It’s Halloween at Camp Run-A-Pup, and we’ve been busy dressing up our campers for the last four weeks in anticipation of the camp Howl-o-ween parade. This has included taking their pictures and photoshopping them into the prefect background. The pictures have been shared in our Camp Facebook group, but I thought that I’d share them on Odd too, because, well, this whole project is just a little bit odd. We took a total of about 40 costumed pup pictures, not including the fails. I’ll post a few pictures each day. This year’s Camp Howl-o-ween parade will be led by Voodoo! My sweet Mother’s Doberman.

But before the parade begins, let me answer, some sure to be, frequently asked questions.

How do you choose which pups to dress up?
The first criterion is that we have to be pretty certain that the pup won’t bite us. Then we take into consideration the kind of text the pup’s owner will send us if their pup goes home with a green tinge or glitter on its coat. If we think the text will include a lot of CAPITAL LETTERS, we might not add that pup to the Halloween costume list. However, mostly we will include the campers that we see the most or have an idea for. It changes every year.

How do you come up with the costumes?
Costumes are chosen by a committee of three: Vickie, Cole, and Katybeth. We hang a large white board on the wall and start brainstorming ideas on it around the beginning of September. One of Vickie’s ideas included “turning a camper into the center of the Universe.” Vickie is still trying to sell this idea. We try to reflect some element of the pup’s personality in the costume. Some of the costumes are elaborate and some are very simple. This doesn’t mean that we like one camper more than another; it means that one camper likes dressing up more than another. Costumes are made from a lot of different resources and have been collected over the years. Amazon and thrift shops are our friends.

Do the pups actually wear the costumes?
Do you even have to ask? Did God make little green apples? Of course they wear the costumes (and most of the accessories)! The only things we photoshop are the backgrounds and an occasional special effect.

How do you do it?
We don’t really know. We just started talking about Halloween costumes in September, and before we know it, it is October and we are stuffing a pup into a banana costume. Not really . . . no bananas . . . this year. Our campers are better sports than you might imagine. Also, we buy good treats and make it fun.

Are all your pictures frame worthy?
Every single one, if you measure success by how hard they make us laugh. We’ll post a few do-overs that will make you laugh hard.

How much time does it take?
No comment.

Who does what?
Halloween Week is a camp team effort. Cole is our lighting specialist, stage manager, and photographer; Katybeth organizes the costumes and Photoshops the scenes; and Vickie (our friend and camp helper)  wrangles, cajoles, consoles, and bribes our campers.

Are the camp directors still speaking to each other?
Yes. Cole just yelled at me that one pup did not look green enough. We have our moments—many of them. But we have not stabbed or stapled each other yet. As of writing, we have five pups left to costume. Ask this question again after Halloween.

And now, with the flourish of a tail wag, let’s put our ears up and get this week off to a howling start!

Jake Our Superhero! 

Jake has always wanted to be a superhero. Behind his pug nose lies a strong moral compass (when it’s not laying under dryer-warmed blankets) and a desire to right wrongs for all pugkind. We were debating what kind of superhero Jake would choose to be, when he reached over to lick the top of our pizza. COWABUNGA! Pizza is the favorite food of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)! Jake was telling us he wanted to become a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and fight injustice between slices of pizza! Jake was given the name Jakeovanni after he barked the Teenage Mutant Ninja oath: “Never say no to pizza.” (and yes, he did wear that mask!) 

Happy Mr B! 

Mr. B is a panda, but of course, you knew that! He is a panda because we thought he would make an adorable panda, and we were not wrong!  He is also an exceptionally good sport and agreed to take on the challenges his costume provided.

 

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Stay tune! More to come. We will also be posting pictures on our Instagram page!

AND finally…. GOGOGOGO CUBS!!

Odd Loves Company,

 

Dressing Up Our Pups – Howl-O-Ween FUN

Costumes Halloween Pups

40 Pups Done, 1 Peacock left to go, Howl-o-ween Week