Halloween can be a dog’s worst nightmare. Scary strangers will ring her home’s doorbell every five minutes, and she’ll be forced to wear an irritating costume. Worst night ever!
Your dog really can love Halloween. She can wear a costume she loves, and enjoy the attention that comes with it. She can calmly lay on her blanket while the funny-looking kids come and go.
Here’s your guide to relieving the two biggest sources of stress for your dog on Halloween – so she can have fun too.
The Halloween Doorbell Dilemma
Imagine the calamity – your doorbell rings, and your dog goes NUTS – like always.
You’re reaching for the candy bowl, tripping over your dog. As you open the door, and your dog sees those scary masks and hears that screechy “TRICK OR TREAT!!!” she might just try to run out into the street.
So there you are, holding back your anxious dog, while you try to hand out your KitKats. Utter calamity!
You’ll need to teach your dog how to calmly react to doorbells, or she’ll react in the most natural way she can – by freaking out.
In the weeks leading up to Halloween, go into training mode every time someone rings your doorbell. You might also want to enlist a friend to ring the doorbell while you work on your dog’s doorbell manners.
Whenever the doorbell rings, have your dog sit or lay down – preferably far from the door, on a blanket or in her crate.
Do NOT open the door until your dog is where she’s supposed to be. She needs to be calm, and sitting or laying in her designated spot. You may need to use treats and a leash at first. Most importantly, you need to be calm yourself!
No, your dog doesn’t have to HATE her costume!
Whenever I take out one of Matilda’s outfits, she gets really waggy and jumps around. As I start to put her outfit on, she sits politely and lifts her paws so I can adjust her straps.
It’s not just the diva chihuahua in her – by making clothes fun for her, I’ve taught her to love getting dressed up. You can do the same!
My best piece of advice? Compliment your dog.
The moment you pull out the costume, don’t start thinking about how you’re irritating your dog – because you don’t have to be. Don’t think you’re going to have to struggle and persuade her to keep it on for just a few seconds. Remember, your dog can love dressing up – you just have to show her how.
When you pull out that costume, say, “Wow! What a wonderful costume! You’re going to look so beautiful in this!”
I like to think my dogs love compliments. It’s more likely that a cheerful voice tells them something good is about to happen. Or… they may just be divas.
As you put your dog’s costume on her, praise her for being so patient.
Continue to praise her once the costume is on. Tell her to sit. Avoid giving her a chance to start biting and tugging at her outfit. If she starts to struggle out of her clothes, try to distract her with a game or a toy.
If that doesn’t work, quickly take it off, and praise her – yes, again – wearing clothes needs to be a totally positive experience for your dog. Never scold your dog for trying to get out of her clothes. Don’t force it.
Also, choose an appropriate costume.
Avoid hats and headpieces, unless your dog is a seasoned dresser-upper.
Matilda’s bee costume comes with an antenna hat that squishes her ears, so we only had her wear it for a few moments for photos. You can tell she’s uncomfortable here – but so gosh darn cute.
Cow has never worn clothes before, she got a tiny flower to wear on her collar.
Alright, you’ve seen our costumes, let’s see yours!
Post your cute Halloween pics in the comment section below!
She also uses her pet copywriting business to make sure the best pet products and services get found online through catchy copy and fun, informative blog posts. She also provides product description writing services for ecommerce companies.
As a dog mom to Matilda and Cow, she spends most of her days taking long walks and practicing new tricks, and most nights trying to make the best of a very modest portion of her bed.
You'll also find her baking bread and making homemade pizza, laughing, painting and shopping.
Here’s the photo of Matilda from the thumbnail!
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I dressed Stuart up as Smaug the Dragon over the weekend! He’s worn clothes his whole life so he’s great with costumes, he just doesn’t like hats (fair enough, too!) 🙂
Awww, Stuart looks so soft! It’s always the hat, isn’t it? 😛
Nuggett doesn’t mind shirts or hoodies, but he is not a fan of this costume. Especially the hat. He does not mind shirt type clothes at all though.
Oohhhhh!!!!! Those little arms! That’s such a cute costume, Nuggett’s a good sport!
Good tips. Mine don’t hate Halloween, but they don’t love it either.
My little devil 🙂
That’s one intense devil!
We don’t really get trick or treaters. Mr. N is overjoyed to see visitors though.
The boys love to dress up and I think they enjoy the attention along with the compliments! We hide out during trick or treat time now that our kids are grown. Our neighborhood is ridiculously packed with ghosts and goblins each year. It would be too stressful for my crew. Happy Halloween.
Awwwww! They’re so good with their headpieces, too!
Great article! Thanks for sharing! We don’t do costumes for our dogs. Just don’t want to take the time to train them to accept it. We are slowly working on doorbell manners, however. That’s quite a process-LOL!
How fun, and what a great read! I shared this with some friends who recently got doggies, and dey said it helped dem greatly for Halloween!
Aw, thanks Mattie!
Great post, everyone thinks that all dogs love Halloween but that isn’t the case.
Happy Halloween- great tips. We have been trying the doorbell desensitization but a very slow process.
I hope you had a Happy Halloween!
My dogs love to dress up because I make it fun & they get lots of treats for it! We keep their leashes on when trick or treater’s are ringing the bell.
Such good advice and great photos! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween 😉
#Finndawg got quite a good haul of treats!!
My mom solves that problem with her dog by getting together with the neighbors and sitting outside. That way, the doorbell and all the strangers don’t bother Bandit. I’ve attached a photo of Bandit a few years ago on Halloween.
Such great tips – and for anytime strangers visit. Hope everyone followed these to the letter.
Love the name Cow
This is Ossian my beanie baby!
I love the costume, so simple yet so clever!
The costumes in these comments are just adorable! Those are great tips for dogs on Halloween. It is so important to have them properly trained so that the evening is as fun for them as it is for you. 🙂
Awesome advice! Great post!