What’s more fun than a homemade craft? Try one of these classic do-it-yourself dog decorating ideas to give your interior decorating a personal touch (or make a special gift for a fellow dog lover!).
8 Dog Decorating Ideas to Make Your Home Sparkle
If loose fur is the only dog-inspired “decoration” in your home, it might be time to revamp your interior design strategy. Incorporating your furry best friend into your décor can be a fun way to show your love and give your living space the wow factor—or rather, the bowwow factor—it needs to stand out.
Whether it’s choosing the best furry photo to place above your mantel or painting a new toy chest for your pup’s belongings, these creative dog decorating ideas can add an instant pop to your home.
# 1: Make a Picture-Perfect Addition
If you’re like most dog moms or dads, you probably have more photos of your dog on your phone than you can count! Why not display your favorites? Pictures of your dog sporting a new bandana or enjoying a beautiful day at the park can add warmth to any room. If you want to create a more refined look and feel, work on your dog photography skills and start snapping some professional-grade photos.
Placement makes a big difference. You can add a small framed photo to an end table, make a statement with some larger prints, or create a gallery wall to showcase your dog.
#2: Create Wagging Wall Art
Speaking of wall art, you can add some abstract pieces for a more imaginative spin. An accent piece such as a custom portrait, silhouette, or mosaic of your dog can make your living space come to life. Visit an artist or online art store for design ideas.
In addition to honoring your pooch, dog wall art serves as a fun conversation piece when entertaining guests. Make space for your dog-inspired composition in the living room, family room, or anywhere else visitors may gather.
But people will think my dog is nasty!
Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. (Maybe they do already.) If they’re strangers, do you really care? And if they’re friends, you can explain to them.
One surefire thing about a muzzle is that it tends to keep people away – which is just what you want! They think your dog must be dangerous and therefore move their dogs and children aside, as well as themselves. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that your dog is actually the safest of all now! But this is a good outcome. Your anxious dog doesn’t need people/children/dogs in her face.
If you feel anxious yourself about muzzling your dog, think how you’ll feel if you relax your vigilance for a moment and your dog bites someone! Would that be worse? Definitely. Bite the bullet and just do it.
What sort of muzzle should I get?
There’s quite a variety of muzzles available.
• Cloth muzzle: this is the sort that vets may put on a dog for a few moments while they treat her. It should never be on for long – or be put on an unsupervised dog – as it prevents the dog from panting or drinking, and is therefore dangerous. It’s also not advised for brachycephalic dogs (squashed-nose dogs, so popular at the moment) as they already struggle to breathe and these cloth muzzles have proved fatal in some cases for these dogs. So on no account get this one!
• Basket muzzle: what you need is a basket muzzle that allows your dog to open her mouth fully, to eat, drink, pant, and not feel constrained. But these vary hugely, and you need to get the right one for your dog.
• Baskerville muzzles: perhaps the commonest. They don’t allow full opening of the mouth. The inability to pant could have serious consequences for a dog who needs to lower her body temperature.
• Baskerville Ultra muzzle: is often the go-to muzzle as it’s widely available. But this doesn’t mean it’s the right one for your dog! They have an optional head-strap which can be useful for keeping the thing on, but they are really designed for brachycephalic dogs and are too short for longer-nosed dogs. See Lacy in hers. She hated it – you can see that in the photo. Any larger and it would have fallen off her face.
• Leather custom-made colourful muzzles: very expensive and they look pretty constricting to me. It looks hard to get treats in at the right moment (essential if you’re working on counterconditioning an anxious or fearful dog). But I know some people like them.
• Racing greyhound muzzle: my favourite, and the one Lacy is wearing in the other pictures. Made to measure, available in loads of colours, incredibly lightweight, it allows full opening of the mouth for even a gasping racing dog, treats are easy to administer, and most important – Lacy is very happy to wear it. She comes forward and puts her face in, as opposed to running and hiding as she did when she saw the Baskerville Ultra.
Bottom line: your dog should find the muzzle comfortable, it should be easy to slip on, secure, and allow your dog to drink, pant, eat treats, and possibly play.
Muzzles are ugly
They don’t need to be! You can decorate your dog’s muzzle any way you like. You can see I “girlified” Lacy’s black muzzle, and I’ve added a little fleece to the top of her pink racing muzzle in case it chafed. It never did, but I felt it was kinder to cushion it as sometimes she will be wearing it for a couple of hours at a time.
You can use paint, stickers, ribbons, sparkly stuff (make sure it can’t flake into your dog’s eyes or nose) – anything that shows that your dog is loved.
