear dog clothes.
Proper fitting of dog clothes is also an important thing to keep in mind. If you buy clothes that are too tight, your dog will be uncomfortable and try to scratch or bite them off. Conversely, if you buy clothes that are too loose, he’ll do the same thing. You may need to try various sizes before you find that your dog is comfortable, so feel free to experiment.
If you like to put ribbons or other such decorations on your dog, try to avoid doing this until you feel that your dog is comfortable wearing his clothes for a long period of time. Dressing up a dog with bows, ribbons, or other “frills” before he’s used to wearing clothing will just make him uncomfortable. Just like I mentioned above, build up in stages.
I hope that this article has helped you learn how to select and properly train your dog to accept his new dog clothes.
Credit: Photo by Weaselmcfee
