Appropriate Animal Attire/Analysis

• Main
• Analysis
• All Subpages
• Create New

Normal Animals Wearing Clothes or Accessories

This is about animals wearing accessories and pieces of clothing. Only, they are not cartoonish animals. They still walk on four legs (unless they are a bird or another animal that is supposed to be bipedal), most don't talk, they eat from the floor, and most lack the opposing thumbs and manual dexterity that allow them to hold things.

Given the lack of proper clothing that animals can wear without feeling unconfortable, the amount of clothing they can wear usually doesn't exceed the accessory-wearing or half-dressed (shirt or other top but no pants or other bottom version) tiers.

Truth in Television: Some owners do give dogs clothes for them to wear, mostly for small dogs in winter. Also, working animals almost always wear special packs, vests, jackets, or blankets marking them as such.

General Examples of Accessories and Clothing Given to Normal Animals

These clothes and accessories are typically, stereotypically, or sometimes given to nomal animals and their fictional counterparts, the Nearly-Normal Animal, Talking Animal (whether speech-impaired or not), and Partially-Civilized Animal. Sometimes, these garments and accessories can show up in Civilized Animals, Funny Animals, and Petting Zoo People as well.

Birds

• Identity bands or tags on their feet/ankles
• Animal tracking bands or tags on their feet/ankles

Birds of Prey (Hawks, Falcons, Eagles, and Owls)

• Identity bands or tags on their feet/ankles
• Animal tracking bands or tags on their feet/ankles
• Hoods that cover their eyes for manning and to keep them from panicking.
• A bell, or pair of bells, on their legs (attached via small leather strips called bewits)
• Strips of strong leather called jesses on both legs.

Cats

• Collar and tag and/or bell
  • Insect or Flea collars
  • Breakaway collars
• Harness
• Bow, bowtie, or ribbon around their neck. (Much more common in fiction than in Real Life)
• Jackets, coats, sweaters, or shirts for Sphynx and other hairless cats
• They wear Elizabethan collars to keep from scratching or licking at stitches or sutures

Cattle

• Cows wear cowbells
• Bulls wear a nose ring
• Cattle of either sex wear tags on their ears
• Tie-up collars

Dogs

• Collar and tag
  • Insect or Flea collars
  • Anti-bark or bark control collars
  • Training or Shock collars
  • Choke collars
• Harness
• Muzzles
• Dogs, especially small dogs, wear jackets, coats, sweaters, or shirts, especially in the winter
• Working dogs almost always wear special packs, vests, jackets, or blankets marking them as such
• Police dogs wear bullet-proof jackets
• Military dogs wear gas masks
• Sled dogs wear booties to protect their paws
• Stereotypically, rescue St. Bernards have a tiny barrel of whiskey attached to their collar so the rescued person can have a belt. (Fiction only)
  • In Real Life, they wear first aid packs on their backs.
• They wear Elizabethan collars to keep from scratching or licking at stitches or sutures

Ferrets

• Collar and tag
• Harness

Horses

• Halter
• Horseshoes
• Saddle
• Jacket or blanket to keep warm
• Blinders to keep them from panicking
• Horsecollar
• Horse Harness

Wild Animals

• Radio or animal tracking collars or tags on an animal's wing, ankle, carapace, or dorsal fin depending on the species

Reasons Normal Animals Are Given Clothes or Accessories in Media

The reasons to give animals such accessories (aside from the usual collar and tag for dogs and horseshoes and halter for horses) and partial clothing in media is to make them more unique. People would likely remember a puppy with a tophat instead of a simple puppy. It can also be used to mask the fact more than one dog is used for the same role in a live action show or movie. The audience would remember the accessory and overlook the fact this dog is slightly smaller or bigger depending on the scene.