Dog Bandana Size Guide & Neck Size Chart, S–XXL
One measurement, in centimetres, and it is the neck. I cannot read, but I can tell you this much: a bandana bought on a guess spends its life in a drawer, and a bandana bought on a tape measure spends it on a dog. Measure before you order. Nothing here adjusts afterwards.
How do I measure my dog's neck for a bandana?
Pass a soft tape around the neck where the collar already sits — low, 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. Read the figure where the tape meets itself. That is the number this whole page turns on.
No tape in the house? A bootlace, a phone cable or a strip of paper does the same job. Wrap it, mark where it meets, lay it flat against a ruler. Slower, identical answer.
Three numbers that are not the neck measurement, and that people send me anyway. The collar setting: a collar is usually fastened looser than cloth needs to sit, and some collars are elastic themselves. The chest: that is a harness. The figure printed on a bandana from somewhere else: every maker draws their own sizes. Measure the dog.
- Measure at the base of the neck, on the collar line — not under the jaw.
- Two fingers flat between tape and coat: comfortable, never tight.
- Measure over the coat, on the day you order, on the dog as he is.
- Centimetres decide. Not kilos, not the collar setting, not the chest.
The five sizes
| Size | Neck (cm / in) | Typical breeds |
|---|---|---|
| S | 22–28 / 8.7–11.0 | chihuahua, yorkie, maltese, toy poodle |
| M | 28–36 / 11.0–14.2 | dachshund, miniature schnauzer, french bulldog, jack russell |
| L | 34–44 / 13.4–17.3 | corgi, cocker spaniel |
| XL | 41–53 / 16.1–20.9 | dalmatian, australian shepherd, labradoodle |
| XXL | 50–63 / 19.7–24.8 | labrador, samoyed, husky, german shepherd |
The breeds are a starting point, not a ruling. I am a corgi and I wear an L. So does a cocker spaniel, with a narrower neck and considerably more hair on it.
When the breed and the centimetres disagree, the centimetres win.
Neck size by breed
These are the ten breeds I am asked about most. The centimetre ranges are the usual figures from collar and harness sizing tables rather than measurements I have taken myself, which is precisely why every row ends the same way: measure your dog, then read the table above.
| Breed | Usual neck (cm) | Size | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dachshund | 30–40 | M, L from 36 cm | Low to the ground, not small at the neck. The narrow head gives the band little to cross. |
| Chihuahua | 25–32 | S, M from 28 cm | The round skull is large for the body, and the band has to pass it before it settles. |
| Maltese | 30–35 | S in my table; at this figure the centimetres say M | Three or four kilos say nothing about a neck. The long coat measures with it. |
| French bulldog | 35–40 | M in my table; at this figure the centimetres say L | Sources disagree on this breed, so yours is the only figure that settles it. Skull wider than neck. |
| Pug | 35–40 | L | Round skull, short neck, folds that shift the tape. Lay it low, on the collar line. |
| Welsh corgi | 35–45 | L | Double coat. A corgi in February and the same corgi in July are two measurements, both correct. |
| Poodle | 18 to over 50, by variety | S to XXL — measure | Poodle is not one size but four. Below 22 cm I have nothing. Measure after the groomer, not before. |
| Golden retriever | 45–53 | XL, XXL from 50 cm | More hair on the neck than a labrador, and the bandana sits on the hair. |
| Labrador | 50–55 | XXL | Short dense coat, so the figure barely moves across the year. |
| German shepherd | 50–70 | XXL to 63 cm | The widest spread of the ten. Above 63 cm I have nothing that fits, and I would rather write that down. |
Breed not on that list? The five-size table above already places most of them, and the centimetres still overrule it if they disagree.
- Yorkie, toy poodle — S.
- Miniature schnauzer, jack russell — M.
- Cocker spaniel — L.
- Dalmatian, australian shepherd, labradoodle — XL.
- Samoyed, husky — XXL, and measure over the ruff.
If you would rather read it breed by breed, with a bandana chosen for each one and the reason why, that is a separate piece: dog bandana size by breed.
Khaki Dog Bandana — Red Reverse
The L I wear myself, so you can see on me what an L looks like on a 40 cm neck.
€19,90
ViewBetween two sizes — which one do I order?
You will have noticed the ranges overlap. Twenty-eight closes S and opens M; thirty-four sits in both M and L. That is deliberate, and it is where most decisions land. If your figure falls inside an overlap, or within a centimetre of a boundary, take the larger size.
A band with some give left in it settles on the collar line and stays there all afternoon. A band worn at the very top of its range is working at full stretch, and full stretch travels upwards, towards the ears, all day. Going up costs you a slightly looser drape at the front. Going down costs you the bandana.
The two failures are not equal, which is the whole argument. Too big means the point hangs a little lower on the chest and the band sits a finger further down the neck — it stays on, and most dogs prefer it there. Too small means the band creeps up behind the ears through the afternoon and comes off in a hedge, and there is nothing to let out afterwards.
Two things push the decision upwards on their own. A thick or double coat: the cloth goes around the fur, not around the neck under it. And a head built wider than the neck, which is the next section.
Blue Stripe Dog Bandana — Red Reverse
A stripe carries a looser drape better than a single large motif, so it is a forgiving one to round up on.
€19,90
ViewWhat the elastic band does to the fit
There are no knots on this. The back of the bandana is a covered elastic band: you stretch it, pass it over the head and past the ears, and let it settle at the base of the neck. Nothing ties and nothing tightens. A knot is a different tension every morning depending on who tied it, and a dog who can reverse out of a collar can certainly reverse out of a knot.
The band has two jobs and they pull against each other. It has to open wide enough to clear the skull and the ears on the way on, then relax onto a neck that is narrower than the head it has just crossed. That is why the ranges are as broad as they are.
It matters most on dogs built head first — bulldogs, boxers, pugs, staffies, anything whose skull is wider than its neck. Buy for getting it over the head rather than for the neck reading alone, which in practice means the size above.
The band in the photograph above is the back of this one. Small print, so it still reads on an S panel.
€19,90
ViewHow do I measure a dog with a long or thick coat?
Measure over the coat, on the day, with the dog as he is. The bandana sits on top of the fur and has to go around it. A samoyed in February and the same samoyed in July are two different measurements, and both of them are correct.
For a proper ruff — samoyed, husky, chow, rough collie, shetland sheepdog — measure twice: once over the coat, once with the fur parted down to the skin. Buy for the larger of the two figures. And if the groomer is booked for a week on Thursday, measure after the appointment rather than before it.
A plain dark ground with a small motif keeps its shape where a big pattern disappears into a pale ruff.
€19,90
ViewWill a bandana fit a puppy?
It will, and this is the one order where I would rather you bought for the dog arriving in three months than for the one standing in the hall today.
You will not find a puppy chart on this page with ages down one side, and that is on purpose. Two labrador puppies from the same litter at twelve weeks are not the same measurement, and a chihuahua at six months has finished a growth a german shepherd has barely started. A number I cannot stand behind is worse than no number at all. Measure the puppy you have, this week, exactly as described at the top of this page — tape low, on the collar line, two fingers flat, over the coat.
Then round up rather than down, for two reasons. The obvious one is that he is growing. The less obvious one is the skull: a puppy still growing into his ears has a head that is large for his neck, and the band has to clear the head before it can sit on the neck. Both arguments point the same way.
Because there is nothing to tie, there is also nothing to let out. The band takes up the slack by itself while he catches up with it. When you find it riding high behind the ears instead of settling on the collar line, that is the dog telling you he has moved into the next size — and the next size is the same cloth and the same price.
Hearts Dog Bandana — Red Reverse
Same print in every size, so the one he grows into looks like the one he grew out of.
€19,90
ViewStill between two sizes
Write to me with the figure you measured and the breed before you order, and I will tell you which one I would send. It costs nothing and takes less time than a parcel going back and forth across Europe.
Worth knowing first: a bandana stitched with your own words is made for you, so there is no fourteen-day change-of-mind return on it. That is set by law rather than by me. Faulty, damaged on the way, or stitched wrong is an entirely different matter, and every right you have stands.
If there is a hat going in the same order, be warned: hats are measured differently — between the ears and from the eyes to the back of the skull, not around the neck.
Buying it as a present and measuring is out of the question? Six ideas that survive a surprise, with the sizes beside them, are in Christmas gift for your dog.
Five sizes, from a 22 cm neck to a 63 cm one, every colour in all of them — and your own words stitched on at no extra charge.
See the bandanas