Ugly Pet Christmas Sweaters

Anthropologists say that when a civilization becomes wealthy enough, it produces a great number of people who throw their money at the oddest of enterprises. Given the latest Christmas season frenzy over "ugly Christmas sweater parties....for dogs, I suspect we are about at that point. Yep! dogs are now being dressed in outrageous Christmas sweaters and competing to see which has the ugliest of doggies sweaters.

That's right. The news is that Ugly sweaters aren't just a Christmas tradition for people. Cats, dogs and even guinea pigs are joining the party. Don't ask me why, but I think it has something to do with the pet owners eccentricity. An ugly Christmas sweater party for the human is just a gathering at which everyone tries to wear the most over the top Christmas related sweater. Loud color, design, clever messages scrolled across the sweaters and attached objects are usually associated with the best of those.

I remember my daughter once asking me in late November (they sell out by mid December, an indication of their popularity) to go with her to a Goodwill or other thrift store to buy a donated ugly Christmas sweater. She had little trouble finding one (and it cost only a few dollars) that I though was already amazingly garish. Yet, she added her own touches to it and worse it to school several times, and the the Ugly Christmas party she was invited. I think she still has that sweater today.

But to the dog/cat version....PetSmart, the largest pet store chain in the United States, has  ugly sweaters for dogs and cats, and they are among the top five best selling holiday apparel items each Christmas season. The store even has ugly sweaters for guinea pigs. Again, don't ask me why. TV is what popularized the ugly Christmas sweater craze, beginning in the 1980s. But in recent years it has enjoyed a revival, starting with adults, who had parties just to celebrate the ugliness. Kids got in on the act and now pets have nosed their way in, giving owners laughs and plenty to photograph. I guess you have probably seen a cat or dog pictured in one somewhere on the internet.

Ugly sweater dog events across the country this month included an ugly sweater contest for dogs at a park in Anaheim, California; a dog friendly ugly sweater 5K run and walk in National Harbor, Maryland; and separate ugly sweater parties for big and little dogs hosted by Chicago Party Animals, one of the nation's largest canine clubs with 2,000 members. I wonder how the pets feel dressed in those sweaters? Maybe they should bite a few of their owners for forgetting that pets aren't human and see no amusement in the practice.

An ugly sweater has to celebrate Christmas. The bolder the colors, the brighter and the more stuff on it, the better  bring on the bows, snowmen, Santa's, trees, buttons, stars, sequins, rickrack, felt, glitter and cotton. Sleeves can be mismatched, misshapen or missing. But most pets would probably like to move around au naturel instead. the sweaters.  Enough of my comments about this.

Now for an expert's view. "Dog vision is different than human vision and because patterns are not particularly useful to their vision, dogs probably could care less what their sweater looks like," said Dr. Bonnie Beaver, executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Most dogs and cats don't like wearing sweaters unless they got used to being dressed young. "Sometimes the putting on or taking off can cause static electricity, which would make the dog even more anxious the next time," Beaver said. If a dog has grown up wearing clothes or if a dog is small and short haired and it is cold, a sweater will be OK, but wearing one for a contest "is of no consequence to the dog, which will be focused on the scents around it and not on the real appearance of other dogs," Beaver said.

Well, the children of Ugly Dog Sweater dogs are probably glad that instead of themselves, Fido is the one to wear that sweater with Santa wrestling Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer.