More Great Doggie Costumes!

Yes, we are now just over two weeks away from Halloween, so those costumes for the kiddies and their canine friends have become a pressing issue. I mentioned last week the best reasons for outfitting the dog (increasing the sugar take, upping the odds on your kids winning the contest at the mall, etc.), and linked a couple of good sites for pre-made costumes.

This week, I’ll share some wonderful photos of dogs in costume, of which the above is just one. They are to be found at the excellent Dog Guide blog, and many of them are imaginative enough to have you laughing out loud. These aren’t all poodles, of course, but they’re good costume ideas for those handy with a needle and thread. It’s not hard to squint your eyes just a bit and imagine your proud and meticulously groomed poodle in these costumes, knowing that even if other entrants in the costume contest sport similar costumes on their various mutts, your dog’s ever so superior breeding will shine forth to make the effect even more laughable.

Of course, my all-time favorite poodle costume was one I’d made originally for my 3-year old grandson, who didn’t stay that size for very long. The next year I simply cut two front leg holes in it and put it on the Pood, which actually managed to triple grandson’s booty that year because the neighbors were so delighted. It was your basic dinosaur costume (Simplicity, if I recall) stuffed with crumpled newspapers to give it a nice round shape. So do go on over to Hounds of Halloween 2008! 45 Incredible Costumed Canines and tickle your funny bone!

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Fun For Kids: Poodle Stuff

If your poodle family has poodle kids - or if you’re a grandma like me, and are too old to be embarrassed by childish things - then you’ll have a great deal of fun with a simple game from Yuckles called Mr. Poodle Head. Yes, there’s a fine black poodle head, and all sorts of nifty accessories to drag and drop into place. Various ears, eyes, noses, bow ties, mustaches, hats and sill mouths can turn Mr. Poodle Head into something a lot funnier than Mr. Potato Head! I foresee many hours of fun with this one.

And now that it’s officially October, you might want to consider what costume you’d like to have for your poodle while you’re outfitting the kids. A well-dressed poodle carrying one of those plastic Jack-o-Lantern goody containers can significantly expand your children’s take for the night of door-to-door begging. Most costumes come in small, medium and large, and some suppliers offer patterns if you sew as well as tiny tea size costumes.

In addition to the pictured pirate costume, Yuckles also offers the standard superheroes (Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Wonder Woman), the full range of Star Wars character costumes (Yoda is the best, just for the ears!), your basic princess and ballerina and harem girl costumes for lady dogs (or male dogs in drag), and a few pun-ny costumes like “Watch Dog,” “Hot Dog” and “Lucky Dog.”

If your offspring are female, do consider the standard 1950s style Poodle Skirt with crinolines, sweater and scarf. That way all the poodle needs is a nice mask and matching scarf, those passing out treats will be delighted!

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A Poodle Person Who Hates Christmas?

I spent some years hating Christmas, I admit. It’s because I’m an elf. When we first moved to the mountains of western North Carolina 15 years ago, we of course went looking for work for which we were suited. Our family entertainment company made a good living for us in Florida, where our clowns, jugglers, fire eaters, super heroes, puppet shows and other costumed characters were hard at work every weekend and most of the week. But there aren’t a million people in a 30 mile radius of this homestead.

We used to have up to a dozen clown-elves covering six malls from the week before Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve. We have the costumes and the skills, so signed on as “Papa and Mama Elf” - plus Bob and Kenya the Christmas poodles - to do the stage shows at a seedy Christmas theme park in Cherokee. Basic clown stuff, some juggling and some dumb magic tricks. Bob and Kenya sported Elizabethan red and green collars, did the meet-and-greet at the theater door and gladly accepted love from the kids on their way out after the show was done. The kids loved it. The poodles loved it. We didn’t love it all that much…

Six shows a day, seven days a week, six months a year from May through October. In god-awful costumes, wigs, hats, tights, striped thigh socks and curly felt boots that are hot to wear in December. We quickly found that in July when it’s 95º in the shade, they’re unbearable.

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Last Minute Gifts for Poodle People

In the last post I listed some books featuring poodles that might make good holiday gifts for the readers on your list. In this post we’ll take a look at all the other poodle gifts out there! My Mother-in-Law has been collecting dog figurines ever since she was a teenager, and breaks them out every Christmas to display and enjoy. So I was aware that little porcelain, plastic and resin poodle figurines are available at a number of gift shops because I’ve bought them.

But when I went surfing for poodle gifts, I was somewhat amazed at how many different kinds of poodle gifts a poodle person could find to buy or get! I’ll just list and link some here to give you ideas, and if you hurry most of these could be delivered before Christmas. I’m ignoring the poodle figurines, but most of these outlets have those too.

Over at Animal Krackers they’ve got poodle snowglobes and poodle mantle clocks. They’ve got poodle art prints, note cards and stationery. For the kitchen and dining room they’ve got poodle cutting boards, aprons, kitchen towels, dinner napkins, coasters and tiles. Poodle paper towel holders, poodle cookie jars, serving bowls, plates, platters, pitchers and casserole dishes.

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Poodle Stories for Christmas

This holiday season many of us are too busy decorating, baking and cooking, and preparing packages of goodies for shipping to do the usual holiday parking lot jousting and shopping mall power-hiking. As my medium is the internet, I will presume that like me, many of my readers will be doing most or all of their Christmas shopping on-line.

For all of us Poodle People, poodle gifts are at the top of our own wish lists and always catch our eyes when browsing for other people’s presents. Because I’ve been busy all week browsing for books for the family (we’re all avid readers who treasure our books), I thought some cool poodle books might be the order of the day.

50 Acres and a Poodle
Jeanne Marie Laskas

The editorial and customer reviews for 50 Acres and a Poodle make me think this book would be a great gift for all the Poodle People in my life. There’s nothing any of us like better than to tell poodle stories to anyone who will listen to them, and this looks to be 291 pages of poodle story!

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Uncle Bob and Grandma’s Thanksgiving Turkey

As we’re all preparing to chow down on Thanksgiving Dinner, I’ll just offer another story about our beloved Uncle Bob the Giant Mutant Mountain Poodle that is in keeping with the season.

I have previously posted about Bob’s death, his unfortunate demise of systemic cancer when he was only 8 years old. He had by then become so much a part of our family that we tried everything we could afford to try when the vet said his condition could be treated. That meant chemo-for-dogs, and the results weren’t very pretty.

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Thanksgiving Dinner Fit for a Poodle!

Thanksgiving is a great holiday, always a major Big Deal here on the mountain. That all started decades ago when we lived in Oklahoma, and signed on as the communications directors for a grant-based hunger project called “The Whole World Family Supper” that was scheduled to be a Thanksgiving feast for everybody, everywhere.

All of a sudden our little family gatherings just weren’t enough anymore. By the time we’d moved to Florida and became full time performers - with a friends list that included circus folk, traveling medicine shows and all sorts of other itinerant musicians and crusty jugglers - Thanksgiving became an annual pilgrimage to a St. Augustine boatyard an ex-Air Force friend managed. Price of admission was at least one homeless person or otherwise destitute person, and it got bigger every year. By the time we moved to North Carolina the boatyard Thanksgiving feast (a pot-luck affair) offered 4 turkeys and two hams pit-cooked by our host, at least 60 people, and stretched out with leftovers for the entire 4-day holiday weekend.

Now that we’re here on the mountain it’s still a Big Deal. We average at least 24 people every year, which is a heck of a crowd to host in a 28′ square cabin complete with dogs. And we often have 7 or 8 dog guests too, friends of our poods and strays, part of our many friends and family’s families. They get Thanksgiving Dinner too. It is a family supper, after all, and dogs are family.

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