Here’s how to avoid making your dog miserable this Halloween

Utah veterinarian Drew DeSocio has seen the worst of Halloween — a dog owner who thought it was cute to dress her pet up and seriously injured the animal.

He recalled working in a veterinarian emergency room when a woman brought in her Shih Tzu. The owner, “going for an irony thing,” dressed up as Toto and dressed her dog as Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.”

The owner put bows in the dog’s ears — bows attached to rubber bands. They were intended to go around the hair, but the owner put them around an ear. And left them there.

“When they came in, I was cleaning maggots out of the wounds,” DeSocio said. “I was able to dissect out the rubber-band portion. You could actually see the cartilege in the ear, because it had gotten to that point.”

Because he was working emergency care, he’s not sure what the end result was. But “if I was a betting man, I would say the dog was losing the ear.”

That’s an extreme case, but it does point to the single most important rule to follow if you’re planning to dress up your dog for Halloween: Make sure the dog is happy and comfortable.

“Some dogs really seem to enjoy being dressed up and are cooperative and love the attention,” said Temma Martin, a spokeswoman for Best Friends Animal Society. “One [rescued] dog at the sanctuary was very shy and reserved, but came out of her shell when she had clothes on.”

The dog, Fiesta, is obviously happy about getting into costume, but that certainly is not true of all dogs.

“A lot of them don’t like it,” said DeSocio. “It’s not really natural for them to have clothes on.”

You don’t have to be a dog whisperer to see that a lot of dogs look unhappy when they’re dressed up. Or to see that some of them like it.

“Some of them like to be a ham. They like the attention,” Martin said. “So as long as you’re gentle putting their clothes on them and you don’t hurt them, then it’s OK.”

She has three dogs, “and one of them has made it clear that she wants nothing to do with it. But we have two pit bull terrier-type dogs, and I have dressed them in all kinds of things. And they actually get really excited about it.”

Imagine, if you will, pit bull terriers who get excited about wearing tutus. And dresses. And Halloween costumes.

“They like to pose. They like having their picture taken,” Martin said. “The other dog doesn’t like having a camera pointed at her. Doesn’t like having clothes put on her.”

What the experts agree on is that you shouldn’t try to force a reluctant dog into a costume. If the dog is pawing or chewing at the costume, fighting to get it off, it’s a no-brainer — remove it.

“It’s important to be sensitive to your dog’s comfort level and don’t force them into dressing up if they’re stressed by it,” Martin said.“You can tell when a dog is stressed. If you put clothes on a dog and and it’s trying to wriggle out of them or is anxious while you’re putting the costume on, you can tell if they’re not OK with it. So I think the most important thing is, know your pet.”

When it comes to costumes, less is more. You don’t want to put them in anything restrictive or heavy. It shouldn’t impede their movement, breathing or vision. There shouldn’t be anything that the dog can chew off and swallow — or choke on.

“Minimal stuff isn’t bad,” DeSocio said. “But nothing where we’re doing too much to them. Because they also won’t tolerate some amount of it. They’re just, like, ‘OK, I don’t want this. I don’t know what’s going on.’”

Basically, pet owners need to be smart about what they’re doing. Because if they’re not careful, the dog could lose an ear.

“The stupid stuff is what I worry about,” DeSocio said. “I generally don’t think [costumes are] a good idea, unless you’re really attentive and you plan on taking it off really quickly. And you don’t get too crazy with it.”