Howl'oween Dog Day USA

Northeast Pennsylvania

In the Philippines, the living myth is that when the neighborhood or street dog (Canis lupus familiaris) howls lugubriously at any time of day, there is somebody long-departed a-visiting from the Great Beyond. Dogs are believed to have the ability to see (or smell, hence the K-9's) what their human masters can not unless they have the third eye (and this reminds us of our help who told us once that some friendly elves abide in our bedroom, and so in deference, we moved to another one).

Mobile, Alabama

 Vampire lore has the other Canis lupus (gray wolf), a wild dog it really is, assuming otherworldly nature--it can morph into human form, the were-wolf, which has become a good subject for cinematic translation whether in the romantic or horror film genre.

We think that the USA dogs had a day all to themselves last Sunday (24 October).  They didn't have rivals for human attention this time unlike when they are brought to church on St Francis's feast day and, in proper decorum, hobnob with non-canine members of kingdom animalia, cats, birds, even reptiles.

Opelika-Auburn, Alabama

It's worldwide, this dog craziness.  Even the chic, westernized, young noveau riche Chinese have began walking pet dogs in a Shanghai or Beijing park; it used to be that they shunned keeping pet dogs because of some negative zodiac implications.

This Dog Sunday appeared to be a halloween treat to man's favorite pet--a howl'oween event for barking and yelping beause of probably some great discomfort due to their human disguise.  The canines that had probably more fun were those that performed agility tests as themselves--without 'human' adornments--in Oregon.

Because of the so-called globalization, we can almost see this howl'oween becoming another end-October event for dog lovers around the world in the same way that dog fashion shows have become an add-on to the traditional dog show of skills and healthiness.

Oregon.

Trick-or-treat and halloween used to be alien in the Philippine cultural scene. There was nangangaluluwa on undas (serenading for food on All Soul Day evening), and costumes were only worn for those who go to masquerade balls in country villages. But now we see Halloween Americana on sale at this time, and parents shopping for costumes for their kids who'd be going around tricking-or-treating on the eve of undas.

Do we see our askals (street dogs) being attired for Howl'oweens in the Philippines pretty soon?

Morgantown, West Virginia