National Purebred Dog Day will be offering decks of poker-size playing cards specific to each of the AKC groups: Herding, Hound, Non-Sporting, Sporting, Terrier, Toy, Working, and Hound. Breeds that are currently in the Miscellaneous Class or are listed with the FSS should select the AKC group into which their breed will go upon acceptance.
Each of the 52 cards may be purchased, your dog’s image on the card along with the dog’s name or a short phrase.
Breed clubs may also purchase a card, a photograph of their breed and the club’s name & website appearing on the card.
This is a huge project with nearly 400 cards in play. Logistics dictates that financial transactions be done through Paypal, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience to non-Paypal customers, but as Paypal is a trusted worldwide payment system online through which we can send invoices and receive funds, it is the only way we can accept those funds.
- The purchase price for a face card is $100. A face card is the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and two Jokers. Number cards from 2 to 10 are $50 each.
- Cards are sold on a first-come-first-served basis on our Facebook page and will be considered “sold” only when payment has been received.
- Send us a private message here or an email to
nationalpurebreddogday@nationalpurebreddogday.com telling us which card you want in which group. Then give us your Paypal ID which is usually your email address; - We also need your breed’s full name (as in German Shepherd Dog, not GSD or German Shepherd), the photo you want to use for the playing card, the words you want to appear on your card, – no more than 66 characters with spaces – and again, the playing card you want;
- Upon receipt of your message, you’ll be sent a Paypal invoice to the address you provided, so please make sure your Paypal information is accurate and up to date.
- The images must be at least 300dpi, and there needs to be a minimum of a 1/8” bleed.
You have 48 hours to complete the purchase. Upon receipt of funds, your “playing card” will be “retired,” meaning it will be unavailable for purchase by anyone else. If funds have not been received by 48 hours, the card you requested will be sold to the next person in line, no exceptions.
Our priority is to have every AKC breed represented at least once. Once every AKC recognized breed is represented, remaining cards will be sold regardless of breed even if that breed is duplicated several times in one deck of cards. Example: There are 54 cards in a deck (counting two jokers) but only 19 breeds in the AKC Terrier group. Once all 19 terrier breeds are represented, orders will be taken for other breeds.
Once every card in an AKC group has been sold, we will place the order to have them made. Upon completion, the decks will be available for purchase on NPDD’s website shop: $25 per deck, or $20 per deck for 3 or more.
This is a major fundraising effort for National Purebred Dog Day, but the possibilities these playing cards offer are many. One deck can promote a breed club, immortalize a wonderful dog, and keep children busy as they create games around the breeds or use them as trading cards.
They make unique gifts to breeders, judges, a junior handler, or a new puppy person, and can be prizes at auctions and raffles. They can be mementos, stocking stuffers, or part of a gift basket. Your imagination is your only limitation.
The annoying small print: NPDD reserves the right to refuse a photograph if the manufacturer deems it to be of insufficient quality or size, the breed is not recognized by an established registry such as the AKC, UKC, or FCI, or the wording is too lengthy or not family friendly.
Since some folks have trouble conceptualizing what their dog would look like on a playing card, and because the Silky Terrier folks did this project a while back, we’re able to offer you a “show and tell” image below:
In HERDING, these cards are NOT available:
Hearts: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2
Diamond: King, Queen, 6 and 5
Spades: Ace
Clubs: King
HOUND: these cards are NOT available:
Hearts: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, and 7
Diamonds: Ace, and 7
Clubs: Queen
Non-SPORTING – these cards are NOT available:
Hearts: King, Queen and 4
Diamond: Queen, 7
SPORTING – these cards are NOT available:
One Joker,
Hearts: Ace and Queen
Diamonds: Queen
Spades: Ace
Clubs: Ace
TERRIER – these cards are NOT available:
Both Jokers
Diamonds: King, Queen and 6
Spades: Ace
Hearts: King, Queen and 4
TOY – these cards are NOT available:
Hearts: Ace, King, Queen
One Joker
WORKING – these cards are NOT available:
Spades: Ace and 3
Hearts: King
And finally, we ask for your patience. We know that breed specific playing cards have been done before, but to my knowledge, something of this scope has never been tried before. No doubt we’ve missed something, or one of you will find the proverbial “hole in the boat.” We’ll sort it out. With your patience and sense of humor, we’ll sort it out.