How to Put a Bandana on a Dog With a Packers Pet Bandana

Biscuit has a thick neck and a barrel chest, and for a long time I thought dressing him for game day meant wrestling him into something with sleeves. I coach high school softball, so I know something about ill-fitting uniforms, and the first jersey I tried on him was a disaster. He stood there with his front legs stuck halfway through the armholes while I tried to coax the fabric over his shoulders, and by the time I got it on, he had decided the whole idea was a punishment. He spent the first quarter of the watch party trying to chew it off. Then a friend who has dressed dogs for years handed me a Littlearth Green Bay Packers Pet Bandana in X-Large and said, "This is the easiest piece of fan gear you will ever put on a dog." She was right. No legs to thread, no zippers, no velcro, nothing to pinch under his armpits. You fold it, you tie it, you go.

The Littlearth Packers Pet Bandana is a soft cotton-poly blend neckerchief with the logo print on the front and a paisley print on the back, so you get two looks in one piece. It is officially licensed NFL gear, it is machine washable, and the generous easy ties adjust to fit. For a dog with a short neck like Biscuit, the bandana shape is the whole point: it sits around the neck without covering his shoulders, so he forgets he is wearing it. I wash all of Biscuit's gear myself, cold cycle, hang to dry, so I can tell you exactly how this bandana holds up over a season of Sundays. Here is exactly how I put it on him, what I learned about sizing, and what I would tell a friend before they bought one.

Step 1: Measure Your Dog's Neck Before You Buy

The Littlearth bandana comes in five sizes, and the size chart is the difference between a bandana that looks intentional and one that looks like a napkin that got caught in a collar. The X-Large is the size I chose for Biscuit, and the listed dimensions are 7.5 x 7 x 2 inches at 1.41 ounces. That measurement is the folded bandana, not your dog's neck, so do not try to match it to a collar size.

Use a soft measuring tape around the widest part of your dog's neck, right where a collar sits. Leave enough room for two fingers to slide underneath. The first time I measured Biscuit, I could not find my tape, so I used a piece of yarn, marked it where it met, and held it up against a ruler on the kitchen counter. It felt ridiculous, but it worked. His neck measured about 16 inches, which put him in the X-Large range on the Littlearth size chart. Biscuit is 27 pounds with a neck that is thick for a French Bulldog, and the XL gives me enough fabric to tie a loose double knot without the bandana riding up under his chin. If your dog is between sizes, I would size up. A bandana that is too small sits high and looks like a bib, and I learned that when I borrowed a smaller size from the same friend. It rode up, he pawed at it, and I took it off before the pre-game show ended. A bandana that is too big just ties a little lower, which is an easier problem to live with.

The product listing says the breed recommendation is all breed sizes, and the dog breed size listed for this particular unit is Large. That is the size of the bandana, not a restriction on which dogs can wear it. What actually matters is your dog's neck measurement and how much fabric you want to show. I have seen the X-Large on a friend's much bigger dog, and it still looked fine, just tied a little lower and looser. The size chart on the listing is the thing to check before you add it to your cart, because the difference between Large and X-Large is more than you would guess from the photos.

Step 2: Fold the Bandana Into a Triangle

Lay the bandana flat with the logo print facing up. Fold it once diagonally, corner to corner, so the paisley print on the back wraps around the outside of the fold. You want a clean triangle with the Packers logo centered on the widest part. If your fold is crooked, the logo will sit off to one side and the whole look goes sideways.

For a dog with a short neck like Biscuit, I fold the triangle one more time along the long edge, about an inch and a half deep, before I tie it. That second fold makes the bandana shorter so it does not bunch up against his shoulders, and it gives the knot more fabric to grip. The generous easy ties are designed for a simple adjustment and a double knot, so do not be afraid to fold and refold until the triangle is the size you want. I fold it on the counter, not on the couch, because Biscuit has a habit of treating anything fabric that touches the floor as a toy.

The first time I did this, I rushed it. I folded the bandana while holding Biscuit's leash in the other hand, and the logo ended up a full two inches off center. He looked like he was wearing a flag that had been yanked sideways, and I had to untie it, refold it, and start over. Now I lay it flat on the kitchen counter, line up the corners with the edge of the counter, and check the fold before it goes anywhere near his neck. That thirty-second check saves me from redoing the whole thing, and it is the difference between a bandana that looks like gear and one that looks like an accident.

Step 3: Tie It Loosely Around the Neck

Hold the folded bandana up to your dog's neck with the point of the triangle facing down. Cross the two tails behind the neck, bring them around to the front, and tie a loose knot. The key word is loose. You should be able to slide two fingers flat between the bandana and your dog's neck. If you cannot, start over. I know this because I tied it too tight the first time, on a Sunday morning before a noon kickoff. Biscuit looked great for about four minutes, then started scratching at the knot like it was a burr. I loosened it, retied it with the two-finger test, and he stopped fussing immediately. A bandana that is too tight will drive a dog crazy, and a dog that is uncomfortable will not wear it for a full game.

Biscuit tolerates this bandana better than any piece of gear he owns because nothing goes over his legs and nothing squeezes his chest. The XL ties loosely around his thick neck, and because the bandana is a soft cotton-poly blend, it does not scratch or rub the way a stiffer fabric would. I tie a double knot so it stays put during the pre-game walk, and I check it once before we go outside and once at halftime. The halftime check takes two seconds: I slide a finger under the knot, make sure nothing has shifted, and straighten the triangle if it has spun around. The double knot matters on walks, because a single knot works loose as he trots and the bandana starts to sag sideways by the second block.

Step 4: Adjust the Triangle and the Tails

Once the knot is tied, spend ten seconds making it look right. Center the logo on the front of the chest, straighten the point of the triangle so it hangs down the middle, and tuck the tails so they lie flat against the neck instead of sticking out at odd angles. This is the step most people skip, and it is the difference between "game day gear" and "something is stuck in my dog's collar." I also check that the point of the triangle is not folded under itself, which happens more often than you would think when you tie it in a hurry.

The back of the bandana is a paisley print, so if the bandana spins around during a walk, you get a second design instead of a blank inside. I count that as a feature, not a bug. Getting two vibrant designs in one bandana is one of the reasons this is the piece Biscuit wears most on Sundays. On the walk before a big game, he has spun it around more than once, and instead of stopping to fix it, I just let the paisley show. It still looks intentional, and nobody at the watch party has ever noticed the switch.

Step 5: Wash It Cold and Hang It to Dry

The Littlearth bandana is machine washable for easy cleanups, and that is the feature that makes it a realistic piece of weekly gear instead of a once-a-season novelty. Biscuit wears his to the backyard watch party, and by the end of the afternoon it has usually collected a little drool, a little dip, and whatever he rolled in while nobody was looking. The worst incident was a Sunday in late October when he found a patch of mud next to the grill and came back to the patio looking like he had been doing field work. The bandana was streaked, and I figured it was ruined. I tossed it in the wash on the cold cycle that night, hung it on the drying rack in the laundry room, and by Monday morning it looked the same as it did the day it arrived.

I wash it on the cold cycle with the rest of his gear and hang it to dry. I do not put it in the dryer, because the heat can shrink the cotton blend and tighten the fit you carefully chose. It comes out of the wash looking the same as it did the day it arrived, which is more than I can say for some of the cheaper unlicensed bandanas I have tried. The colors have not faded, and the logo has not cracked or peeled. After a full season of Sunday washes, the fabric is still soft and the ties still hold a knot. I use a mesh laundry bag for his smaller gear, but the bandana goes straight in the drum and comes out fine.

What Else Helps

A bandana is the easiest piece of fan gear, but it works even better when you pair it with the right routine. I keep Biscuit's Littlearth bandana on the same hook as his leash so I cannot forget it on game day. I put it on him about ten minutes before guests arrive, which gives him time to get used to it while he is still excited about the doorbell. And I always bring a second bandana to the watch party, because a dog that is welcome at the snack table will find a way to get messy. The ten-minute head start matters more than you would think: by the time the first guest walks in, Biscuit has already forgotten the bandana is there, so he greets people instead of pawing at his neck. The hook is by the back door, right above his leash, so the routine is automatic: leash, bandana, out the door.

The Littlearth Packers bandana is listed for pet type cat and dog, so if your cat tolerates wearing gear, the same sizing and tying steps apply. And because the bandana is an officially licensed NFL product, it is a good pick for a gift for a Packers fan who has a dog, especially around game day, birthdays, or Thanksgiving. It does not need to be sized to a jersey or a coat, which makes it a safer gift than most pet apparel. The occasion listing on the product page includes birthdays and Thanksgiving, and I can confirm the bandana has survived both at my house.

Biscuit tolerates this bandana better than any piece of gear he owns because nothing goes over his legs and nothing squeezes his chest.