Free Printable Pet Calendar: Put Your Pet in the Garden

How This Calendar Came to Be

My daughter and her family live in Eastern Oregon, about a five-hour drive from our home in the Willamette Valley. When she came to visit, she told me she loved my new printable garden calendar with the little puppy in every month. But what she really wanted was a calendar with her own little dog, Lily, who is half corgi and half golden retriever.

So we went to work on a free printable pet calendar that lets pet owners add their own pets to the garden scenes. Lily was our very first test, sitting in the October pumpkin patch.

I am planning to make one with our two cats, Smashy and Prissy, who seem to be in charge of our household. They were orphaned when they were only 8 days old, and I raised them by hand on raw goat milk with a little canned pumpkin added. They seem to think I am their mother cat, or else that they are small furry humans, since that is all they remember. As soon as they were old enough, they took charge of the house, and now they have three humans at their service.

How to Make Your Free Printable Pet Calendar

1. Pick a month and add a photo of your dog, cat, or anyone you love.
2. Choose a framed photo for any picture, place your pet right in the garden with a cut-out photo, or use your own photo for the whole picture instead of the garden scene.
3. Drag and size your pet until it looks just right. A paw print on the month button shows which months have a photo.
4. Type your special days: birthdays, anniversaries, and the day your pet came home.
5. Print one month or all 12 on letter-size paper or cardstock.

Tips for the Best Pet Photos

• Get down to your pet's level. Photos taken from the side or front, at your pet's eye level, look the most natural in the garden scenes. Photos taken looking down make a pet look like it is peeking up at the camera.
• Use good light. A photo taken outdoors or by a sunny window looks best in the bright watercolor scenes.
• Sleepy pets fit indoor months. A pet curled up or stretched out asleep looks sweet on the rug by the fire in December or in the kitchen in February.
• Busy backgrounds? Use the framed photo. It works with any picture, even one taken on the sofa.
• A favorite family photo? Choose "Use my own photo for the whole picture." Wide (sideways) photos fill the space best; use Zoom and the Move sliders to choose which part shows.

Make Your Free Printable Pet Calendar a Gift

A free printable pet calendar with the family dog, the grandchildren, or a beloved cat is a sweet Christmas gift. Print it on heavy paper, punch two holes at the top, and tie it with ribbon, or save it as a PDF and have a print shop bind it.

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