The pittie smile, printed exactly as wide as it is
Nobody who shares a sofa with a pit bull needs the smile explained: mouth open, eyes squeezed half shut, the whole head in on it. It's the expression generic dog art never quite gets, because it isn't generic. Start from a photo of yours mid-grin and the shirt is that exact moment, white chest and all.
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How this coat prints
A pit's coat is short, tight and glossy, so the head is all structure: the width of the skull, the cheeks, the folds that appear when the dog concentrates. The gloss is the thing to manage — it picks up every light in the room and can break a blue or black coat into patches of shine. If you want the shirt to flatter the coat, go by colour rather than breed: a fawn or red pit's warmth plays well against navy, a blue, black or brindle pit looks crisp framed by ivory, and a white chest suits both.
The photo to use
Catch the grin, not the pose. A pit sitting politely for the camera tends to close its mouth and look worried, which isn't the dog you live with, so take the photo a minute after play or a walk, when the mouth is open and relaxed. Shoot in open shade or beside a window, because direct light on a short glossy coat makes hot spots that print as blank white patches. Whether the ears are cropped or natural rose ears folded back, make sure the outline of both is visible against what's behind them.
Presets that suit this dog
The dog grinning inside the red, white and blue star on the Star-Spangled tile is a pittie, drawn in cream engraving strokes, and the open-mouthed smile is the whole design.
A lemon-print silk scarf knotted at the side, a strand of pearls and a faintly smug lift of the chin on that big, sweet head: this one is for the pit bull moms.
Out of a cherry-red car window with the tongue flapping and the eyes squeezed half shut: on a pit the mouth is where the expression lives, and the wind only makes the grin wider.
Questions
Does the shirt colour need to match my pit's coat?
More than you might expect, because every design is keyed into the shirt rather than printed as a box: on a dark shirt any part of the coat darker than the fabric is left unprinted, and on a light shirt any part paler than it. A fawn or red pit reads well on either; a black or blue pit shows its whole outline best on a light shirt, and a white pit on a dark one.
My dog is a staffy or a bully mix, not a pure pit. Is this still for us?
Completely. The artwork has no idea what the paperwork says — it works from the dog in front of the camera, so an AmStaff, a staffy, a bully mix or a shelter mystery comes out as exactly the dog you brought home.
Will a blue pit come out grey or blue?
Whatever your photo shows. A blue coat looks bluer in open shade and greyer in direct sun, so pick the photo that looks most like your dog to you; that's the colour you'll get.
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