Photographer creates elaborate Christmas cards with family dog

For more than 25 years, photographer Peter Thorpe of Bristol, England has created elaborate and humorous Christmas cards featuring his family dogs.

Thorpe captured his first doggy Christmas card with his rescue terrier Paddy in 1990. The card featured Paddy dressed as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, wearing antlers and a red nose.

Through the years, Thorpe incorporated his three sons and placed Paddy in intricate sets. Some of those sets included riding in a sleigh with Thorpe's three sons, sitting as a Christmas tree topper and posing as a choir boy in front of a stained glass window.

In 2002, Paddy passed away at the age of 17. The family adopted another rescue terrier, Raggle, who made her first Christmas card appearance in 2004. Raggle has since carried on the family tradition.

When he started the project, digital editing programs like Photoshop were not available, so Thorpe created his own sets and props. To this day, he still builds his own sets.

He said on his website, "The fun for me, has been choosing to continue to create these traditionally rather than with Photoshop, by making my own sets, props and using a fair bit of food bribery!"

He had planned on letting Raggle retire this year, but Thorpe had the idea to create a faux-eBay listing and decided to continue the tradition.

Thorpe has a created a book titled Bark! The Herald Angels Sing featuring 25 years of his work.