Happy Howloween

This weekend was packed with Halloween festivities! PetSmart had their "Frightfully Delightful" event this weekend, a boarding/training facility down the street had their "Howl-O-Ween Bash" and the Champaign Dog Park had their "Howl'oween" Event!

The first year we had Henri, he was Indiana Bones. We didn't go anywhere and he really only wore the costume so I could take his picture. Last year, we found out about the Dog Park Costume Contest. I think we found out about it kind of late because I remember not having much time to come up with something. There were several categories, one of which was the Best Group Costume, in which the dog(s) and human(s) coordinate. Henri was The Big Bad Wolf and I was the Third Little Pig. It was clever and Henri didn't mind wearing a sign and having the first and second little pig dangling around his neck. Perhaps my artistic interpretation just doesn't translate super well. We didn't win anything, but we were super cute. At least I thought so. I was able to see what we were up against though, and knowing that, I was able to think bigger this year. Still striving for the Best Group Costume, I came up with Henri as a scuba diver and I was a jellyfish. My husband could pick something else to coordinate with us if he so chose.

Scuba Diver, huh? Yeah, simple. The hard part was sewing a scuba suit, because I'm not very good at sewing yet, but I'm going to have to learn if these are the types of things I come up with! So, I worked several late nights, creating a scuba suit for Henri, finding just the right supplies to make his oxygen tank and flippers. I put the goggles around his neck, making sure he was okay with them hanging on him, because there was not way he was wearing them on his head. He fussed with them at first and then he was fine. I tried his suit on earlier in the week, to make sure it fit and he was okay, even running after a toy while wearing it. Friday night, I finished his tank and put it on him and he froze. He didn't like it. I had made it as lightweight as I could, keeping the hose from dangling off of him, attaching it all to a harness that he was already use to, but he was not happy. I didn't know what to do! I have just spent all that time on a scuba suit, a jellyfish umbrella and even a shark hoodie for my husband and Henri wasn't going to wear his scuba tank! What was I going to do? I couldn't scrap everything and come up with something new in one day! The PetSmart event and Dog House on the Prairie event were Saturday, the next day. I could skip them and work on new costumes or I could just forget the whole thing.

I've mentioned I'm stubborn before. I decided we would take in one event at a time. If Henri would just wear his tank for a picture at PetSmart, if he would just walk through the store in his costume, we could skip the afternoon event if he was miserable. Guess what? He wasn't miserable! Once I got him to move, he was okay. I think he liked the attention he was getting. 

After PetSmart, I drove him out to a lake to take some pictures of him by the water, as if he had been scuba diving. I then proceeded to buy him some McDonalds, which he shared with me, as reward for doing so well. He really did do well! I was so proud of him! 

We went to the Dog House on the Prairie, which was a new place so I knew he would be nervous, but he even lay down at one point, relaxing a little. Yes! This was going to work! Just one more event!

There we were, Henri the scuba diver, my husband the shark and me, the jellyfish. Henri did surprisingly well with the fact that I had an umbrella, but my jellyfish tentacles did not do very well in the wind, which there is always more of out in the open area of the dog parks. The got tangled and snagged, some ripping off. We didn't even get a picture of the three of us. In the end, Henri did win Best Costume on a Dog. So, my hard work paid off. Maybe we can get Best Group next year. Hmm...what could we be?