When People Go On Vacation and Bring Back Souvenirs For Your Dogs

I was going through some bins in my garage when I ran across not one, but two souvenir dog outfits from Hawaii. Naturally, I decided to share them here.

Brisbane's Hawaiian shirt comes from my parent's vacation a few years ago. I had forgotten about it entirely, or I would have used it to keep the sun off him after the embarrassing shavedown. It's a very light shirt that fits well, and he doesn't seem to mind it nearly as much as he minds most clothes. It doesn't have a tag identifying a manufacturer, but it appears to be from Casual Canine by Pet Edge.

Sisci's Hawaiian dress was originally Oakley's dress. My elderly cocker spaniel stayed with me during my senior year of college, and my roommate brought her elderly sheltie. Her parents went to Hawaii and brought back dresses for both dogs that were absolutely adorable. Sisci fits in most of Oakley's hand-me-downs so she gets to wear it now. The dress is by Cocojor Hawaii, a Hawaiian company that actually makes their clothes in Hawaii. The tag says "Made in Hawaii with Aloha". It's a Lokelani Mumu in the Luau Blue pattern. Cocojor also has a daycare and boarding facility and a grooming salon. So fancy! The mumu is extremely well-made, it's probably one of the nicest dog outfits we own.

I think it's amusing that these outfits were purchased by different people at different times several years apart for different dogs, and were stored in separate bins in my garage and laundry room, and I ran across both of them on the same day. All we need now is a couple of flower leis and a big chunky camera to complete the tourist look!

Pretty in Pink

When we had Brisbane shaved to help get his skin issues under control, I worried a lot about him getting sunburned. It's true that no hair means unrestricted airflow to the skin, but fur also protects a dog from the sun. Brisbane is single-coated, his hairs are all one length. Double-coated dogs have their visible outer coat and then a soft, short undercoat that can help insulate them in cold weather.

Photo by Erin Koski

In the summer, double-coated dogs are supposed to shed their undercoats out, leaving the long guardhairs to protect them from the sun. collies, huskies, and other super-hairy dogs are usually pretty comfortable in the heat provided their undercoats have been brushed out properly. Without brushing, the shed fluff bunches up next to their skin and continues insulating forever. Sometimes it starts coming out in tufts. When brushing out a dog with a very thick undercoat, it's not unusual to end up with a pile of hair bigger than the dog.

Brisbane is single-coated, so I don't have to deal with an undercoat. However, shaving him bald still left him with zero protection from the sun. The day after his haircut, we went shopping for something he could wear in the sun. I wanted something thinner than his warm jackets, and light-colored to reflect the heat. Only a couple of places in town even had dog shirts, and I found just one light-colored shirt in his size. It was on clearance for $4 at Petco.

Brisbane, of course, refused to move while wearing anything at all. I decided to limit our time in the sun instead, and passed the shirt along to a friend with a white dog that is willing to wear clothes. I think I got $4 worth of entertainment out of it.