Cool costumes for your dog

We recently wrote about costumes for dogs and whether they were a good idea. We concluded that most dogs are comfier without restrictive costumes or elaborate headdresses, but there’s no harm in putting a customised collar or a creative dog coat on your dog. We’ve put together a list of 10 awesome, easy costumes for your dog.

1. Scooby Doo (Scooby Doo, Where Are You?): Perfect for any brown dog, not just Great Danes. All you’ll need is a light blue dog collar. You can print out a picture of Scooby’s dog tag, stick it to some card, and tie it on to your dog’s collar.
2. Courage (Courage the Cowardly Dog): Remember this timid purple dog? We don’t recommend painting your dog purple though! Just a purple dog coat or sweater, with a few black felt circles, will be enough to transform your pet into this cartoon character.
3. Jake the Dog (Adventure Time): Jake the Dog is a magic yellow dog, and Finn the Human’s best friend in “Adventure Time”. Make this a group cosplay, with your dog in a yellow coat as Jake, and yourself in Finn’s blue shirt and white hat.
4. Brian (Family Guy): An especially easy costume if your dog is white. All you need is a red collar with a gold tag, and you’re all set.
5. Snoopy (Peanuts): Another very simple costume, perfect for a white and black dog (though funnily enough, Snoopy is actually supposed to be a Beagle. He’s drawn in black and white because he started out as a character in a newspaper comic). Snoopy has a bird friend named Woodstock; you can bring along a bird toy, or print out a picture on card to clip to your dog’s collar.
6. A Hot Dog: Perfect for Dachshunds or Basset hounds. Although you can probably buy a dog coat or costume, this would be fun to make too. Take a normal dog coat and large pieces of felt in red and light brown. Cut them into shapes resembling a bun and a sausage, and stick (or sew) them to the dog coat. Add a line of yellow fabric paint for mustard, and a little red paint for ketchup.
7. Super Hero: Whether you prefer Batman or Spiderman, all you need is a dog coat with your hero’s logo. In a pinch, you can paint or decorate a plain dog coat with fabric paint or felt.
8. Another animal: Your dog could be a (98 per cent) wolf in sheep’s clothing! This is an easy costume. You’ll just need a simple dog coat made from animal print. You can also buy animal print fabric and sew or glue it to the coat, or draw on the pattern.
9. Royalty: If your pet has a certain regal air that they would love to flaunt, you can dress them up as befits royalty. Simply find a collar with diamante decorations, and your dog has a diamond necklace fit for a queen. More patient dogs might not object to wearing a crown for photos, and might even be persuaded to wear a cape for a short while.

A spooky surprise: Since Halloween is almost here, why not think up a fun spooky costume? As long as it is comfortable, you can be very creative. An orange dog coat and black felt can be turned into a pumpkin costume: just glue or sew black felt in the shape of eyes and a mouth to the coat. Find a bandanna patterned with ghosts or skeletons and tie it loosely to your dog’s collar for a simple but fun Halloween look.