Holiday Photos with Pets

Yes, I do it.

For the past five-plus years I’ve had my dogs on my Christmas cards. (The above shot is an outtake from last year’s card.) Granted, I’ve been in the dog biz for over 11 years, so it’s not such a stretch to have a canine or two on my holiday card for my clients. In fact, it’s sort of a requirement.

However, this is the first year we’ve had our dog on our “family and friends” Christmas card. Millie appears between me and my husband in the photograph, looking subtly festive in a red leather collar. (To be honest, this is our first ever photo card, so beloved former dogs Zeke and Sumner never had a chance to join us.) We debated including Millie in the picture … is it strange? Does having her on the card qualify us as freaky dog people? (The sad fact is that we are freaky dog people … our kids have four legs, not two.) The photo turned out too cute not to use, so 25 of our closest friends and relatives will now have irrefutable proof that we’re weirdos. We drew the line at including her name on the card, though in retrospect it looks like a snub that we didn’t!

I’ve been informally polling my shoppers and it turns out that many people include their dogs on their cards, and it’s not just an afterthought.  Just today a shopper bought two XXL sweaters for her pit bulls so they would look festive in her Christmas card photo next to her 9-year-old daughter.  Nearly every time someone buys a holiday bandana from me they mention including Fido in their Christmas photos. 

How about you? Do you send holiday photos with you and your pets? Or do you take it a step farther and send holiday photos from your pets?