The Best Dog Collars for Pet Photography
Your dog's leash disappears in post production.
Their collar doesn't.
That means the collar in your session images is there forever — on the wall, in the album, in every frame. It's worth thinking about for five minutes before your session.
Here's what I recommend, and why.
The Naked Look
I'm a sucker for a collarless dog. I mean who doesn’t love saying “you’re nekkie!” when that collar comes off?
If you love the clean, unadorned look — no hardware, no text, just your dog — we can get there. The trick is choosing the right collar to remove digitally rather than just hoping for the best.
For the naked look, go thin and neutral. A collar that's ½ inch or less, in a color close to your dog's coat, is much simpler to remove in post. You'll also want to avoid heavy pulling on the leash during the session — a strained neck and stretched collar makes the edit more complicated.
Practical Note: If your dog pulls when walking, bring a separate harness for walking between spots and swap to the thin collar just for portraits. This will help protect their neck, and make sure we don’t have a panic moment with a broken collar.
Keep It Simple
For most sessions, simple wins.
A plain biothane collar in a neutral tone is one of my top recommendations. It's waterproof, doesn't absorb smells, holds up to swimming and mud and hiking, and wipes clean. Lira had a beautiful purple-gray biothane from Get Dirty that looked just as good after years of hard use as it did the first day.
Plain leather or faux leather in a neutral color works beautifully too — especially for dogs with warm-toned coats where a brown or cognac collar feels like it belongs rather than competes.
The goal with a simple collar is for it to feel like part of the portrait, not a distraction from it. If someone looks at your finished image and notices the collar before they notice your dog's face, we've got the wrong collar.
Make It Meaningful
A professional session is a real occasion. There's no rule that says the collar has to be plain.
I have a personal superstition around Paco Collars — the hand-tooled leather collars made by a small artisan. Before every major surgery for one of my dogs, I get them a Paco. Lira wore one through a surgery with a 50% survival rate. Carolina wore one through her cleft palate repair. At this point it's ritual as much as anything. They are expensive and special and worth it.
At a recent session, a client brought custom collars engraved with each dog's element — Cobalt and Xenon, her two dogs named after elements, each with their symbol on a collar just for them. Those portraits are uniquely, unmistakably theirs.
If there's a collar with a story — a rescue collar, an anniversary gift, something from a special place — bring it. That context lives in the image even if the viewer doesn't know the backstory.
The Short Version
Thin and neutral if you want the naked look. Simple biothane or leather if you want timeless. Something personal if you want it to mean something specific.
All three are the right answer. Pick the one that's right for your dog.
→ Read next: