Puppy
Love
Thirty-five years. Thirty-five breeds. A Cocker Spaniel in 1991, and every year since — a new dog, a brass heart tag, and a portrait of the bond between a puppy and the person who loves them. Anita Marra Rogers's most beloved series, drawn year after year from the AKC's list of the dogs we can't stop loving.
One Breed Per Year, Every Year Since 1991
The Puppy Love series launched in 1991 with a Cocker Spaniel holding a candy cane, wearing a red bow for a collar. Sculpted by Anita Marra Rogers — who began her ornament career making animal shapes out of cotton candy for her siblings as a child, and whose Hallmark career started after a sculptor spotted her oil paintings and saw something the hiring committee had missed — the series established its premise in that first entry: one dog, one breed, one portrait of the puppy at its most characteristically irresistible.
The breed selection is not random. Each year, Anita consults the American Kennel Club's list of the most popular dog breeds, looking for the dog that is rising in the culture — the breed that more families are falling in love with, the dog that is appearing in more homes, more advertisements, more hearts. The French Bulldog (2014) arrived when Anita started noticing them everywhere. The Welsh Corgi (2018) was sculpted after the corgi beloved by Queen Elizabeth II passed away. The series is, in this sense, a documentary of which dogs America has loved most, decade by decade, since 1991.
Every entry includes a brass heart tag — a small detail that transforms each ornament from a breed portrait into a declaration of affection. The heart is the series' signature. It says, without any words, what the ornament is for: not just documentation of a breed, but an expression of what that breed means to the person who hangs it on the tree.
"I sent it to her and got a really nice note back. From the Royal Mail! The Queen had my ornament!"
— Anita Marra Rogers, on sending the 2018 Welsh Corgi to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace
Cocker Spaniel #1 (1991) · Welsh Corgi #28 (2018) — the Queen's dog · Long-Haired Dachshund #35 (2025)
Anita Marra Rogers — The Dog Whisperer of Hallmark
Anita Marra Rogers has been sculpting the Puppy Love series since 1991 — every single entry, thirty-five consecutive breeds, for thirty-five consecutive Christmases. Her relationship with dogs began early: as a child she made animal shapes out of cotton candy for her siblings, an early expression of the sculptural instinct and the love of animals that would define her career. Her path to Hallmark was circuitous — she applied at 19 with an oil painting portfolio and was turned down; years later, a sculptor who saw the same paintings invited her in and asked her to try sculpting. She sculpted a deer and a bunny looking at each other over a snowbank. Her career began that afternoon.
Her process for the Puppy Love series is rigorous and specific: each year she consults the AKC's breed popularity rankings, identifies which dogs are rising in the culture, and sculpts the one that is most compelling — the breed with the most character, the face with the most personality. She doesn't own a dog herself, but she cares for her daughter's toy poodle Oreo as a "grand-dog." The 2018 Welsh Corgi was the series' most emotionally significant entry: Anita sculpted it after Queen Elizabeth II's corgi Willow passed away, sent an advance sample to Buckingham Palace, and received a reply from one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting thanking her for the "generous gesture" and confirming that the Queen had been touched by the thought. The series has reached a queen. It has also, for thirty-five years, reached every dog lover who has hung one on the tree.
Cocker Spaniel — 1991 (#1)
The founding entry: a Cocker Spaniel sitting up and holding a candy cane, with a red bow for a collar and the first brass heart tag of what would become thirty-five years of them. The 1991 Cocker Spaniel established the series' two defining qualities — the specificity of breed (not "a dog" but this particular dog, this face, these ears) and the warmth of the heart tag that declares what the ornament is for. Every subsequent entry in the series is a different dog, a different breed, a different face that someone recognized as belonging to the dog they loved. The Cocker Spaniel started all of it. Thirty-five years later, the brass heart is still on every one.
Shop the Cocker Spaniel — First in Series →
Welsh Corgi #28 (2018) — the Queen's dog · Long-Haired Dachshund #35 (2025) — curled on a red holiday bed
The Dog That Lives on the Tree
The Puppy Love series works because it understands something specific about the relationship between dog owners and their dogs. Dog owners don't love dogs in general. They love their dog, specifically, with an intensity and particularity that can be bewildering to people who have never owned one. When a Golden Retriever owner sees the 1993 Golden Retriever ornament, they do not see a generic dog. They see their dog. The series is effective because it is specific enough, breed by breed, for each entry to function as a portrait — not of an anonymous puppy, but of the exact kind of dog someone has been in love with for years.
The brass heart tag is the series' most important design element, not because it is elaborate, but because it is direct. The heart says: this is not documentation. This is love. The ornament is not about the breed in the abstract; it is about the specific dog, in the specific house, on the specific Christmas morning when someone looked at it and recognized their companion. Thirty-five breeds across thirty-five years. Thirty-five different faces. One consistent declaration on each one.
The series is also, quietly, a cultural record. The French Bulldog (2014) arrived in the American home the same year it was arriving in advertisements and television. The Labradoodle (2013) reflected a crossbreed revolution. The Great Dane (2019) and the Australian Shepherd (2020) and the German Shorthaired Pointer (2022) track the specific enthusiasms of specific years. The series is an AKC-guided portrait of American dog love, decade by decade, one brass heart at a time.
Tips for the Collection
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01Start with the entry that matches your breed. Thirty-five breeds across thirty-five years means there is almost certainly an ornament for the dog you have loved. Golden Retriever owners have 1993. Beagle owners have 1997. Black Lab owners have 1998. German Shepherd owners have 1999. Corgi devotees have 2018. French Bulldog fans have 2014. The series is most powerful when the breed on the ornament is the breed in the house.
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02The 2018 Welsh Corgi is the series' most storied entry. Sculpted after Queen Elizabeth II's corgi Willow passed away, sent to Buckingham Palace by Anita Marra Rogers, received and acknowledged by the Queen herself — this is the Puppy Love entry with the most specific human story attached to it. Display it prominently if you have it. Tell the Queen story to anyone who asks.
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03The series makes the perfect annual gift for a dog-lover. Buy the current year's entry for a friend or family member each Christmas, and in ten years they have a decade of Puppy Love ornaments. In thirty-five years, they have the complete set. Few ornament series build as naturally into a gifting tradition — and few annual ornaments are as personally meaningful to their recipient as the one that depicts the exact breed of dog they love.
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04Display all 35 together, grouped by breed type, for the full kennel effect. Sporting breeds (Cocker Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Labrador, German Shorthaired Pointer), working breeds (Rottweiler, Great Dane, Doberman), herding breeds (Sheltie, Welsh Corgi, Australian Shepherd, Border Collie), terrier breeds — the series has enough variety across its 35 entries that grouping by AKC category creates a visually organized display that reads as a complete kennel, not a miscellaneous collection.
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05The complete 35-breed run from 1991 through 2025 is at Already Christmas. Every entry — from the original Cocker Spaniel to the 2025 Long-Haired Dachshund curled on its red holiday bed — is in the collection. The 36th breed has not yet been announced. Already Christmas has the whole kennel.
Every Puppy Love Ornament — 1991 to 2025
Every breed. Every brass heart. Thirty-five years of the dogs we love most. Click any puppy to shop.
A Cocker Spaniel in 1991 with a candy cane and a red bow. A Schnauzer, a Golden Retriever, a Poodle, a Rottweiler, a Dachshund, a Beagle, a Black Lab, a German Shepherd. Thirty-five breeds. Thirty-five brass heart tags. Thirty-five Decembers of Anita Marra Rogers asking the AKC which dog America loves most this year, and sculpting it.
The whole kennel is here. The 36th breed is on its way.
✦ Part of our Series: Hallmark Keepsake Official Series, Explored ✦