Am I torturing my Dog?

My dog hates being dressed up!!! I don't think it's torture since you're not intentionally trying to hurt him. And also you can tell by their reaction if you should stop: if he struggles out of the outfit or refuses to move, then maybe you should take it off. But I don't necessarily think it's torture but if you know he really hates it, maybe it would be a good idea not to do it so he can stay happy :)

No, it should be fine. If you are only dressing him up for photos, it may irritate him, but your not torturing him. Now, if you dress him up daily....it may not be the best thing since you know it is something he doesn't like.

I'm sitting here giggling while picturing you wrestling to dress this rebellious little dog up. Is it torture? hmmm...I bet if he were asked he would say that definitly it was torture. I'm not one of your victims so it would be easy for me to say that it wasn't torture. If you were to try to force a santa suit on me I think it would feel like torture. No offense but I vote in favor of the dog on this one.

LOL well, if you're putting clothes on a dog when it isn't necessary and when the dog doesn't want it, I think it's not a very nice thing. I wouldn't call it torture because that's a little extreme. It's cold here now and one of my dogs doesn't want to wear her sweater. She just likes to hide under the duvet and gets irritated if we put clothes on her. I treat my pets like my kids, too, but with my grumpy dog, if she doesn't want to put on clothes, well, I don't force it.

I put my maltese in sweaters and jackets all of the time, but she loves it. If Rebel hates it, you shouldn't torture him.

I just bought my Boston Terrier a jacket today for practicality because she FREEZES when she goes outside. She was not impressed! I don't think it's torture, but I will say that is definitely more for our amusement than theirs. I think my dog would rather have jumped into a frozen river than wear that jacket. In fact, she decided that rather than chase a tennis ball all night, which is her favorite past-time, she would devote her time to attempting to chew the jacket off. This was hilarious to watch, at which point I decided that I was bordering on torture on decided to take it off. Good thing we live in the South and cold weather isn't extreme!

Hello Coghlanwriting, No you are not torturing you dog by dressing them up. I put sweater on my dog during the winter months with snow on the ground and she still shivers. My dog is named Maybelle and she part boxer, part smoyian, part poodle and part labador retriever. She looks like female of Chance on Walt Disney Movie Homeward Bound. She is fun and silly loves to chase cats and squirrels and looking at leaves in trees in the wind. I put a Christmas color on mine with bells and she hates hearing it aand takes the bells off it every year. I glue them back on again. I also put banddanas on her too sometimes. Thanks and Have a great day Sincerely Unique16

Dressing an animal up is not torture but if it causes him extreme fear to be dressed up you may be creating other issues. What does he do when you dress him up? Does he try to rub and get the costume off or does he sit frozen like a statue or even worse does he become aggressive? The first two situation are not so bad if you are going to leave the costume on just long enough to take the picture. If he becomes aggressive when you dress him up then I would think twice about doing it. You will also want to take in consideration what the temperature is going to be like when you dress him up. If he is an outside dog and has started getting his winter coat then part of his behavior may be becuase he is too hot and is uncomfortable.