Earlier this month, a reader requested a blog post featuring Dobby in costume. What a fun topic! Then I started through my photos and recalled how difficult it was to get a costume on him. He really didn’t like outfits and in particular, hats. He hated hats.
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- The frog blanket.
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- The Disney princess blanket.
And yet I do have a few photos of him in costume. Shaking my head to stir up those memories, it was always a challenge. Because he didn’t like it, I never pushed the issue. Some things he loved to wear: blankets of any kind. He liked to cover himself up.
He wore his harness readily because it was a prerequisite to going to the front yard, which he loved. Same place, same time, every day.
If I was quick I could tuck things into the harness.
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- Bandanna?
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- No problema!
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- The bandanna theme, again.
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- This time for a birthday greeting to Garibaldi.
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- For some reason he was particularly enchanted with these fairy wings.
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- Florida fans, avert your eyes. This is a tutu.
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- He hardly noticed this one.
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- He was okay with jackets, too, if they were tucked into the harness.
My favorite costume was the Dobby Lama. It worked because it was simple robes draped over his back, a pair of glasses. I did get a good photo, but the out-takes illustrate the effort for even a simple costume.
The Dobby Lama
The rejected photos:
Those glasses were never going to work. What are you going to do? You can see that he took this session seriously. He could have walked away. Same with those pink fairy wings- he was posing! How do they know? They can’t possibly know about photographs or have any clue what we are trying to accomplish. They do know that this is Serious, and even Dobby wanted to be a Good Boy, once in a while.
He would rub his morrillo on the hats, but don’t let it touch his ears!
Hats, though, were Not Okay. Look at those squinty eyes. The Mickey Mouse hat was so perfect that I pestered him with it for months.
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- See those squinty eyes? He didn’t want me to let go of the hat and let it plop onto his head.
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- Still squinting, but getting used to a hat.
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- Once I got it on, he was off and running.
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- He eventually settled down and ignored it.
He was totally okay with things stuck to his bum.
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- A new trash can came in with these big stickers.
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- Wearing a hat, the Dobby Way.
I spent an afternoon with this Santa photo. The hat was hanging from a tree at “morrillo height.” I snapped a bunch of photos, working on the optimal angle so the hat would “sit” on his head.
With recalcitrant beasts like Dobby, photoshop is the best answer. Here is General Dobby Winnick, from General Napoleon Buonaparte’s Army des Animals. There is another photo of him with a cigar. If I find it I will add it to this blog.
General Dobby Winnick
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If you have any requests, use the Ask Dobby tab to contact me. I’m always looking for blog ideas and I still have thousands of old photos and videos.
Dobby the Capybara 