Gifts for Dog Moms: Twelve Ideas That Are Not Another Mug

A mug printed with a hand-illustrated pet portrait

There is a particular kind of person whose entire personality is their dog, and there is a particular kind of gift they receive every single year: a mug with a paw print on it, from a shop that has never met the dog.

She owns three. Here are twelve alternatives, arranged by budget, all of which have the same thing in common — they are about her dog rather than about dogs.

The rule that makes all of this easier

Generic dog merchandise says I know you like dogs. Anything featuring her actual animal says I paid attention. That is the entire difference, and it costs nothing extra to get right — you only need one decent photograph, which is already on her Instagram.

The second rule: she has more dog things than storage. Objects that get used daily beat objects that need a shelf.

Under £25 / $30

  1. A coaster with the dog's face and name on it. Used every day, takes no space, and lands better than the equivalent spend on anything generic. The most reliably successful cheap gift on this list.
  2. An ornament for the tree. Comes out once a year and gets a reaction every year, which is a better return than most objects manage.
  3. A print of the dog, unframed. A poster is the cheapest way to get a real portrait into the house. She can frame it in whatever suits her walls, which is also a way of not imposing your taste on her hallway.
  4. Custom wrapping paper with the dog's face on it. Absurd, and absurdly effective as the wrapping for one of the other gifts on this list.

£25–50 / $30–60

  1. A cushion with the dog on it. The practical end of pet art. Lives on the sofa, gets used constantly, and does not require her to commit a wall to it.
  2. A phone case. The single most-looked-at object anybody owns. If she is the kind of person who shows people photos of her dog unprompted, this saves her the trouble.
  3. A framed portrait at 8″ x 10″. Small enough to sit on a desk or join a gallery wall, and it arrives finished so she does not have to go frame shopping.
  4. A portrait mug — but with her dog on it. Yes, we said no mugs. A mug with a paw print is a category. A mug with a hand-illustrated portrait of Bertie in a naval uniform is a different object entirely, and it is the one she will actually use.

£50+ / $60+

  1. A blanket with the dog's face on it. The one people are most surprised by. It is warm, it is used every evening, and unlike wall art it does not need her to like it enough to hang it.
  2. A large portrait, 18″ x 24″ or bigger. The proper version. If she has a wall that has been empty for two years, this is the gift.
  3. Matching pyjamas with the dog's face printed on them. Ridiculous, and the photograph she sends you afterwards will be worth it on its own.
  4. A pet-shaped cushion made to look like the actual animal. A three-dimensional replica of her dog's head. It is either the best or the worst gift on this list and there is no way to know in advance, which is part of the appeal.

Getting the photograph without ruining the surprise

This is the only genuinely tricky part, and there are three ways round it.

Take it from her social media. Works, but the photo she posted is not always the photo she loves, and a small blurry one produces a portrait to match.

Ask a housemate or partner. The most reliable route. Someone who lives with the dog has forty good photographs and can pick the best one.

Take it yourself next time you visit. Genuinely the best option if you have the chance. Kneel down, get near a window, fill the frame with the head, take thirty. Five minutes, and you get a better source photograph than anything on a phone gallery. The details are in nine rules for photographing your pet.

Two mistakes worth avoiding

Leaving it too late. Anything hand-illustrated takes time — ours is emailed to you to approve within two to three business days and then prints and ships within one to two more, and December is slower everywhere. A gift that arrives in January is a different gift.

Choosing the style for you rather than for her. The military uniform is the funniest to shop for and the noblewoman is more often the one that ends up on the wall. If you are not sure which she would pick, the styles and what each one suits is worth two minutes.

If you want to skip the deciding

The best sellers are the pieces people order most, which is a decent proxy for what tends to go down well. Or read what actually makes a good portrait first if you are going the wall-art route — size is the thing people get wrong, and it is not fixable afterwards.