Santa now asks dogs, cats and pythons “Have you been a good boy?”

With the festival of Christmas around the corner, Santa suits on Long Island are being asked for strange favours -- festive pictures with pets. Santa Tim (Tim Connaghan) said that people ask Santas to get pictures clicked along with their pets. Rick Rosenthal, owner of the Northern Lights Santa Academy said that he sat for a Christmas picture with a pet cockroach.

“Pet pictures with Santa”

Another Santa, Santa Cutis, recalled his time when he had to sit for a portrait with a trained duck on a blue velvet settee. He further added that there had been times when Santas had to get pictures clicked with pet pythons.

According to reports, Santa Curtis was only getting pictures clicked with cats and dogs but his employers Cherry Hill Programs decided to bring in pooched dressed up in Christmas sweaters, velvet made collars and antler headbands.

A customer Marina Cosmas said that the reason she had her two dogs -- a Chihuahua and a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix, get pictures clicked with Santa Curtis was because he did well with animals. She said that her family's festival cards will have both the Christmas pictures.

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'Being Santa Claus is a skill'

Rosenthal said that he started the Northern Lights Santa Academy because a lot of people thought that Santas are just people wearing red suits on Christmas, adding that being a Santa Claus is a skill and not just a job. The founder said that there are a lot of Santas who did not like pet portraits because of the cost that incurs in suit-cleaning. He further added that he got pet pictures clicked with an exclusive group of dogs that had a lot of fan following, terming it as a one-time incident. He also said that his main aim was to bring happiness in people's lives and plaster a smile on their faces.

A Colorado-based man, Patrick Adkins, who plays Santa during the season said that he really liked the pet events and getting pictures clicked with them adding that with demands for such things increasing day by day he had thought of advertising himself as a pet specialist.

He also said that he could look pets in their eyes and know that they felt loved and that they were thanking him. According to reports, American citizens consider their pets as a part of their family and nowadays a lot of people have their pets' pictures on their Christmas cards.

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(With inputs from agencies)