Dog stickers for WhatsApp: make a pack of your own dog

Generic dog stickers are everywhere. A pack where the dog is your dog – the same ears, the same patch over one eye, the same judgemental stare – is the one your family group actually uses. Here is how to make one that WhatsApp accepts first time.

Why your own dog beats a downloaded pack

WhatsApp's built-in sticker store and the big sticker apps are full of cartoon pugs and corgis. They are cute, but nobody in your group chat reacts to them the way they react to a sticker of the dog they know. A personal pack works like an inside joke: "Biscuit says no" lands differently when it is Biscuit. It is also the reason people keep using a pack for years instead of days, which matters if you are going to spend ten minutes setting it up.

What WhatsApp actually requires

WhatsApp is strict about sticker files, and most failed imports come from ignoring one of these rules:

If you make stickers yourself in a photo editor, the 100 KB limit is the one that bites: a detailed dog photo saved as WebP at high quality is often 150–300 KB. You have to lower the quality step by step until it fits, for every single sticker.

Picking the right photo of your dog

• One dog, face clearly visible. Front-on or three-quarter view works best. A dog asleep with the face hidden makes a weak sticker.
• Good light, no motion blur. Daylight from a window is ideal. Fur detail is what makes the sticker recognisable.
• Background doesn't matter much. The cut-out removes it, but a calm background gives a cleaner edge than a busy patterned sofa.
• No people in the frame. Crop out the hand holding the treat; PetMagi refuses photos with human faces for privacy reasons.

Which expressions to include

A pack that people use daily covers the replies you type most: hi, love you, LOL, no, sad, grrr, good night, hungry, OMG, thank you, party, cool, sorry, OK, bye and miss you. That is exactly the set PetMagi draws in the 16-sticker pack; the 32-sticker pack adds more poses plus four animated stickers. Dogs suit "hungry", "grrr" and "good night" particularly well – they are the faces dogs actually make.

Step by step: from photo to WhatsApp

1. Open PetMagi pet stickers, upload the photo and pick a style. You see 4 stickers free, before paying anything.
2. Unlock the pack ($3.99 for 16 stickers, $6.99 for 32 + 4 animated). You download whatsapp_pack_1.zip: 512 × 512 WebP files, each under 100 KB, plus tray_icon.png at 96 × 96.
3. Unzip the file on your phone (Files app on iPhone, Files by Google or your file manager on Android).
4. WhatsApp does not import a folder of stickers by itself, so install a free sticker-maker app from the App Store or Google Play (search "sticker maker for WhatsApp").
5. In that app, create a new pack, add the .webp files, choose tray_icon.png as the icon and tap "Add to WhatsApp".
6. Open any chat, tap the sticker icon, and your dog is in the tray.

Only want one or two quick stickers? Recent versions of WhatsApp on iPhone and WhatsApp Web include a "Create sticker" button in the sticker tray that turns one image into one sticker. It works, but you build the pack one image at a time and there are no captions.

Common problems and fixes

• "Sticker pack not added" – usually a file over 100 KB or not exactly 512 × 512. Our files are pre-checked; if you edited them, re-export.
• White box around the dog – the background was not transparent (often from saving as JPG). Use the original WebP files.
• Pack has fewer than 3 stickers – WhatsApp needs at least three.
• Friends can't see the pack – they can! Once you send a sticker, anyone can long-press it and tap "Add to favourites".

Beyond WhatsApp

The same purchase includes 512 px transparent PNGs for Telegram, iMessage and Signal, and an A4 / US-Letter sheet you can print on sticker paper for the fridge or the dog's crate. See the import guide on the sticker page for every app.

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