Dog Silhouettes and Detailed Outlines: 20 Breeds, Each with a Body and Head Drawing

Twenty breeds share this dog silhouette collection, and each breed gets two separate drawings: the whole dog standing side-on from nose to tail, and a head-and-shoulders portrait. That makes 40 drawings, and every one of them comes as fine black line art and as a solid silhouette.

The 20 breeds and what gives each away

The list runs Labrador retriever, golden retriever, German shepherd, Pembroke Welsh corgi, beagle, French bulldog, Siberian husky, dachshund, poodle, chihuahua, border collie, Yorkshire terrier, Pomeranian, boxer, shiba inu, Doberman pinscher, Great Dane, English bulldog, miniature schnauzer and a mixed-breed dog whose portrait has one ear up and one folded.

The drawings lean on coat and outline. The poodle is in a show clip with pompoms on its legs and tail, the Yorkshire terrier’s coat sweeps the ground, and the Pomeranian is mostly ruff with a plumed tail over its back. The husky and the shiba carry their tails in a curl, the schnauzer has its beard and brows, and the English bulldog is all folds and a wide jaw. Nearly every dog has its mouth open and tongue out.

Each breed appears in one standing pose and one portrait, nothing more. There are no sitting, running or puppy versions here.

The portraits are drawn on their own

A portrait isn’t the body drawing cropped. The head is redrawn larger, turned three-quarters toward you and finished with a curved line across the chest, so it sits like a little bust. On a tote, mug or card it reads as a pet portrait, while the standing dogs work better in a row or along a border.

How the solid versions read

In black, a breed is recognized by its edge. Prick-eared heads like the corgi, German shepherd, husky, chihuahua and French bulldog stay easy to name. Drop-eared heads lose that cue: the beagle, Lab, golden, dachshund and Great Dane portraits turn into similar rounded shapes. For those breeds, the standing silhouette or the line-art head says more.

Line art for paper, cutting and coloring

Every line in the outline files is a filled shape, not a stroke. In the DXF, each line is traced along both of its edges as closed outlines, so these are not single-line files for pen or engraving work. Each silhouette DXF has one outer edge plus a solid hatch; some cutting software ignores the hatch, so cut the edge. START-HERE suggests at least 2.5 inches wide for paper outlines and a small test before a real project, since faces, fur and thin legs may need more room.

Each PDF page carries one breed with its name at the top. The full-page sheets hold one body and one head, roomy enough to color, and the four-up sheets repeat two heads and two bodies. These are drawings of each breed in general, not of anyone’s own dog.

Questions

Which way do the dogs face?

Every full-body dog stands facing left, and the head portraits turn toward the left too. To have two dogs face each other, flip one horizontally in your design software.

Are the Doberman and Great Dane drawn with cropped ears?

No. Both have natural drop ears and a full-length tail, in the line art and in the silhouettes.