If you haven’t seen the delightfully absurd infomercial for the Snuggie, you’ve certainly been exposed to the product—half blanket, half robe, such as it is—through the late-night television mockeries that have been made of it in the last year or so, or at the very least just by walking past it in the aisle of your local warehouse supermarket store. Well those of us in the pet boutique industry knew that it was only a matter of time, and that day has come: enter the Snuggie For Dogs.

It arrived at my office last week and caused a bit of a sensation.

“It’s so cute!” said the office manager.

“That is too funny,” said one of the other editors.

“What’s a Snuggie?” asked another co-worker.

Well, they had our interest, but I had to wonder: what makes this item different from a coat for a dog? It’s made of a nice, soft fleece material and has a rather large neck piece that hangs down a bit. Essentially it looks just like the human version, only smaller.

We brought in a test dog to try out the Snuggie for Dogs. He has tolerated coats and other items pretty well in the past, but the Snuggie inspired an unusual reaction. Once we had it fastened on him, he started spinning and biting at the back of it. Realizing his rage, we didn’t want to subject him to the coat any longer and started taking it off. But as I undid the Velcro, put one leg through a sleeve and the other leg through the other sleeve, he bit at the garment and objected strongly. When I tried to put it back in the box, he was still trying to get at it.

Now granted, this is a very young, rather bite-happy dog we were dealing with, but it was clear he was not a fan. After some consideration, the staff in the office wasn’t either.

“I just don’t see what makes it any different from another dog coat,” said a fellow editor, “except that it’s ugly and ill-fitting.”

I couldn’t have said it any better.

The only situation in which I would recommend anyone buy the Snuggie for Dogs is if you happen to be buying a Snuggie as a gift for someone else in your life. Receiving the dog version might give that person an extra chuckle. Otherwise, there are much better options out there for dog apparel.