Halloweeen II
Well, that was fun.
I haven't "done" Halloween for years. I'm ususally working or away or something else when Halloween rolls around. And on the rare occassion when it falls on a day I'm not working, we don't have many children in my neighborhood. So, for many years, Halloween has pretty much slid by me.
But this year, I packed up the dogs, picked up my mother, and headed over to pick up Mom and take her over to my brother's place. We had dinner that SiL copied off Emeril's Halloween show on Food Network, with chocolate "spiders" for dessert. (Delicious! Balls of chocolate-covered Chex Mix with pretzel legs.)
Then we sat out on their front porch and greeted the Trick-or-Treaters, with the four dogs (my two and my brother and SiL's dogs). The dogs wore Harry Potter themed costumes. Floyd was Dobbie, Ollie was Scabbers (rat puppet strapped to his back), Casie was Fluffy, Hagrid's three-headded dog, and Rosie didn't really wear a costume because she wasn't tolerating it (we don't force the dogs to do things if they don't seem to be enjoying it). I took Floyd's hat off after a pretty short time, because it seemed to be bothering him.
Well, the dogs were a hit. The only problem we had was the time that Floyd wandered out into a crowd of kids (he was on a long lead), and wrapped his leash around everyone's ankles. We had about six kids all tied together for a moment there. With a little bit of patience and untangling, we got them all free, though.
I've always been reluctant to involve the dogs in Halloween. I figured strangers and oddly dressed children coming up and taking candy would be a recipe for canine anxiety. But these dogs were cool as cucumbers. No signs of anxiety at all. They were calm, cool and friendly. Makes a mommy proud!
All in all, a good night.
I haven't "done" Halloween for years. I'm ususally working or away or something else when Halloween rolls around. And on the rare occassion when it falls on a day I'm not working, we don't have many children in my neighborhood. So, for many years, Halloween has pretty much slid by me.
But this year, I packed up the dogs, picked up my mother, and headed over to pick up Mom and take her over to my brother's place. We had dinner that SiL copied off Emeril's Halloween show on Food Network, with chocolate "spiders" for dessert. (Delicious! Balls of chocolate-covered Chex Mix with pretzel legs.)
Then we sat out on their front porch and greeted the Trick-or-Treaters, with the four dogs (my two and my brother and SiL's dogs). The dogs wore Harry Potter themed costumes. Floyd was Dobbie, Ollie was Scabbers (rat puppet strapped to his back), Casie was Fluffy, Hagrid's three-headded dog, and Rosie didn't really wear a costume because she wasn't tolerating it (we don't force the dogs to do things if they don't seem to be enjoying it). I took Floyd's hat off after a pretty short time, because it seemed to be bothering him.
Well, the dogs were a hit. The only problem we had was the time that Floyd wandered out into a crowd of kids (he was on a long lead), and wrapped his leash around everyone's ankles. We had about six kids all tied together for a moment there. With a little bit of patience and untangling, we got them all free, though.
I've always been reluctant to involve the dogs in Halloween. I figured strangers and oddly dressed children coming up and taking candy would be a recipe for canine anxiety. But these dogs were cool as cucumbers. No signs of anxiety at all. They were calm, cool and friendly. Makes a mommy proud!
All in all, a good night.