Article by Jon

With the month of September almost in the books, ghosts and goblins are gearing up as Halloween is just around the corner. Little children from all corners of the world love this time of year because they get to dress up and go door to door, accruing disgusting amounts of candy that their parents then sift through, looking for the best chocolate! Part of the thrill of Halloween is dressing up in costume, and many children put a lot of thought into their costumes, wanting to have one that is better than everybody else's so they will stand out from their friends and often parents are roped into the task of helping make this happen.

Pets are also becoming more of a focal point when it comes to Halloween, and I myself have been known to dress up my own dog in a homemade pet costume. Luther, my first dog had to suffer through multiple Halloween's with me, and in doing so was the laughing stock of many due to the fact that his costumes were creative, funny to look at and darn right awesome.

Luther was very patient and understanding, traits that were truly put to the test every Halloween when I would make him wear various outfits but he was the only dog in my area that would be out on Halloween in costume, so all the attention he got went a long way to making him feel better. I can remember at least three of the more amusing costumes Luther was forced into wearing for various Halloweens, all of them homemade, all of them cheap to make.

Count Dracula was a fun costume as it consisted of three pieces; a pair of pants that I made Luther wear, a waist coat that went over his shoulders and back, and a cape that lay draped over him. Luther was not a fan of this costume at all due to the pants I made him wear. I was nice enough and took them off him when he needed to do his business, but for the entire day aside from that, he wore his pants, with a hole cut out in the back for his big tail.

Another of Lu's costumes was his pimp outfit! This one was less of a pain in Lu's butt, as it consisted of a swanky waist coat with a studded belt, a leather looking jacket thingy that he did not seem to mind wearing, and a studded crown that sat on his head. This costume was probably the most popular when it came to the amount of attention Lu got, and I can remember at least five pictures being taken of him while he was wearing it.

The last year I dressed Luther up for Halloween, he greeted trick-or-treaters wearing a firefighter costume. This was also pretty easy to make and it consisted of a firefighter's jacket, a firefighting helmet which Lu wore begrudgingly and a plastic axe, that slid through a loop on one side of the jacket. Lu did not actually do a lot of outdoor activity wearing this outfit, sadly to say as it was definitely right up there with his pimp costume when it came to awesomeness.