Dog Coloring Pages — Free Printable PDF

About Dog Coloring Pages — Free Printable PDF

Dogs come in more shapes and sizes than any other domestic animal, and the pages in this section follow that range. Some collections are realistic dog coloring pages: a breed drawn the way it actually stands, with the right ears, coat and build, and the breed named so there is no guessing. Others are lighter - puppies in baskets, dogs at work and at play, round cartoon faces with big eyes. Many collections come two ways: classic black-and-white line art, and pages with a finished color sample on the same sheet, to follow or to ignore.

A quick map helps when you are looking for one particular dog. The American Kennel Club sorts breeds into seven groups, and each group has its own look on paper. Sporting dogs - Labrador retriever, golden retriever, cocker spaniel, Irish setter - have athletic builds and friendly faces, and the setters and spaniels add long feathering on the ears and legs. Hounds run from the long, low dachshund and the tricolor beagle to the greyhound, all legs and curves. Working breeds are the big ones: Siberian husky, Rottweiler, Doberman, boxer, Great Dane, Bernese mountain dog, Saint Bernard. Terriers such as the Jack Russell, the West Highland white terrier and the miniature schnauzer are wiry and square. The toy group covers the Chihuahua, pug, Pomeranian, Yorkshire terrier, shih tzu and Maltese. Herding dogs include the German shepherd, border collie, Australian shepherd and corgi. Everything that fits nowhere else - French bulldog, bulldog, poodle, Dalmatian, Boston terrier, Shiba Inu - lands in the non-sporting group.

Then comes the question every colorist asks: what color is this dog, really? Labradors come in three recognized colors - black, yellow and chocolate. A golden retriever can be anything from pale cream to deep red-gold. German shepherds are most often black and tan with a dark saddle. Rottweilers, and most Dobermans, are black with rust markings in the same places: eyebrows, muzzle, chest and legs. Boxers are fawn or brindle, pugs are fawn or black with a black mask, and French bulldogs may be fawn, cream, brindle or pied. The Bernese mountain dog is always tricolor: black coat, white blaze and chest, rust on the cheeks and legs. Australian shepherds bring the famous merle, a marbled gray or red that is a pleasure to build up in layers. Irish setters are mahogany red, Weimaraners silver-gray, Samoyeds white with a hint of biscuit.

A few details make a colored dog look alive. Dalmatian puppies are born pure white and get their spots within a couple of weeks, so a spotless Dalmatian pup is not a mistake. Yorkshire terriers start out black and tan and turn steel blue and gold as adults. A husky may have blue eyes, brown eyes or one of each. Most beagles carry a white tip on the tail, and a chow chow's tongue is blue-black. Noses are not always black either: a chocolate Labrador has a brown one.

Fur is easier than it looks. Work in short strokes that follow the direction the coat grows - away from the nose, down the neck, along the back. Put the lightest color down first and add darker layers only where shadows fall: under the ears, beneath the chin, along the belly. For a white dog, leave the paper alone and shade with pale gray or blue. Keep one small white highlight in each eye and one on the nose, and the dog will look back at you.

The sheets differ in difficulty on purpose. Easy dog coloring pages have bold outlines and large open areas; they suit beginners, young children and anyone who wants to finish in one sitting. Detailed pages, with individual tufts of fur and full backgrounds, are drawn for adults and older kids, for sharp colored pencils and some patience.

People use dog coloring pages for more than a quiet afternoon. Color the breed a friend owns in that dog's real markings, and it becomes a gift worth framing. Teachers print them for lessons on pets and animal care, shelters and rescue groups can hand them out at adoption days, and a stack of them suits the waiting room of a vet or a groomer. They are also a calm activity for seniors, especially for someone who once had a dog of the same breed.

Everything here is free to download and print. Each sheet is a separate PDF sized for US Letter that also fits A4, so it prints at full size without adjusting anything, and most collections can also be downloaded whole as a single PDF book. Plain office paper is fine for pencils and crayons; for markers or watercolor, heavier paper keeps the color from bleeding through.