The things you learn when you sponsor a Halloween pet costume contest: Some people have costumes for their pets for every holiday in the calendar. Some dogs have Instagram accounts with tens of thousands of followers. Some people save money for their pet costumes by putting the dog in the outfit their kids wore when they were little. And a lot of pet owners have a fondness for dreadful puns. Like the people who put their Great Pyrenees mix in pearls and a flowered hat to portray a "Downton Abbey" character, the "Dog-wager Countess of Grantham." Or the dog dressed up as a prizefighter, because she's a boxer. Or the lame golden retriever who gets around on three legs dressed up as a pancake restaurant employee with an apron labeled "IHOP." Those were just some of the approximately 300 entries we got in the second annual Star Tribune Halloween Pet Costume Contest, along with a pooch portraying Prince, a cat dressed as Abraham Lincoln and a tortoise named Sergei wearing a coonskin cap. With competition like that, it was hard for our judges to select the winners. But here's the pick of the litter:
2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest winners (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Best of show
Pet: Louie Owner: Christiana Viscusi, of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
About the winner: Louie, 5, a cat with 149,000 Instagram followers (@sophielovestuna), likes to ride around in a kid’s wagon. So for Halloween, his owner turned him into Fred Flintstone driving his Stone Age car. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Third place
Pet: Zephy
Owner: Tuy Hoeung Yim, of St. Louis Park
Comment: Zephy, 14, is one of two “very cooperative” Chihuahuas in the Yim household that regularly get dressed up. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Anything goes
First place: Elsa
Owners: Linda Harms, Jay Clement and Ellie Harms-Clement, of Clarkson, Mich.
About the winner: Elsa is a German shepherd who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident, so the Harms-Clement household decided to dress her as a peg-legged pirate. “We were trying to celebrate her being a tripod,” Linda Harms said.
Second place: Beau as an aviator; Larissa Vosejpka, of Prior Lake
Third place: Munchkin as a mermaid; Patti Anderson, of Plymouth (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Second place
Pet: Beau
Owner: Larissa Vosejpka, of Prior Lake
Comment: Vosejpka’s mom is a portrait photographer, so Beau ended up in the costume and props normally used to photograph little kids. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Third place
Pet: Munchkin
Owner: Patti Anderson, of Plymouth
Comment: Anderson owns five guinea pigs, but Munchkin, a registered therapy guinea pig, is the only one who will consent to wearing a mermaid costume. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Minnesota inspired
First place: Cinnamon and Sammy
Owner: Ruth Reilly, of Plymouth
About the winners: “These dogs love to pose,” said Reilly of Cinnamon and Sammy, who also have an Instagram account, (@cinnamon_and_sammy), where you’ll see the dogs dressed up as everyone from Janis Joplin to George Washington. When the dogs posed as hot dish chefs, “they didn’t eat it because there’s onion in it,” Reilly said. “I cooked that for my family, but they took credit for it.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Second Place
Pet: Casey
Owner: Becky Groseth, of Columbia Heights
Comment: To pass out treats and go to Halloween parties, Casey, a 15-year-old beagle (@caseythetravelingbeagle), and his owner have dressed up as Snoopy and Woodstock, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, a Girl Scout and a Cub Scout and Little Bo Peep and her sheep. “It’s always a big reveal to see what Casey is going to be,” Groseth said. For their Minnesota-inspired entry, they became Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Third place
Pet: Samantha
Owner: Bonnie Sue Kalmar, of St. Clair, Mich.
Comment: “I don’t have any children, so this is how I enjoy my Halloween,” said Kalmar. She said Samantha also loves dressing up and posing. “You get the clothes out and she gets all excited,” she said. At the Midwest-themed photo shoot, Samantha “was a little bit uncomfortable at first about the big cows, but she was a little bit excited about eating cow poop.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Pop culture
First place pets: Lennon, Penny, Dobey and Lily Owners: Sue, Chelsea and Ryan Luse, of Eagan
About the winners: Sue Luse said the biggest challenge with the photo shoot was “getting four dogs to sit still, wearing outfits and not be fighting with each other.” (The real Beatles had a similar problem.) And the dog named Lennon actually portrayed his namesake, John Lennon. 2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Third place
Pet: Rookie
Owner: Colleen Miller, of St. Michael, Minn.
Comment: Miller used an “E.T.” plush toy that her husband had as a kid and an old sweatshirt her teenage son wore as a toddler to create an homage to the classic Steven Spielberg movie. “I know there was a reason I saved this little red sweatshirt all of these years!” Miller said. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Scary
First place: Remy
Owner: Jami Kenyon, of Forest Lake
About the winner: Kenyon was inspired by the Stephen King movie “It: Chapter Two” to turn her hairless sphynx cat, Remy, into the evil clown Pennywise. Kenyon’s other sphynx cat, Loki, was a winner in the scary category in our contest last year.
Second place: Phoenix and Gryphon as Dr. Frankenstein and his monster; Bonnie and Beth Abelew, Plainview, N.Y.
Third place: Zephy as a devil; Tuy Hoeung Yim, of St. Louis Park (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Second place
Pets: Phoenix and Gryphon
Owners: Bonnie and Beth Abelew, of Plainview, N.Y.
Comment: The Abelew sisters create elaborate costumes and scenery and make their patient golden retrievers (@magicgolddogs) pose for photos they put in a calendar that they publish each year. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Anything goes:
First place
Pet: Elsa
Owners: Linda Harms, Jay Clement and Ellie Harms-Clement, of Clarkson, Mich.
Comment: Elsa, is a German shepherd who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident, so the Harms-Clement household decided to dress her as a peg-legged pirate. “We were trying to celebrate her being a tripod,” Linda Harms said. 2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Minnesota inspired:
First place
Pet: Cinnamon and Sammy
Owner: Ruth Reilly, of Plymouth
Comment: “These dogs love to pose,” said Reilly of Cinnamon and Sammy, who also have an Instagram account, (@cinnamon_and_sammy), where you’ll see the dogs dressed up as everyone from Janis Joplin to George Washington. When the dogs posed as hot dish chefs, “they didn’t eat it because there’s onion in it,” Reilly said. “I cooked that for my family, but they took credit for it.” 2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Pop culture:
Third place
Pet: Rookie
Owner: Colleen Miller, of St. Michael
Comment: Miller used an E.T. plush toy her husband had as a kid and an old sweatshirt her teenage son wore as a toddler to create an homage to the classic Steven Spielberg movie. “I know there was a reason I saved this little red sweatshirt all of these years!” Miller said. 2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Scary:
First place
Pet: Remy
Owner: Jami Kenyon, of Forest Lake
Comment: Kenyon was inspired by the Stephen King movie, “It: Chapter Two,” to turn her hairless sphynx cat, Remy, into the evil clown, Pennywise. Kenyon’s other sphynx cat, Loki, was a winner in the scary category in our contest last year. 2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Pop culture:
Second place Pet: Josie
Owners: Sue Gustad, John Westerman and Charlotte Westerman, of St. Paul
Comment: To greet trick or treaters, Josie’s owners turned her into a Chia Pet using fake plastic plants and orange felt. But “she wouldn’t take more than two steps in it,” Gustad said. “I just think she was embarrassed in it.” 2019 Halloween Pet Costume Contest (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
