Therapy Dog School Bus Costume

This is AJ, my therapy dog in his school bus costume. He has been a therapy dog for 6 years, visiting hundreds of people in hospitals, nursing homes and schools. He has been going to the local grade school on a regular basis for the past few years. He is very loved by all the students at that school and he leads the Halloween Parade every year. The kids know he will be in costume every year too.

Since AJ is a big St. Bernard, I can never find any costumes to fit him so we usually have to make it. My son suggested that we make him a school bus since he will be leading the school parade and I knew that would be perfect. This was a really simple costume to make.

Dog School Bus Costume Instructions

We bought foam boards that were the perfect color for the bus.
The passengers are profile pictures of dogs we found online. We decided to use dog breeds that we’ve had before or that our family currently has. The front seat passenger dogs had their ears blowing back like their heads are out the window.
Once the window/passenger pictures were glued on, my son measured and used electrical tape for all the black stripes and to outline the windows.
We cut the bottom of the foam board to form the wheels and painted them black.
Then we printed a picture of a bus stop sign, glued that on and wrote the name of the Elementary School and a number on the side.
I bought about a yard of yellow fabric and measured it over his back.
We then hot glued the foam boards so they would lay flat on his sides.
I left enough fabric to be able to cut a strip to be attached to the other side with Velcro under his stomach and around his neck. This way it would hold the bus in place when he walked and even if he shook.

AJ is really good about wearing things and doesn’t even try to take them off. He walked fine the whole parade route, never being bothered by the costume.

This was a really easy costume to make and it was a huge hit at the school. The kids, staff and parents all loved it. Once we get to the end of the parade route, he stood there so all the kids that were in the line could walk past him and see him.

Seeing all the kids, from Kindergarten through 4th grade, have HUGE smiles when they saw him in this costume was priceless.