Golden Retriever Christmas Shirt Dog Face In Santa Hat Black And White Sketch

The pom-pom hangs off to one side, a little crooked, as if the hat slid there during a long afternoon of being happy. Underneath it, a golden retriever squints with both eyes half shut and lets his pink tongue loll out, caught mid-grin in the way only a dog who has just been told he’s good can manage. We drew that exact moment, and then we built a whole shirt around it. He looks thrilled.

Golden Retriever Christmas Shirt With a Santa Hat Tipped Slightly Off-Center

This Golden Retriever Christmas shirt shows a smiling golden retriever face in a Santa hat, rendered in an etched sketch style for dog owners who decorate for the holidays. The fur is built from hundreds of tiny strokes, with darker lines gathered at the ears and ruff and a soft cream fluff trimming the red hat. The nose is the one dark, solid shape in the whole face, so your eye lands there first and then travels up to those happy, squinting eyes. From across a room it reads as a cheerful dog. Closer in, it reads as a drawing someone spent real time on.

A Stocking With the Dog’s Name on It, and a Tennis Ball in Wrapping Paper

Plenty of households hang a stocking for the dog and wrap the ball in actual paper. This is the shirt for that house. We made it for the person who narrates the dog’s opinions at dinner, who has a camera roll that is mostly one shade of gold, and who counts the dog in the headcount for the holiday card. Wear it to trim the tree, to the neighborhood cookie swap, or on the morning presents get opened while a golden sits in the middle of the wrapping paper, delighted and helping nobody. Fur on the sofa is a given. A new puppy’s first December suits it well, and so does the first December after a dog you still talk about every day.

Can the Smiling Golden in the Santa Hat Be Worn After Christmas?

Yes, because the golden retriever is the real subject and the Santa hat is only part of his outfit. The artwork carries no year and no greeting, so it keeps working through January for cold-weather walks, winter mornings at the dog park, or a visit with a friend who loves the breed as much as you do.

Somewhere in your house there’s a dog who would approve of that crooked pom-pom.