Dog Coloring Pages

A child with a dachshund at home does not want a generic dog. These free printable dog coloring pages are drawn breed by breed: the long back and short legs of a dachshund, the wrinkled face of a pug, the mask of a husky, the tall ears of a corgi. That means a child can color their own dog, or the neighbor's, and get the shape right before choosing a single color. Some sheets show one dog on plain paper, others put the dog to work, which gives older kids a scene to fill.

The breeds include labrador, golden retriever, dachshund, beagle, husky, pug, poodle, german shepherd and corgi. Among the scenes: a labrador puppy asleep in a cardboard box with a teddy bear, a husky howling at the moon on a snowy hill, a pug in a bubble bath with a rubber duck, a poodle on the grooming table, a german shepherd clearing an agility hurdle, a beagle following a scent trail across a garden, and a corgi eyeing a sandwich on a picnic blanket.

Which pages suit a three-year-old?

The puppy dog coloring pages are the sitting puppies: corgi, husky, pug, dachshund and beagle, each on a plain background with big paws and a thick outline. A three-year-old can manage them with crayons. Quick to color above the grid keeps these and the other big open shapes, including the dogs asleep. These are the easy dog coloring pages. The quickest right now:

• A corgi head portrait
• A german shepherd head portrait
• A corgi puppy sitting

Lots of detail keeps the full scenes, where the dog shares the page with a porch, a cobbled street or a meadow of sheep. Older kids and adults tend to pick these. The densest right now:

• A poodle walking past a cafe
• A golden retriever puppy tangled in yarn
• A long-haired dachshund in a knitted sweater

Is there a sausage dog?

Several. Dachshunds go by many names, sausage dog, wiener dog, doxie, and plenty of families print weenie dog coloring pages under whichever name they use at home. The breed name is German for "badger dog": that long body and those short legs were bred to follow badgers into their burrows. The easy page is the puppy sitting on plain paper, all floppy ears. The slow ones are a beagle and a dachshund digging a vegetable patch, soil flying past the carrots, and a long-haired dachshund in a knitted sweater by the fireplace with stockings on the mantel, which sits well beside the Christmas coloring pages.

Portraits for coloring your own dog

The head portraits are drawn closer to a real dog than the rest of the set: the golden retriever with its feathered coat, the german shepherd with its thick neck ruff, the corgi with its white blaze, the beagle and the pug facing forward. There is a lot of open paper in them, so they count as quick, but they reward colored pencils more than crayons. These are the realistic dog coloring pages of the set, and good dog coloring pages for adults who want to color their own breed and frame it, or a child making a card for a grandparent's dog.

What colors is a real beagle, husky or corgi?

• Beagles are tricolor: a black saddle across the back, tan head and ears, white legs, chest and tail tip.
• Golden retrievers are not yellow. Use a warm tan, with deeper amber on the ears and chest feathering.
• German shepherds are a black saddle over tan, with a dark muzzle.
• Huskies keep a white face and belly, with gray or black on the mask and back. Their eyes can be blue, brown, or one of each.
• Corgis are red and white: orange-brown on the back and ears, white on the blaze, chest and paws.
• Dachshunds are usually reddish brown or black and tan. On the long-haired one, lay the color in strokes that follow the fur.

Making a coat look glossy

Work from the lightest tone up. Lay a base coat over the whole dog, then darken the muzzle, the ear folds and the line where the front leg meets the chest. Leave a thin band of paper uncolored along the top of the back, where light would catch, and the coat reads as shiny. White parts of a dog are best left as bare paper.

Why the breeds look so different

Every dog on these pages is the same species, and the differences are the result of people choosing them on purpose.

Ears tell you the job. Upright ears belong to dogs bred to hear and herd; long drop ears belong to scent hounds, where they sweep smell up towards the nose. A beagle's ears are working equipment.

Legs tell you the terrain. Short legs on a dachshund or a corgi were bred to get down holes or to nip at cattle heels below the kick. Long legs belong to dogs bred to run.

Coats tell you the weather. A double coat, thick and woolly underneath with a coarser layer on top, belongs to northern breeds and is why a husky looks fluffy at the shoulders. Single short coats belong to warmer places.

Muzzles tell you the bite. A long muzzle is built for grabbing, a short flat one for holding on.

For coloring, two things carry across all of them. A dog's nose and the rims of its eyes are the same color as the darkest part of its coat, which is why a black nose looks wrong on a pale-nosed breed. And the coat is never one shade: there is a darker saddle across the back and paler fur on the chest, belly and the backs of the legs.

Cats, dogs and a dog coloring book

Cat and dog coloring pages are often printed together for two children with two favorites. The golden retriever puppy tangled in yarn already has a kitten watching from a chair, the cat coloring pages share the same line, and the animal coloring pages drawer has a dog delivering the newspaper. Press Add to pack under any drawing, keep browsing, then print your picks as one PDF: a handful of breeds stapled at the corner makes a dog coloring book for a birthday or a long car trip. The beagle among the pumpkins mixes well with the fall coloring pages. All the dog coloring sheets are free printable PDFs at 300 dpi, A4 (choose "fit to page" on US Letter); the printing guide covers paper and scaling.