Emily S. loves her Pekingese, Pepper. So much, in fact, that she had her beloved pooch’s picture screened onto a cream-colored T-shirt, which she wears proudly to the local dog park at least once a week.
“It never fails to generate some sort of comment from somebody,” she said. “Either from someone who has a Pekingese of their own or knows someone who does.”
Around 50 million people own dogs in the U.S., and a healthy number of dogs owned are of the pure-bred variety. You know, the ones seen parading around on televised dog shows around the holidays.
Some pure-bred owners keep their pup’s pedigrees in safe storage, and that’s the end of it. Others are involved in online and real-life communities that celebrate certain breeds. However, there are some “Dog Fancy” aficionados who are taking their love for Man’s Best Friend a step further, by designing and donning T-shirts, sweatshirts–even baby onsies–emblazoned with Fido’s face.
You may want to add some graphics to enhance your picture. Food bowls, fire hydrants, bones and frisbees are common additions. You can even include text, such as the name of your dog.
Other variations include:
* Mutt lover
* I didn’t do it
* World’s Best (insert name of breed here)
* My (breed name) is smarter than your honor student
* (Name of your dog) is a happy mutt
* Have you hugged your (breed name) today?
Joel B., owner of Rocco, a Chinese pug, said he sometimes tunes into a dog show to see how the pug is faring in the toy category, but he’s not the type to wear a shirt with Rocco’s picture on it. “Maybe if it was tiny, like the Lacoste alligator or something,” he said. However, that doesn’t stop well-meaning friends and family members from gifting him with T-shirts, ties — even boxer shorts adorned with Rocco’s pug mug. He finally gave in one Christmas and wore the T-shirt to Christmas Eve dinner. But his pug-loving family hardly spared him a glance–they were too busy oohing and aahing over Rocco, who was wearing a doggy T-shirt adorned with Joel’s picture. “We took a lot of pictures that night,” he said.
Plenty of dog owners are sharing their love for their pet to the world by putting their picture on T-shirts. You can order them and once you wear it out and about, get ready to answer all sorts of questions about your dog. Not that you’ll mind, right?