I can’t read a word of it, but I do know where most bandanas go wrong: at the breed. “A dachshund, so a small one” is the sentence that sends the parcel back to me. A dachshund often measures more around the neck than a pug does, and two labradors out of the same litter can sit five centimetres apart.
Below are the ten breeds I get asked about most: the usual neck measurement in centimetres, the size that becomes here with me, and one specific bandana with a reason for it. And the same note under every one of them: measure your dog. Breed figures are averages taken from makers’ tables. Your dog is not an average.
One measurement decides it: the neck
Pass a soft tape low around the neck, where the collar already sits — at the base, where the neck meets the shoulders, not high under the jaw. Pull it comfortable rather than tight: two fingers should lie flat between the tape and the coat. That figure is the only number this article turns on.
- No tape measure in the house? A bootlace does the same job: wrap it round, mark where it meets, lay it flat against a ruler.
- Not what is meant: the collar setting, the chest measurement off the harness, the figure printed on somebody else’s bandana.
- Measure over the coat — the dog as he looks on the day you order.
The full instructions are in my dog bandana size guide.
My five sizes
| Size | Neck |
|---|---|
| S | 22–28 cm |
| M | 28–36 cm |
| L | 34–44 cm |
| XL | 41–53 cm |
| XXL | 50–63 cm |
The ranges overlap on purpose. Twenty-eight closes S and opens M; thirty-four sits in both M and L.
If your figure falls inside an overlap, take the larger size.
Ten breeds, one after another
Dachshund: 30–40 cm, M — and L from 36 cm
The dachshund is the breed most often misjudged, because he is built low and is therefore taken for a small dog. At the neck he is not one. My size guide lists him under M, and M runs to 36 centimetres; only above that does it become L. The narrow, long head is an advantage: the elastic band has nothing broad to cross.
Long-haired and wire-haired dachshunds: measure over the coat, please.
Chihuahua: 25–32 cm, S — and M from 28 cm
My size guide lists the chihuahua under S, and S ends at 28 centimetres. Makers’ figures run up to 32, so measure before you settle on a row. With a chihuahua what decides it is not the neck alone but the head: the round skull is large in proportion, and the band has to pass over it before it settles below.
My suggestion: the blush bandana with the leaf print. On the small panel of a size S, a large motif leaves you nothing but a fragment of itself.
Labrador Retriever: 50–55 cm, XXL
The labrador sits cleanly in XXL with no borderline case: 50 to 55 centimetres, and my XXL covers 50 to 63. The coat is short and dense, so the figure barely moves across the year.
Khaki Dog Bandana — Red Reverse
A lot of surface takes a quiet colour better than a big pattern.
€19,90
ViewIn the photograph I am wearing it myself, in L; on a labrador it becomes XXL.
Golden Retriever: 45–53 cm, XL — XXL from 50 cm
Here the hair decides. The golden carries considerably more coat on the neck than the labrador does, and the bandana sits on the coat, not on the skin. Measure over it. If you come to 50 to 53 centimetres you are in the overlap of XL and XXL: then XXL. If the groomer is booked, measure afterwards.
My suggestion: the sage bandana with the red reverse. Muted green next to a golden coat.
German Shepherd: 50–70 cm, XXL — and an honest limit
The shepherd has the widest spread of all ten: makers’ tables give 50 to 70 centimetres, and my XXL ends at 63. Measure twice — over the coat, and with the double coat parted down to the skin; the larger figure counts. If you come out above 63 centimetres, I have nothing that fits. I would rather write that down than send you something too small.
Navy Stripe Dog Bandana — Pink Reverse
The pale stripe stays visible where a dark solid colour sinks in.
€19,90
ViewAbove 63 centimetres nothing of mine fits any more.
French Bulldog: 35–40 cm — here the sources disagree
Makers’ tables give the french bulldog 35 to 40 centimetres. My own size guide puts the breed in the M row instead, which is 28 to 36. Both cannot be true of the same dog, and I have no measuring series of my own. So the rule printed on the size guide itself applies.
When the breed and the centimetres disagree, the centimetres win.
With a frenchie the head comes into it as well: the skull is broader than the neck, and the band has to clear it first. On the pattern, my suggestion — the size is your tape measure’s decision: the leopard print bandana with the red reverse. A short, single-coloured coat carries a strong pattern that would be lost on a long-haired breed.
Pug: 35–40 cm, L
A round, broad skull, a short neck, and folds that let the tape slide: lay it low, at collar height, and take L even if you read 35 centimetres.
Once it is on, check that the piece lies loose at the base of the neck.
Poodle: from 18 to over 50 cm — only measuring helps here
A poodle is not one size, it is four. My size guide puts the toy poodle in S; makers’ figures for a toy run from about 18 to 26 centimetres, which starts below the 22 where S begins. The miniature is where that row gives out: about 25 to 35 centimetres, past the end of S at 28. Medium poodles come in at roughly 28 to 39. For the standard poodle I have no dependable table figure; by body size he lands at XL or XXL — an estimate, not a measurement.
Violet Dog Bandana — Yellow Reverse
A clear colour holds its own in a curly coat better than a pattern does.
€19,90
ViewAfter a clip the same bandana sits noticeably differently. Measure after the grooming appointment, not before it.
Maltese: 30–35 cm — here too only your tape measure counts
The same case as the frenchie: makers’ tables put the maltese at 30 to 35 centimetres, while my size guide lists him smaller, at S. Here too the centimetres win. Three or four kilos say nothing about the neck; by weight the maltese is regularly judged too small. The long hair counts with it: measure over it. On the pattern, my suggestion from earlier again, the blush bandana with the leaf print — a white coat takes delicate colours.
Welsh Corgi: around 35–45 cm, L
I am a corgi myself and I wear an L, and my size guide lists the breed at L as well. Collar makers give a band of about 36 to 52 centimetres — that is how widely it scatters. The reason is the double coat: a corgi in February and the same corgi in July are two different measurements, and both of them are correct. My suggestion is the khaki bandana with the red reverse — the piece in L that I have on above.
Between two sizes? The larger one
This is where most decisions land: if your figure falls inside an overlap, or sits within a centimetre of a boundary, take the larger size. A piece with some give left in it settles where the collar sits, and stays there. A piece at the top of its range is at full stretch, and full stretch travels upwards all day.
Why the coat is part of the measurement
The bandana sits on the coat and has to go around the coat, not around the neck underneath it. On short-haired breeds that hardly matters; on a proper ruff — shepherd, corgi, golden retriever, poodle, long-haired dachshund — it is several centimetres.
It goes over the head, not around the neck
The back of my bandanas is a covered elastic band. You stretch it, pass it over the head and the ears, and let it settle at the base of the neck; there is nothing to pull closed. From that follows the rule for heads: the band has to clear the skull and then rest on a neck that is narrower than the head it has just crossed.
With a pug, a french bulldog and anything built head first, buy for the head — in practice, one size up.
Your words on it, at no extra charge
Every bandana can be embroidered with your own words: a name, a warning, a joke. Stitched in thread, in a colour of your choosing, not printed on. Sewn and embroidered in Prague, by one single person.
- €19,90 per bandana, in every one of the five sizes.
- The embroidery costs nothing at the moment.
- After you order, I send it out within 1–3 working days.
- Over €40,00 I cover the postage.
- A piece personalised with your own words is made for you, so there is no fourteen-day right of withdrawal on it. Faulty or embroidered wrong is a different matter — there your rights stand.
Still standing between two sizes? Write to me with the figure and the breed, and I will tell you which one I would send. And if it is going under the tree: a Christmas present for the dog.
Every colour and pattern, in all five sizes — and your words on it for free.
See the bandanas