Dog Bandana Sizing: How to Measure, How to Fit

Most people who buy a dog bandana for the first time order the wrong size. This isn't a manufacturer problem. It's because "small dog" and "medium dog" mean very different things across breeds, and there's no universal sizing standard for pet accessories the way there is for shoes. A pug and a small terrier and a dachshund are all "small dogs" and they all have radically different necks.

So the only reliable way to get the right size on the first try is to measure.

Get a soft tape measure (the kind sewists use, not a builder's metal one). Wrap it around the dog's neck just behind the ears, where you'd buckle on a collar. You want it snug enough that it isn't going to slip down the chest, with enough room to slide a finger between the tape and the fur. Read the number.

If you don't have a soft tape, a piece of string and a ruler will get you the same answer. Wrap, mark with a fingernail at the overlap, straighten out against the ruler.

That number maps to the Farnup sizing like this:

Under 30 cm — the S/M. This covers the smaller end of the dog spectrum: pugs, smaller shih tzus, dachshunds, the smaller half of the terrier family, most pomeranians.

Between 30 and 40 cm — the M/L. This is most of the medium-and-up working dogs: beagles, cocker spaniels, smaller labradors, the mid-sized mixed breeds.

If your dog's measurement lands exactly at 30 cm, which is genuinely common because that's where the cultivar between sizes happens to sit, buy the M/L. The snap closure adjusts both directions, and it's much easier to take in a centimetre of slack than to add one.

A practical note on dogs with thick coats: the tape measurement may disagree with what the bandana actually does on the dog. A long-haired collie with a 35 cm neck-skin measurement might feel snug in an M/L, or might need it set on its loosest snap. The snap gives you two positions per size, which usually covers the variability. If it still doesn't fit, email us within seven days of delivery and we'll exchange the size at no charge. For custom-print bandanas the same offer holds — we'll print the same artwork in the other size, you pay the cost difference, no design fee.

The current Farnup range, by way of orientation:

• Big Sister and Best Dog Ever — the most-bought slogan bandanas.
• Happy Birthday plus Design 1 and Design 2 — three different birthday prints, useful if your household has more than one dog whose birthday you mark.
• Multicolour — no slogan, an everyday option, no occasion implied.
• Custom Print — your name, your phrase, your design. We email after checkout for the artwork and send a digital proof before printing.

Cotton-blend body, heat-set print, machine wash on a gentle cycle. The shape is the classic triangle, sized to fall just past the breastbone on M/L, just past the collar line on S/M.