While perusing today's pet-related press releases, I came across one from Catron Pet Fashions, essentially announcing its existence. Their recent claim to fame was that they were featured on NBC's Dateline last June 12th, under a story entitled, "Pet Nation".

So, I cruised over to its websites and saw all the costumes for sale online. Lots of cute and funny photos can be found.

Of course, animal rights activists might argue that this is "exploitation of animals". But then again, much of the idea behind having a pet could be construed as exploitation. We have pets for our companionship, watch them gobble up yummy treats, train them to do silly stunts, all for our pleasure.

On the other hand, I doubt that dogs hate having to wear costumes. I'm not really sure they understand what is happening, beyond having all these strange things placed on them. What they do know is that they are getting lots of attention, which is something that dogs want most of all from people. I suppose as long as people are having fun dressing up their dogs, and dogs enjoy the attention they are getting, all is well.