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!

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!

Poodle People spend a good deal of their time grooming their friends, and even more time running their fingers lovingly through those soft, curly locks with great delight. An owner can spend a small fortune on professional haircuts, or do what my family’s done – buy a good trimmer and a set of blades and combs. There’s always the ‘extra’ grooming that needs doing (nail clipping, ear hair removal, bathing and brushing), but a basic kennel cut isn’t that hard to accomplish. Poodles are used to the attention, even enjoy it if you are fairly competent.

After a “shave the poodle” weekend at our homestead I’d end up with a couple of brown paper grocery bags full of soft, curly poodle hair I always wanted to spin into yarn for scarves and hats, but I don’t know how to spin. So it was that our poodles’ hair ended up as a flattened felt-like foot-wide mat covered with bark chips from the wood chopping block marking the garden fence line. It’s a pretty good mulch to keep weeds down, it eventually biodegrades, and is a surprisingly effective deterrent against deer, foxes and rabbits getting through the fence to raid the veggies.

After surfing around this past week, I am delighted to report that there are instructions for spinning poodle hair out there on the web, along with more than one enterprise that will spin your poodles’ hair into yarn for you, even do the knitting, crocheting and weaving for a fee!

Annie’s Attic has a page answering obvious questions and supplying instructions for collecting the hair, picking, carding and spinning all on one page. The International Parti Poodle Gazette offers an entire page devoted to spinning poodle hair into yarn.

Instructions are what I lacked for my dreams of a nice poodle scarf (I’m not much of a knitter, just the basics). Some states’ animal protection laws forbid any trade made from the hair of domestic pets, and these can be interpreted broadly enough to prevent buying yarns made of clipped or shed hair. These are the “Cruella DeVille Laws,” so check your state’s codes if you want to get someone else to spin the yarn for you.

VIP Fibers offers a good overview of the process of getting the best hair from your pet, and will spin hair that you provide into a variety of yarn types and blends. Woofspuns will not only spin the yarn for you, but offers to create mittens, scarves, sweaters, vests, teddy bears and even dream catchers out of it!

Handspun Hats offers a variety of hat styles and blending yarns for use with your poodle’s hair. They also have hats made with the soft hair of Malamute, Great Pyrenees, Samoyed and Afghan hound, mixed with llama, mohair, linen or silk.

If you like to curl up with your poods on the couch during long winter nights putting quiet energy into knitting or crocheting, saving your best friends’ clippings is something to be considered. The yarns aren’t cheap, though you could also get a spinning wheel and make friends with some poodle groomers who would love to give you their week’s clippings, go into the expensive yarn-spinning business yourself!

Just imagine how completely jealous all your friends will be when you show up at the luncheon wearing a spectacularly soft, well-cabled sweater [$895 and up] and tam [a mere $98] that exactly match your prize poodles! Or even a long, luxurious poodle scarf, only $345 knitted, $325 woven.

Or – my Dream Item – this Poodle jacket (thick-and-thin spin knit panels on leather or wool) that costs more than my car did. [Sigh...] I’ve just got to get a spinning wheel for Christmas, could make this for myself practically for free by the time I retire!

Links:

Annie’s Attic: Putting on the Dog

Detta’s Spindle: Woofspuns

What Not to Crochet: Poodle Hair Hats

VIP Fibers: Facts About Pet Fiber

Doggie Hats

Intl. Parti Poodle Gazette: Spinning Poodle Hair