Normal Animals Wearing Clothes or Accessories
This is about animals wearing accessories and pieces of clothing. Only, they are not cartoonish animals. They still walk on four legs (unless they are a bird or another animal that is supposed to be bipedal), most don't talk, they eat from the floor, and most lack the opposing thumbs and manual dexterity that allow them to hold things.
Given the lack of proper clothing that animals (those less anthropomorphic than the Civilized Animal tier) can wear without feeling uncomfortable, the amount of clothing they can wear usually doesn't exceed the accessory-wearing or half-dressed (shirt or other top but no pants or other bottom version) tiers.
Truth in Television: Some owners do give dogs clothes for them to wear, mostly for small dogs in winter. Also, working animals almost always wear special packs, vests, jackets, or blankets marking them as such.
General Examples of Accessories and Clothing Given to Normal Animals
These clothes and accessories are typically, stereotypically, or sometimes given to nomal animals and their fictional counterparts, the Nearly Normal Animal, Talking Animal (whether speech-impaired or not), and Partially Civilized Animal. Sometimes, these garments and accessories can show up in Civilized Animals, Funny Animals and Beast Men as well.
- Identity bands or tags on their feet/ankles
- Animal tracking bands or tags on their feet/ankles
- pigeon pants or bird diapers
- Identity bands or tags on their feet/ankles
- Animal tracking bands or tags on their feet/ankles
- Hoods that cover their eyes for manning and to keep them from panicking.
- A bell, or pair of bells, on their legs (attached via small leather strips called bewits)
- Strips of strong leather called jesses on both legs.
- Collar and tag and/or bell
- Insect or Flea collars
- Breakaway collars
- Harness
- Leash
- Bow, bowtie, or ribbon around their neck. (Much more common in fiction or historically than in Real Life)
- A bow or bow tie that fits on a collar is more what is done in modern day Real Life.
- Jackets, coats, sweaters, or shirts, especially for Sphynx and other hairless cats
- They wear Elizabethan collars to keep from scratching or licking at stitches or sutures
- Weansies
- Stud Pants and Queen Panties
- Cows wear cowbells
- Bulls (stereotypically) and calves (traditionally in Real Life) wear a nose ring; this is traditionally used to help them wean off their mother's milk in the calves
- Cattle of either sex wear tags on their ears
- Tie-up collars
- Collar and tag
- Insect or Flea collars
- Anti-bark or bark control collars
- Training or Shock collars
- Choke collars
- Harness
- Leash
- Muzzles
- Dogs, especially small dogs, wear jackets, coats, sweaters, or shirts, especially in the winter
- Working dogs almost always wear special packs, vests, jackets, or blankets marking them as such
- Police dogs wear bullet-proof jackets
- Military dogs wear gas masks
- Sled dogs wear booties to protect their paws
- Stereotypically, rescue St. Bernards have a tiny barrel of whiskey attached to their collar so the rescued person can have a belt. (Fiction only)
- In Real Life, they wear first aid packs on their backs.
- They wear Elizabethan collars to keep from scratching or licking at stitches or sutures
- Doggie diapers and doggy chastity belts
- Belly Bands
- Collar and tag
- Harness
- Leash
- Jackets, coats, sweaters, or shirts
- Halter
- Horseshoes
- Saddle
- Jacket or blanket to keep warm
- Blinders to keep them from panicking
- Horsecollar
- Horse Harness
- Hats
- Harness
- Shirts or vests
- Harness
- Leash
- Identity bands or tags on their feet/ankles
- Animal tracking bands or tags on their feet/ankles
- Harness
- Jackets, coats, sweaters, or shirts
- Radio or animal tracking collars or tags on an animal's wing, ankle, carapace, ear, or dorsal fin depending on the species
Reasons Normal Animals Are Given Clothes or Accessories in Media
The reasons to give animals such accessories (aside from the usual collar and tag for dogs and horseshoes and halter for horses) and partial clothing in media is to make them more unique. People would likely remember a puppy with a tophat instead of a simple puppy. It can also be used to mask the fact more than one dog is used for the same role in a live action show or movie. The audience would remember the accessory and overlook the fact this dog is slightly smaller or bigger depending on the scene.
Civilized Animals, Funny Animals, and Beast Men Wearing Real Life Animal Accessories
- Krazy Kat wears a bow around his/her neck.
- Klonoa wears a collar along with his outfit.
- Horace Horsecollar from the Classic Disney Shorts wears... a horsecollar.
- Hunter the lion cub from Father of the Pride wears an Elizabethan collar.
- Brian the dog from Family Guy wears nothing but a collar.
- Toodles Galore the cat from Tom and Jerry sometimes wears a bow around her neck.
- Bessie the cow from Back at the Barnyard wears a tag in her ears.
Body Part Accommodation Features in Clothing
Animals (whether fictional or nonfictional species), aliens, monsters, and fantasy creatures often have body parts that humans don't have, like tails, long or close-set ears, horns, spikes, shells, antlers, wings, e.t.c. Such body parts have to be taken into consideration when designing clothes for them.
Some body parts on animals, like shells and quills don't accommodate shirts well unless those shirts have open backsides and wings don't accommodate sleeves well unless the sleeves are really big. Animals with horns or antlers, such as deer, moose, antelope, cattle, or goats, cannot wear T-shirts or similar garments that need to be pulled over the head.
For birds and bats, shirts jackets, coats, and vests must be design to accommodate their wings. One way is with really big sleeves and another is to not have sleeves. Also, shirts, jackets, coats, and vests must be designed to accommodate horns and antlers.
Hats and helmets must be designed so that the ears are not restricted, but protected if required. Horns and antlers pose additional problems as well.
Many animal's feet, especially those with long toes, a handlike shape to them (such as practically every primate except humans), or hooves, don't accommodate socks, shoes, or boots well. Ironically, one animal who is big on wearing shoes, the human being, is a primate.
Another thing to take account for, which is considered when making clothing for dogs in Real Life, but is only sometimes addressed in fictional normal and nearly normal animals (talking, Animal Talk, or non talking) but which is very rarely addressed in Civilized Animals and Funny Animals in fictional media, is the addition of clothing features that make it easier to "relieve oneself" without soiling one's outfit.
The most common body part accommodation features in clothing are for ears and tails.
Ears
The most common ear accommodation features in headgear are ear holes on each side of hats, hoods, and caps of various types. Sometimes, this is done with helmets. Another ear accommodation feature in headgear are closed ear sleeves for each ear on coat, jacket, and sweater hoods.
Sometimes with feline characters, the ears are bent backward and tucked in hats (especially wide-brimmed ones), hoods, caps, and helmets due to having thin, frostbite-prone, sunburn-prone ears that can hold a bent-backward position when bent back.
Tails
The most common tail accommodation features in clothing are tail holes in pants, shorts, underwear, and skirts. Sometimes, tail holes can show up in trench coats, other long coats and jackets, and even long shirts and sweaters.
Sometimes with thick tailed animals, like crocodiles, lizards, and kangaroos, tail holes are depicted with a cinch above them so as to better fit around their tails.
It's not unreasonable to think, for example, that long pants made for animals would have long sleeves to accommodate their tails as well, but strangely, almost nobody ever depicts such a thing. The closest people ever get to depicting this is with spacesuits with closed sleeves that accommodate an animal's tail.
Crotch and Rear End
One clothing design consideration to take account for, which is considered when making clothing and accessories for animals, especially dogs and horses in Real Life, but is only sometimes addressed in fictional normal and nearly normal animals (talking, Animal Talk, or non talking) but which is very rarely addressed in Civilized Animals and Funny Animals in fictional media, is the addition of clothing features that make it easier to "relieve oneself" without soiling one's outfit.
For dogs, it takes the form of pants, jumpsuits, and costumes that are open at the tail, crotch, and belly.
Claws and Nails
Claw and nail accommodation features in the form of slits or holes can show up any type of fingered glove's fingertips or socks toetips. This could be especially useful for cartoon animals that have long claws. For some reason, this is almost never depicted on any glove-wearing cartoon animal.
Finger and Toe Webbing
Finger and toe webbing accommodation features in the form of webbing between the fingers of fingered gloves and the toes of toe socks, as well as for rings. This is especially useful for cartoon animals that have a lot of webbing between their fingers and/or toes. For some reason, this is almost never depicted on any glove or toe sock wearing cartoon animal.
