There are roughly four hundred photos of your dog on your phone. You have looked at all of them. None of them are huggable.

A custom dog pillow fixes exactly that one problem.

Send us a photo, we print your dog onto soft fabric, and it arrives filled and ready to sit on the sofa where they are not allowed to sit. Square cushion, full body pillow, or cut around their actual outline, whichever suits the photo.

You see a free preview before paying, so if the crop clips an ear you find out now rather than in nine days.

Prices start at $25. Production takes about three days.

Two kinds of people order these. The first is buying a gift for someone who talks about their dog constantly. The second lost their dog recently and wants something to hold. We take the second kind seriously, and there is a section further down about how we handle memorial orders.

The rest of this page is practical. Which photos work, which shapes suit which dogs, sizes, and how to wash it.

A cushion printed with a photo of your own dog rather than a stock illustration of a breed. Everything about it comes from the picture you send, which is why a mixed breed with one ear up and one ear down comes out looking like themselves.

Three formats

• Square cushion: cheapest, roughly 40 x 40 cm, the photo printed edge to edge
• Die cut: the pillow is cut around your dog's silhouette, ears, tail and all
• Full body: a long 150 x 50 cm pillow, best for big dogs photographed lying down

How it is printed

Dye based inks are pushed into the fabric fibers rather than sitting on top, so there is no coating to crack and nothing to peel off after a wash. Printing is double sided at no extra cost, which people mostly use to put a standing photo on one side and a sleeping one on the other.

What arrives

A finished cushion, filled with polyester fiber and sewn shut. Dog pillows are not sold as covers, because an irregular shape needs its own filling to keep the silhouette.

Cats and other animals

Same process exactly. Dogs are simply the majority of what we print, so this page is written around them. Horses, rabbits, birds and one memorable iguana have all been printed.

Dogs are harder to photograph well than people, mostly because they do not hold still and they are usually below eye level. A few adjustments make an enormous difference to the finished pillow.

Get down to their level

This is the single most important tip on this page. A photo taken standing up, looking down, gives you a huge nose, a small head and a lot of floor. Kneel or lie down so the camera is level with their eyes and the proportions come out right.

Daylight, indoors or out

Flash flattens fur and turns dark dogs into a shapeless silhouette. Window light or an overcast day shows the texture of the coat, which is what makes a printed dog look real rather than like a sticker.

Black dogs need more light than you think

Black and very dark coats lose all detail in poor light and print as a flat shape. Shoot them in bright, even daylight and slightly overexpose if your phone lets you. It is worth reshooting for this reason alone.

Plain background if you want a die cut

For a cut to shape pillow we need a clean edge to follow. A dog on a rug, a path or grass that contrasts with their coat cuts perfectly. A brown dog in long brown grass does not.

Resolution

At least 1500 pixels on the short side. Photos taken on any phone from the last five years are fine. Pictures forwarded through WhatsApp or saved from Instagram are compressed and often too soft once enlarged, so dig out the original if you can.

Quick checklist

• Camera at their eye level
• Daylight, no flash
• Whole head in frame with a little space around it
• Background that contrasts with the coat
• Original file, at least 1500 pixels short side

The right format depends less on the dog and more on the photo you have.

Square cushion, 40 x 40 cm

The safe choice. Works with almost any photo, costs the least, and sits on a sofa without needing explanation. If the photo has a background you actually like, this is the format that keeps it.

Die cut to their outline

The version that makes people react. The background disappears and the cushion becomes the dog. Best with a side on or three quarter photo where the ears and legs are clearly separated from the body.

Very thin details cannot be sewn, so a wispy tail or a single raised whisker gets thickened slightly. You approve the adjusted cut line in the preview before anything is made.

Full body, 150 x 50 cm

For large breeds photographed lying down, this format prints close to life size. It is the most expensive option and the most dramatic. Great danes, labradors and german shepherds are the usual candidates.

Minis

Around 15 to 20 cm, cheap enough to order several. People buy these for car seats, desks and as small additions to a bigger gift.

Fabric

Peach skin for almost every dog photo. It is matte, so fur reads as texture rather than shine, and it is soft enough to actually sleep against. 2 way tricot is available but the slight gloss rarely flatters a photograph of an animal.

A large share of custom dog pillow orders are memorial pieces. If that is why you are here, this section is written for you and the rest of the page can wait.

Tell us when you order

There is a notes field at checkout. Say it is a memorial piece and we check the print twice before it ships instead of once. It costs you nothing and it means a second pair of eyes on the file.

About the photo

Often the only photo that exists is an old one, taken on an old phone, slightly blurry. Send it anyway. We will tell you honestly whether it will hold up at the size you want, and if it will not, we will suggest a smaller format where it will look right rather than taking the order and hoping.

We do not add angel wings, halos, rainbow bridges or text unless you specifically ask. Most people want their dog, not a graphic.

Which format

Die cut is the most requested for memorial orders, because the background disappearing makes it feel less like a photograph and more like the dog. A full body version works if you have a good photo of them lying down.

If something is wrong

Tell us and we remake it. We are not going to argue with you about a memorial piece.

Washing

These are filled and sewn shut, so there is no cover to remove. Spot clean with a damp cloth and mild soap for everyday marks. For a proper wash use a cold gentle cycle inside a laundry bag, then reshape by hand while damp and air dry completely.

No hot water, no tumble dryer on heat, and never iron the print. Heat is the only thing that damages a dye based print.

A note about actual dogs

These are made for people. The fabric and stitching are not chew proof and there is nothing in them designed to survive a determined labrador. If your dog treats soft furnishings as prey, keep it somewhere they cannot reach.

Keeping the shape

Work the filling back into ears and tails with your fingers every few weeks. Narrow parts of a die cut shape flatten first, and a minute of hand shaping brings them straight back.

Fading

The ink is in the fibers, so there is no surface layer to crack or peel. Keep it out of constant direct sunlight and the print holds color for years.