People Are Making Dog-O-Lanterns, And They’re Paw-fect For Halloween

For a couple of years now, people have been carving their pumpkins not into ghouls and goblins, but into good boys and girls. That’s right, the traditional jack-o-lantern is now a dog-o-lantern. 

The trend took off two years ago when artist Andy Manoloff from Elkhart, Indiana, posted about an impressive pumpkin carving he made depicting his pup, a Pomeranian named Sophie. “She’s been through everything with me and I just thought it’d be fun to see her on one of my pumpkins,” he said.

The idea caught on with canine lovers, and they’ve been doing it ever since. Here’s a pretty accurate portrait of Woody the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

And here’s one of Sawyer the Labradoodle. Look how happy he is!

Another clever idea is to pair the portrait with captions. The effect is that your fall décor will look more inviting than terrifying.

To make a dog-o-lantern, you’ll have to treat it like you would a jack-o-lantern. You’ll need an X-ACTO knife and a steady hand. If you’re not yet confident with your art skills, you can also use stencils of different breeds—like Beagles, Huskies, and Golden Retrievers—available here. 

According to Manoloff, carving a dog-o-lantern can take up to 20 hours, depending on how detailed you want it to be. So be patient!

“Start simple and then ramp it up from there,” he advised. 

Although, to be honest, getting dogs to pose with the gourds is probably a lot harder than the carving part.