Halloween: The Good and The Bad

This coming Sunday is Halloween but my humans and I won’t be home to ‘observe’ the holiday.  It is said that Halloween has its origins in Celtic festival of Samhain, a celebration of summer’s end, but I am starting to believe that Halloween may have evolved from canines! 

Think about it. All the ‘good’ parts of Halloween are dog-friendly like:

• There are lots of visitors to greet at the door.
• These visitors say the word ‘treat’ every time you open the door.
• There is a lot of walking/roaming to sniff out the treats.
• You only have to do a ‘trick’ if some human initially refuses to give you a treat.
• There are houses and houses full of free treats.

Of course, once the humans got a hold of this holiday they made it far more complicated than walking around all day collecting free treats. They now have rules like:

• You must wear a costume and it must be flame retardant (so the jack-o-lanterns don’t set you ablaze).
• Walk, do not run, from house to house to collect treats.
• Plan your route instead of following the delicious treats scent trails.
• Don’t eat the delicious treats until you get home.

The rules go on and on. What was once a simple canine holiday to pursue free treats has been warped by the humans.

And in regard to costumes…my Ma always wants to dress up like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz so she can carry me around like Toto. Thankfully, Dad has always put the ka-bosh on this idea, since he has been informed he would have to be the Scarecrow, Tin Man or Lion and he is just not going to do that. (Thank you Dad!)

You wish, Ma!

 But that hasn’t stopped Ma from trying to win Dad over on the idea of costumes.  She did buy me a costume a few years ago, which she does insist I wear when answering the door for trick-or-treaters and on my evening walk.  She thought Dad would love it since he works in construction…no such luck.  I am not too thrilled about it either, but I wear it nonetheless.


I've got my tools.



Just give me the treats!!