I did not think a necklace could make a dog's absence feel any smaller. I was wrong about that.
Six things this small gold pendant gets right, written by the customer who almost did not buy it.
Nancy Brooks · Customer · Perth, WA · 5 min read
Our labrador Bella died in March, a few weeks short of her fourteenth birthday, and for about a month afterward I could not look at anything shaped even vaguely like a dog without leaving the room. A pendant seemed like the last thing I needed.
My daughter sent me a link anyway, the way daughters do when they have decided something is good for you before you have agreed to it yourself. I looked at the product photo for a long time before I let myself read the description. A small gold silhouette, a dog leaning into a pair of legs, the shape of it doing exactly what Bella used to do against mine every single evening at the back door.
I ordered it and then felt faintly ridiculous for crying over a $34.95 pendant before it had even shipped. Here are the six things it got right, once it arrived.
The design is not a generic dog. It is the shape of leaning
Most pet jewellery is a paw print or a silhouette standing squarely on all four legs, pleasant enough and entirely forgettable. This one is different. The dog in this pendant is leaning its whole weight into the person beside it, head tucked in, the exact posture Bella held every evening while I did the washing up. I did not expect a piece of gold-plated alloy to recognise a specific habit. It somehow does.
"My husband saw it before I said a word and said, 'that's exactly how Max used to stand against your leg.' I had not told him why I bought it."
It does not look or feel like a $35 pendant
I have owned cheap memorial jewellery before, from a different company, years ago for a cat we lost, and it went a dull brassy colour within two months. This one is a 14K gold-plated alloy, and there is real weight to it in the hand rather than the hollow lightness you feel with the bottom-of-the-range pieces. Three months on, through showers I forgot to take it off for, it still looks exactly as it did the day it arrived.
"I was ready for it to tarnish like the last one I bought. It has not. Still looks brand new after four months of wearing it daily."
The chain actually sits where you want it to
I did not think about chain length until I owned three pendants that all sat at slightly the wrong point on my chest, one too high and catching on turtlenecks, one too low and disappearing under everything. This one is adjustable, so I set mine to sit exactly where Bella's head used to reach when she stood up against me, which is a strange, specific thing to want from a chain length, and I did not expect to get it.
"Finally a necklace I could adjust myself instead of living with wherever the manufacturer decided it should sit."
It works for an ordinary Tuesday, not just for grief
I was worried, honestly, that wearing it would mean carrying my grief on the outside every single day, that people would ask and I would have to explain myself at the school pickup or the supermarket. That has not happened. It reads as a small, pretty pendant first, a dog second, and a story only if you look closely enough to ask. I have worn it to a wedding and to walk the bins out, and it has never once felt like the wrong choice for either.
"I wear mine to work most days. Nobody has ever asked what it means unless they already understand exactly why, which somehow makes it easier."
It comes in a men's edition too, and that mattered more than I expected
Bella was as much my husband's dog as mine, arguably more, and every piece of pet memorial jewellery I looked at before this one was unmistakably a woman's pendant, delicate chains and small clasps that would have looked wrong on him. This one comes in a men's edition in the same gold or a black finish, same design, sturdier chain. He wears his under his shirt most days. I do not think he has taken it off since it arrived.
"Bought the men's version for my dad after we lost the family dog. He is not a jewellery person and he wears it every single day."
Almost nobody buys just one
I ordered a second one within the fortnight, the men's edition in black, for my husband, without telling him what it was until he opened it. Then I ordered a third for my daughter, the one who sent me the link in the first place, because it turned out she had been quietly grieving Bella just as much as either of us and had not said so. Three of us now wear some version of the same small dog, and none of us planned that when I placed the first order.
"Bought one for myself and ended up ordering two more for my sisters. We lost our old dog together and none of us wanted to say so out loud until these arrived."
One honest note before the price
This will not make losing a dog hurt less, and I do not want to promise you that it will. It is a gold-plated alloy pendant, not a diamond, and it will not bring fourteen years back. What it does is give you somewhere small and physical to put the feeling on the days it catches you off guard, which for me has turned out to matter more than I expected it to.
This pendant, against the memorial jewellery already out there
Most pet memorial pieces fall into the same two traps. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
- Generic paw print, could be anyone's pet
- Cheap plating that dulls within months
- Fixed chain length that never sits right
- Obviously feminine, nothing for the men in the family
- Feels heavy to wear on an ordinary day
- A leaning dog silhouette that reads as a real bond
- 14K gold-plated alloy that holds its finish
- Adjustable chain, sits exactly where you want it
- Women's and men's editions, same meaning either way
- Light enough for a Tuesday, not just a memorial
About the price
It is $34.95, down from $144.95, and I know a discount that steep invites suspicion. My honest answer is that I did not buy it for the discount. I bought it because my daughter sent it to me at a moment I was not thinking clearly about money at all, and the reason I am telling you it held up is because I genuinely did not expect it to.
Cute Home sell directly rather than through a jewellery counter, which is most of the gap between this price and what a similar-looking piece costs in a shop window. I cannot vouch for their margins. I can vouch for the fact that mine has not tarnished, the clasp has not failed, and three of us are wearing one each without a single complaint between us.
If you are looking for a small, ordinary-looking way to keep someone, or something, close, this is the one I would send you, the way my daughter sent it to me.
— Nancy
HUG PENDANT NECKLACE
- Leaning dog silhouette design in 14K gold-plated alloy
- Adjustable chain length, sits exactly where you want it
- Available in Women's and Men's editions
- Gold or black finish
- A meaningful keepsake gift, arrives ready to give
- Free Australia-wide delivery with tracking
- 30-day money back guarantee · Afterpay available
About this page. This is an advertisement published by Cute Home. Customer reviews shown are genuine reviews left by Cute Home customers and displayed as submitted. Individual experiences vary.
Care. 14K gold-plated alloy. Remove before showering, swimming and using cleaning products. Store dry.
Pricing and availability may change — check the live product page before purchasing. Prices in AUD. Cute Home · An Australian start-up from Melbourne · Free Australia-wide delivery · 30-day money back guarantee.