For those of you who didn't know, I entered Boomer into the local PetsMart "Howl-o-ween" costume contest. I had several reasons for doing this - 1.) I myself was not planning on dressing up for Halloween, so I had that idle time on my hands; 2.) a co-worker had made Boomer a custom Han Solo shirt and vest a year ago (during an abortive attempt to do "Howl-oween" last year); and 3.) I'm all about putting my dog in embarrassing situations since he seems more than comfortable putting me in the same. So, this was the year of Han Boomo (or Boom Solo or whatever). And while I have no children, I’m going to say this with utter confidence - dressing Boomer in costume is a worse experience than dressing a five-year-old in a costume. Let me explain - sure, the five year old may cry and complain and remove this or that piece, but does your five year old try and bite you and attempt to gnaw his costume off? I didn't think so.

And the problem was…accessories.I had originally envisioned a toy lazer gun attached in a holster to one of Boomer's back legs. I went to Wal-Mart, feeling all arty and crafty, bought everything to make a lightweight holster. Upon completion something became entirely too evident - Boomer HATED it. Maybe "hate" is not strong enough. He LOATHED it. I would put on his holster and he would stand in the middle of the living room, his ears almost completely out to their sides, with a look on his face like he wanted me to die. It also didn't help that the gun was HUGE and the belt kept slipping so that rather being on his side, it was dragging on the floor between his legs. But since we were running out of time before the event, well, you gotta do what you gotta do.

My friend Allison had dressed her dog Becca (who is Boomer's very best special friend) as Chewbacca so that we would have a Star Wars theme going. And away we went in the worst torrential downpour I've seen in months. Once at the store, he got distracted by the other dogs and Becca, so it was even harder to get his belt and gun on. And that to keep the gun from moving between his back legs, he determined that if he just walked sideways the whole time, that wouldn't happen (as far as problem-solving goes, I can't fault that choice). Suffice it to say, Boomer and Becca came in 2nd place in the costume content. We lost to the lady who dressed both herself and her dog up as jesters. It may sound like I’m a stick in the mud, but I was not dressing up in costume, too. As I’ve told some folks, there is a world of difference between being a weird guy that dresses up your dog for Halloween and being the weird guy who dresses up his dog AND goes in drag as Princess Leia to the event in support.

More to come...