So dogs don't come in enough colours already

Dogs all ready come in a large variety of colours and patterns. Common sense would tell us to leave well enough alone, right?

I was talking to a friend today, and dyeing dogs came up as a subject. She has a client who is a professional dog groomer, at a large portion of her business is dying dogs. People get their dogs dyed green for St Paddy's day, they get dyed the fave football team for the super bowl. So while this is good for the groomers bank account is it good for the dogs?

There is still a trend, I hear about it all the time on the dog forums, for people to get a dog as an accessory. Celebrities seem to be the worst for it, but I have seen my fair share of designer doggie fashion accessories around my little town. These dogs are often bought from pet stores (puppy mill puppies anyone?) or bybs. These are not healthy well adjusted dogs to begin with, and then being saddled with the job of being a real live beanie baby and being on par with a new pair of shoes. Hey and while you can dye shoes, you can really only do it once. Look fluffy can be a new colour every season!!

There are also others who want big 'tuff' dogs for protection, to look cool, or as status symbols. But these dogs don't usually get dyed, they just have to wear chains that would hold Clydesdale back (ok I know some are strong dogs.. but they are not THAT strong)

So common sense would tell us dying dogs is dumb and superficial right? Well I am sure it can be. But I have a confession to make. That little dog in the pic..ya the really cute Jack Russell Terrier. That's my dog, Dekka. Why is she pink? It was valentines day, I had some cherry kool aid and an idea. So after I dyed my dog, I got to thinking about it. Why did I do it? alien communication? subliminal messages on my Ipod? divine inspiration? Anyone who knows me at all, will agree I am not ever to be accused of following fashion trends. If its clean and it covers me, its good. I wondered if I lived in the middle of the woods up north, and no one would see Dekka but me, would I still have turned her mohawk pink? I decided yes, yes I would.

I think this is an integral and significant difference in why good and caring dog owners will do something that seems as superficial as a Paris Hilton publicity stunt. It can be fun to dye/dress up dogs. Some people do it to boost their image. Others just want to include their dog, make sure fuffy isn't left out of the festivities. No one gets upset if they see a baby wearing elf sleepers at Xmas... Dyeing dogs could be a show of love, of our desire to include these non humans in every detail of our lives, and stem from wanting to show others how important our dogs are to us.

So what do you think?