Sharp eyes, above everything else
Colour can be fixed. Exposure can be fixed. Focus cannot. If the eyes are crisp in the original the portrait works, and if they are soft there is nothing a retoucher can do about it.
What is a pet portrait canvas?
A pet portrait canvas is a photograph of your animal printed onto artist’s canvas and stretched over a wooden frame, ready to hang with no glass and no picture frame. What separates ours from a plain photo print is what happens before the printer: a person opens your file and corrects it by hand. Made in Canada, 55 sizes, from $45.
We print every animal people live with. Dogs and cats are most of it, but horses, rabbits, parrots, ferrets, guinea pigs, snakes, goats, chickens and barn cats all go on the same canvas, on the same stock, at the same prices. If you have a photograph of it, it prints.
How to order a pet portrait canvas from your own photo
Three steps, and the middle one is ours. The proof is the part that matters: nothing is printed while you are still wondering whether the colour is right.
Step 1
Send the photograph
Upload whatever you have from a phone, a camera, a scan of an old print or a still from a video. Tell us in the notes if you want the leash gone or two animals combined.
Step 2
A retoucher opens it
A person, not a filter. Colour, exposure, eye-shine and crop are corrected, anything you asked for is done, and a proof comes back to you by email.
Step 3
You approve, then it prints
Nothing reaches a printer until you say yes. After that it is printed, sealed, stretched over pine and packed, usually the same day, and shipped free.
How to choose the best photo for a pet portrait canvas
Sharp eyes, soft daylight, camera down at their height, and the animal filling the frame. Those four things decide almost everything, and a phone photo that gets them right will beat a professional camera that gets them wrong. If yours misses one, send it anyway and we will tell you honestly what can and cannot be fixed.
Window light, never the flash
Soft daylight renders fur as texture. Direct sun blows out a white coat into a blank shape, and an on-camera flash gives you the green retinal disc we then have to paint out.
Get down to their height
A phone held at standing height shows mostly the top of a head and flattens the muzzle. Kneel, or put the phone on the floor. It is the single change that improves a dog photo most.
Fill the frame with the animal
Head and shoulders should take up most of the picture. A small dog across a large room has to be enlarged to print, and enlargement is what turns fur into mush.
On resolution: aim for roughly 100 pixels for every finished inch of canvas — about 1600 × 2000 pixels for a 16 × 20″. Send the original off the camera roll rather than a copy that has been through WhatsApp or Messenger, which compress hard. If a file will not carry the size you picked, you hear about it before you are charged.
What hand retouching is included on every pet canvas
Not a filter and not an algorithm. A retoucher opens every pet portrait and works on it, then emails you a proof. The first four below happen whether you ask or not. The rest happen when you ask, and there is no charge for them.
- 01 Colour and white balanceA kitchen light throws orange over a coat and a shaded lawn throws green. We neutralise it so a chocolate lab comes out chocolate. Every order
- 02 Exposure and shadow recoveryA camera metering for a bright window turns a black dog into a silhouette. The shadows get lifted back by hand until the coat has texture again. Every order
- 03 Eye-shine removalThe green or yellow disc a flash leaves in an animal's eye is painted out and the real iris rebuilt around the pupil. Every order
- 04 Crop, straightening and a resolution checkThe horizon gets squared, the crop is set for the size you ordered, and if the file is too small you hear about it before you are charged. Every order
- 05 Leash and collar removalA photo from a walk becomes a studio portrait. Ask at checkout or just reply to your proof. On request
- 06 Background simplificationA cluttered kitchen, a stranger's legs, a bin bag by the fence — removed, or the whole background replaced with a plain tone. On request
- 07 Two animals onto one canvasIf they were never photographed together, send separate pictures and they get composed into a single portrait. On request
- 08 Repairing an old photographCreases, scratches, scanner dust and forty years of fading on a print from a shoebox, repaired before anything is printed. On request
Pet portrait canvas sizes and prices in Canada
Fifty-five sizes in eight shapes, $45 to $520, hand retouching and delivery included in every price. For one dog or cat, keep the longest side at 16″ or more, or the face comes out smaller than life. The room below is drawn to scale against a real 84″ three-seat sofa.
Prices verified against the Custom Canvas product page on 21 September 2026. Pet portraits print on the same stock at the same prices, and the figure covers retouching, the proof, the gallery wrap, the pine frame, the satin coat, the hanging hardware and free delivery. The one paid extra is an optional external frame in white or black.
Which canvas shape fits your pet’s photo?
A head-and-shoulders portrait suits a square or a 5:4. A lying-down pose or a dog mid-run wants a landscape or a panoramic. The commonest surprise in pet printing is an ear or a tail leaving the frame, so pick a shape below and drag the framing to see exactly what each proportion keeps.
Shape
Square keeps 67% of the original photograph.
Close-cropped around the head. Check that both ear tips stay inside the red frame.
This is a demonstration on a sample photograph. In the real designer you crop your own upload, and a retoucher checks the framing again before anything prints — if an ear is clipped, you hear about it on the proof.
After you approve the proof
How a pet portrait canvas is made
The retouching is the part nobody else does. Everything after it is ordinary good printing, done in this country, which is the only reason a portrait approved on a Tuesday can be on a wall in Halifax by Friday.
- Printed with solvent-free pigment inkArchival, and there is no solvent smell when you open the box — which matters if the canvas is going in a room the animal sleeps in.
- Onto acid-free cotton–polyester canvasMuseum grade. The weave holds fine detail like whiskers and guard hairs without the ink bleeding into it.
- Sealed with a water-based UV satin coatSatin rather than gloss on purpose: a gloss finish mirrors the room back at you and flattens a dark coat into a black shape.
- Stretched over kiln-dried white pineFSC-approved, finger-spliced and dried so the bar cannot twist when a Canadian winter takes the humidity out of a room.
- Four ways to finish the edgesMirror, Blur, Fill or White. For a pet portrait pick Mirror or White — Fill carries the picture round the sides and will take an ear or a paw with it.
- ¾″ or 1½″ deep, or rolledShallow for a small portrait or a set hung together, gallery depth past about 30″, or unstretched canvas roll if you would rather frame it yourself.
Pet memorial canvas portraits from an old photo
A good share of the portraits leaving this studio are of animals who have already died. You do not have to explain that when you order, and nothing cheerful will land in your inbox afterwards.
Send whatever photograph you have, including a bad one. A phone snapshot. A scan of a print out of a shoebox. A frame paused out of a video on an old handset.
- Blur, creases, scratches and forty years of fading are repaired by hand, not by an automatic filter.
- You see a proof first. Nothing prints while you are still unsure whether it looks like them.
- If the file will not carry the size you want, we say so before you pay and suggest one that works, rather than printing something soft and letting you find out when it arrives.
- Say in the order notes if you want the collar or the leash left in. For a lot of people that detail is the whole point, and we would otherwise take it out.
How to hang a pet portrait canvas
Hang the centre of the canvas 57 inches off the floor, span about two thirds of whatever furniture sits beneath it, and leave six to ten inches of wall between the two. A portrait hung a foot too high is the commonest mistake in the country, and these three measurements are all it takes to avoid it.
Centre at 57 inches
Not the top, the centre. Fifty-seven inches from the floor is average standing eye level and it is what every gallery hangs to. Most people hang too high by about a foot.
Two thirds of the furniture
Over a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, the art should span roughly two thirds of the width below it, with a hand’s width — six to ten inches — of wall between them. An 84″ sofa wants about 56″ of canvas.
A group is one picture
Hanging several together? Leave two to three inches between them and then treat the whole block as a single piece — centre that at 57 inches. Tight, even gaps are what make a group read as deliberate.
What turns up in the box
Every canvas arrives stretched, wired and ready. The hanging hardware is already fitted to the back of the frame, so it goes up with one hook and a spirit level — no framing shop, no extra trip to the hardware store.
- Hardware fitted to the frame
- Corner-protected, boxed flat
- No frame to buy, ever
Delivery
Pet canvas delivery across Canada, free to every province
Free to every postal code, with no minimum order, no rural surcharge and no “excluding the territories” in the small print. Two to three business days across Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies, three to five to British Columbia and Atlantic Canada, and up to seven to Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Everything is retouched, printed and stretched here, so nothing waits at a border and no brokerage fee turns up at the door.
1 dayAfter you approve the proof
13Provinces & territories
$0Shipping, always
What we promise on every pet portrait canvas
01
You see it before it prints
A proof comes back by email once the retouching is done. If the colour is off, the crop is wrong, or it simply does not look like them, say so and it goes back to the retoucher. Nothing reaches a printer until you approve it.
02
Damaged in transit means a reprint
Send a photo of the box and the canvas. A replacement goes into production the same day at no cost, and the original stays with you.
03
The warranty has no end date
Fading, cracking, warping and peeling are covered for as long as the canvas is on your wall. Not twelve months. Not five years. As long as you own it.
Pet portrait canvas questions, answered
The twelve things people email us before they order a portrait of their animal. If yours is not here, ask before you buy rather than after.
What photo works best for a pet portrait canvas?
Sharp eyes matter more than anything else, because focus is the one thing retouching cannot repair. After that: shoot in soft daylight rather than direct sun or flash, get the camera down to your animal's eye level instead of pointing down at them, and fill the frame so the head and shoulders take up most of the picture. A phone photo taken that way beats a professional camera used badly. For resolution, aim for about 100 pixels per finished inch, which is roughly 1600 by 2000 pixels for a 16 by 20 inch canvas.
Can you take the leash or the collar out of the photo?
Yes, and it is one of the most common requests we get. Leash removal, collar removal, background simplification and taking out a stranger's legs are all done by hand when you ask, and there is no charge for it. Colour, exposure, crop and eye-shine are corrected on every order whether you ask or not. If something is beyond what retouching can do, you will be told before printing rather than after. Say the word at checkout, or just reply to your proof.
My dog is black. Will any detail actually show?
Yes, as long as the original photo holds some detail in the coat. The usual problem is the camera, not the dog: metering for a bright window or a snowy garden turns a black coat into a flat silhouette. Photograph a dark animal against a mid-toned background in soft, even light and there will be plenty to work with. A retoucher lifts those shadows by hand before printing, and the satin UV coat we use holds shadow separation far better than a gloss finish, which tends to mirror the room back at you.
Can I put two pets on one canvas?
Yes. They can go on as one scene or as a split layout, and they do not need to have been photographed together — send a separate picture of each and they will be composed into a single portrait. If the two photos were taken in very different light, mention it in the order notes so the retoucher can match them rather than leaving one looking pasted in.
Do you make memorial portraits from an old or poor photo?
Yes, and a good share of the portraits leaving this studio are of animals who have already died. Send whatever you have: a phone snapshot, a scan of a print, a frame paused out of a video. Blur, creases, fading and low resolution get repaired by hand, and you see a proof before anything is printed. If a file genuinely will not carry the size you want, you will be told that before you pay and offered a size that works, rather than finding out when it arrives.
How much does a pet portrait canvas cost in Canada?
From $45 for an 8 by 8 inch up to $520 for a 60 by 40 inch, across 55 sizes in eight shapes. Hand retouching is included in that price rather than sold as an add-on, and so are the gallery wrap, the pine stretcher frame, the UV satin coat, the hanging hardware and delivery anywhere in Canada. The one paid extra is an optional external frame in white or black.
What size canvas suits one dog or cat?
For a single animal, keep the longest side at 16 inches or more, or the face ends up smaller than life and the portrait reads as a snapshot. A 20 by 16 inch at $90 or a 24 by 18 inch at $120 sits comfortably on a hallway or bedroom wall. Above a sofa, work from the furniture instead: span about two thirds of its width, which on a standard 84 inch three-seat sofa means 50 to 60 inches of canvas.
Which shape should I choose for a pet photo?
A head-and-shoulders portrait suits a square or a 5:4, because both keep the face large and leave a little room above the ears. A lying-down pose or a dog mid-run wants a landscape or a panoramic. Avoid panoramic for a head-on portrait: the proportion is so wide that the ears fall outside the frame. The crop tool on this page shows exactly what each shape keeps.
What are Mirror, Blur, Fill and White edges?
They are the four ways the sides of the wrap can be finished. Mirror reflects the outer band of the picture around the sides so nothing on the front is lost. Blur softens that same band. Fill carries the photograph itself around the edge, which uses up about an inch and a half of image. White leaves the sides plain. For a pet portrait, Mirror or White are usually right, because Fill will take an ear or a paw round the corner.
How long does a pet portrait take to arrive?
Retouching, printing and stretching is normally finished within one business day of you approving the proof. Delivery after that runs 2 to 3 business days across Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies, 3 to 5 to British Columbia and Atlantic Canada, and up to 7 to Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Everything is made and shipped inside Canada, so there is no border, no duty and no brokerage fee.
Is a canvas safe in a house with animals and children?
Yes, and it is safer than a framed photograph. We print with solvent-free ink and seal each canvas with a water-based UV satin coat, so nothing off-gasses and there is no solvent smell when you open the box. There is no glass to break, which is the usual reason a framed picture is a bad idea at tail height.
What if I do not like the finished canvas?
REPLACE — state your actual policy here in plain words. Because every pet portrait is retouched and printed to one person's order, most printers limit returns to manufacturing faults rather than change of mind, and that is a defensible position to state openly. The proof step already gives the customer a chance to object before anything is printed, which is worth saying here. What costs you the sale is leaving this vague.
Retouching included · Proof before printing
Start your pet portrait canvas
Upload the photograph you already have. A person looks at it, you approve a proof, and it ships free — usually the next day. If the file will not carry the size you picked, you will hear from us before it prints.