Every year at Halloween, my parents like to put a little pair of batwings on the family dog — and every time they do, we can always tell that our lovable little pup is torn about the idea. The pros include the following: He’s extra cute with the batwings on; he knows he’s extra cute with them on; and he absolutely adores the additional attention he gets when he’s wearing them. Still, though, even though he loves the extra attention, he usually has a certain amount of trouble dealing with the batwings themselves. He just can’t quite figure out why he’s suddenly got these giant flappy things hanging off his back, because he’s a dog. Dogs don’t understand Halloween.
In fact, Halloween regularly baffles our pets. As much as we like to pretend that they have a certain degree of self-awareness, the bottom line is that they’re easily confused by human things. Even more mystifying to them than regular, everyday human objects, though, are those that emerge only once a year. Such is the case with these 10 animals, who absolutely cannot wrap their furry, feathered, and, in one case, animated little brains around Halloween. It’s a miracle our pets put up with this sort of thing from us, their owners… but then again, maybe they know that we dress them up and introduce them to strange, orange, spherical objects at odd times because we love them.
At least it’s probably easier for them to understand pumpkins than it is for us to understand some of the weirder human Halloween costumes, right?
1. Corgi vs. Pumpkin: Aaaaaaaaand FIGHT!
This very excitable corgi cannot deal with this pumpkin. I cannot deal with this very excitable corgi not being able to deal with this pumpkin.
2. Pumpkin Pug
“How did I get in here? More importantly, how do I get out of here? Haaaaaaaaaaaalp!”
3. Kitten’s First Scare
“BOO!... Did I do it right?”
4. Question: What’s Hiding Inside?
Answer: An owl who’s still trying to figure out turned out the lights.
5. Simon’s Cat in “Scaredy Cat”
OK, yes, I’m cheating a little bit here, because Simon and his cat are fictional animated characters. They’re based off of reality, though, so let’s give it a pass, shall we? Especially since this year’s special Halloween episode of the webs eries is… well, all kinds of amazing. Clearly Simon’s Cat has not learned that you should never mess with a human while they’re watching a freaky movie.
6. Curious Parakeet
“What is this? Can I eat it?”
7. Why You Should Never Dress Your Pet Up
These guys? Not impressed.
8. Shark-Cat Strikes Again!
There’s a Shark-Cat video for every occasion.
9. Why You Should Never Dress Your Pet Up, Part 2
“Why? Why have you done this to meeeeeeee?”
10. Happy Halloween, Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
Proof that humans and monkeys are related: They like pumpkin-flavored things, too.
