No, this isn’t a late April Fool’s joke!

I went to a craft show last weekend (as a shopper, not an exhibitor) and I saw a lady there with some beautiful bead jewelry bracelets and necklaces. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted some strange looking bracelets that had a buckle clasp. I picked up one and, sure enough, the tag said “Dog Collar!” It was a real dog collar with a beaded strand of gemstones attached to the collar on each end!

The woman at the show (she doesn’t have a website) didn’t have any collars that were small enough for my little doggy at the time. She said she had sold out of them and was going to start bringing more “small dog” collars to her next show. When I got home I started looking around the internet and found a lot of people selling all sorts of neat-looking pet collar bead jewelry.

Big Paw Designs - Here’s a good professional website with all sorts of neat dog and cat related jewelry and charms for pet and owners alike. They have a good collection of pet supplies, but I’m not sure if they make any of their own stuff. You can get some great ideas from all the different categories they feature on their website.

Dogs and the City - They are based out of Australia, but they have a great collection of bead jewelry collars for your favorite furry friend! They have three full pages of wonderful bead jewelry for dogs! This is the real deal with great photos and descriptions!

Glitzy Pet Jewelry - All sorts of traditional and some amazing non-traditional bead jewelry pieces for your dog. These high fashion collars are definitely for the doggy with discriminating taste who doesn’t fear pushing the boundaries of doggy fashion!

Chloe’s Canine Collection - This website is a little hard to navigate around, but the photos are priceless! Click on the “Products” link and go to see their Jewelry. Those doggies look simply regal with all those gemstones!

Zola Bella - When your dog is yearning for something, treat your pet to pearl necklaces and even Swarovski crystals! Some neat stuff here with cute photos as well. Be sure to check out their “Bone Necklaces!”

As far as I can tell making bead jewelry for your dog and cat is not much different than making regular bead jewelry, but you might want to watch what kind of clasp you use.

For dogs you might want to simply attach your beaded creations to collars that are made strong enough for dogs and leashes. For cats you generally want a collar that will break away and not strangle the cat if it gets caught in a tight space. I’ve seen strong magnetic clasps that will work great for this!

Be creative! You can add beads to existing pet collars, you can make beaded collar “charms” which attach to a ring where a traditional dog licence might hang, you can create beaded pieces from scratch or you could just create pet themed charms and bracelets for the owners.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I could resist buying a matching necklace, bracelet and earrings for me and a matching collar for my little furry friend!