Halloween:
My Favorite Holiday;
My Dog’s Least Favorite Holiday
I love Halloween. Not for the treats, though I loved trick-or-treating as a child. What I love about the holiday is the chance for anyone to dress up any way they want; they can be any one they want. Now, I wish people treated every day as Halloween, but that’s not the world we live in, so I’ll savor the one night a year when the world goes wild.
My dog goes wild, too. Even though she’d prefer not to.
I have a fifty-pound Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. She’s a hunting dog. She loves to hunt, point, flush, chase, and retrieve. She is an outdoorsy dog that has terrified the local squirrel, chipmunk, and rabbit populations. She does not like dressing up.
She’s two and a half years old right now, which means she’s worn two costumes and will be wearing her third soon.
Ellie’s first Halloween came when she was only six months old. If you’ve never had a puppy, six months is the age of boundless energy, endless curiosity, and destructive playfulness. Knowing this, I bought her a simple harness with angel wings. I thought, she wears a harness on walks so this will be perfect! Nope. The wings lasted roughly three point two seconds before she figured out how to reach one. Her angel costume had become a fallen angel costume, which, looking back, does fit her personality better.
Ellie’s second Halloween came for an older and better trained dog. I found the perfect Halloween costume for her. She dressed up as her favorite character: the UPS driver. You see, we have Jimmy, the best UPS driver of all time. With every package he delivers, he’d leave a treat for Ellie. I swear, she could hear his truck from a mile away and would be waiting, in a perfect “sit” position, for her inevitable treat. And so when I came across a costume of a UPS driver in my dog’s size, I knew it’d be perfect.
She did far better her second Halloween. Her costume lasted nearly a minute before she’d torn into the mini package on the front of the costume. She was disappointed that there were no treats within.
(Note: I couldn’t get a good picture of Ellie in her UPS Driver costume as there were too many things for her to chew on: the hat, arms, package, you name it—it was truly irresistible to her. Attempt 1: Ellie was intent on shredding an arm. Attempt 2: I had to snap a picture the split-second after I said, “treat!” She resumed chewing immediately after the shot.)
For Ellie’s third Halloween, I haven’t yet picked out her costume, though I certainly will get her one. After all, it’s a tradition. So, help me! Give me ideas for Ellie’s Halloween costume. And maybe, your idea will turn into a costume my dog will model for at least ten minutes (fingers crossed) this year!
Rachel Aukes is a science fiction writer with over twenty books in print, including 100 Days in Deadland, which made Suspense Magazine’s Best of the Year list. She is also a Wattpad Star, her stories having over six million reads. Her popular Tidy Guides series covers tips on writing, editing, and publishing your first novel. When not writing, Rachel can be found flying old airplanes with her husband and an incredibly spoiled 50-pound lap dog over central Iowa.
It’s an age of heroes and sacrifices.
The colonies won their independence.
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New enemies come at the fragile Alliance of Free Colonies. Assassination attempts. Kidnappings. Murder.
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If Reyne fails, the Alliance will fall. War will claim the colonies once again.
The race is on and time is running out.
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