The Cutest Hot Dog Ever

I've had Mercury for two years now so we haven't had many Halloweens together where we actually got all dressed up. I mean.. in 2020, we basically just curled up on the couch together and turned into each other's "horror movie buddies"; it's something I definitely recommend for those who don't have anyone else besides their best pup friend this Halloween season.

In 2019, the only costume I remember buying for my best boy was this costume I found in the Target $5 section that I actually only brought as an experiment to see just how fast my German Shepherd puppy would grow out of it. He was only a few months old at the time.. it seemed like a good idea.

By the way, yes.. he did grow out of this costume a few months later.

The year 2019 was a challenging year for me. In just a few months I had to say goodbye to my first service dog after an unfortunate circumstance, as well as say goodbye to a best friend who I thought would stick by me forever. I actually got Mercury around the time I lost both of them, so he made quite the impact on myself in just the first month of being in my life. Mercury proved, and has proven, countless times that he would be the one I could always rely on. Due to this, our bond became indestructible. I wanted to do every thing with this boy for every moment of the year. I wanted to make sure that.. just in case something bad was to ever happen.. we had the memories to remember the strong bond that instantly clicked between us. I have to be thankful for this because.. if it wasn't for me wanting to create the memories of a lifetime.. I wouldn't have a Halloween costume photo to write an article about when Vocal released the challenge that involves pets being all dressed up for Halloween.

So thank you past self. I owe you one.

I still remember thinking how adorable it was that the costume was so big when he wore it. It was a size large from Target; I truly did expect for the costume to be a big smaller than the size on the tag claimed it to be. With my past track record with dog costumes, I didn't really blame myself for thinking that.

But it held up.

Until Mercury grew to way big a few months later, he probably would've been able to wear this costume around town (not that I would've done it when it wasn't Halloween.. I'm not that confident in being the center of attention). But he definitely could have.

When it comes to dressing up my pets for Halloween, being "unscripted" and "homemade" is more common than you'd think..

Before Mercury, I owned a handsome Jack Russell/Beagle mix. As you could probably tell, I love mixed breeds way too much. With him, our Halloween costumes were mostly just me pulling some cute outfit out of his little wardrobe "closet" and creating a whole persona to that one outfit. That was it. Being a writer really came in handy for this moment, let me tell ya.

By the way, if you are a writer.. I do recommend doing this when it comes to dressing up your pets (or even your own children or yourselves). It really does make the dressing up for Halloween part a lot more fun than buying some costume at the Halloween store for just one night. Put some personality in and add a little bit of your touch to every costume you wear.

Anyways, I found this cute Varsity jacket in Harley's wardrobe that had a small baseball embroidered on the side and knew immediately what I wanted him to be "dressed as". I loved baseball more than life itself (thanks dad). Harley loved playing with his ball and loved being among the people (thanks service work). So I placed the jacket on him, carried his favorite ball around as we took our walk around the town, and he was HARLEY: Most Valuable Player.

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Bonus Photos (of baby Mercury as a cute little hot dog)

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Here's to more Halloween adventures to share with my little bundle of happiness.