Calling All History Buffs: You Can Buy a Civil War Costume for Your Dog

Need to bring your dog to your next battle reenactment? Hoping to win a Ulysses S. Grant look-contest with your pooch? Always wanted to party like it's 1862? Stephanie Honodel's handmade dog costumes are here to make your dreams a reality.

Honodel didn't plan to get into the pet costume business, but needed to find a way to keep her chihuahua warm during the winter. Other people liked what she was doing, and she was eventually asked to make a Confederate general's costume for a historical reenactor's miniature pinscher.

She recently opened Dogs of Gettysburg, located about two minutes from the Gettysburg National Military Park. At her store, you can buy handmade clothes, costumes, and pet beds from Honodel's business partner, Diana Guy. The duo met at a pet expo about a decade ago, and have worked together ever since.

Honodel estimates that she's made hundreds of costumes through the years. The outfits "are not what I would call historically correct, since they didn’t dress the dogs then," Honodel admitted to The Huffington Post, though they are based on pictures from the era. She doesn't make costumes solely for dogs, either. Honodel told The Evening Sun that she's also made ensembles for cats, pot-bellied pigs, snakes, and tortoises, among other animals.

If want to ensure your own pup is battle-ready (150 years late), you can commission a costume through the Dogs of Gettysburg Facebook page or website. It'll run you somewhere between $50 and $300, but it could be worth it to impress the Gone With the Wind fans in your life—Honodel says she'd love it if someone were to "commission a Civil War-era ball gown and hat"—or just your friends at the dog park.