I have to ask...how long does it take you to make a pattern? My sister can look at stuff and make patterns off it (even if it's not exact) so I was wondering if that's what you do for making different shapes & sizes of dogs and stuff. (I don't do needlework, I just sew, so all my patterns are stencil-y rather than the crochet's written patterns...so crochet is a mystery to me)

I timed it (very roughly) when I made the bull terrier I uploaded recently! As a doll I had never made before/was making up on the spot, and being a solid color, it took about four and a half hours from start to finish (that's quicker than usual). With dolls that are this size, I have a set of sort of like standard measurements that I've developed over time, and I just tweak them here and there for each doll. Like I know all heads are X# of stitches per row, bodies are X# of rows long, legs are X# of rows tall, etc. Then for each one, I'll add or subtract stitches or rows to shape it into what I want :)

So for example, the tuck up behind the rib cage - if I'm making a dog that has a real sharp tuck like a greyhound, I'd probably do something like 2 decrease stitches for 2 or 3 consecutive rows to really make the shape apparent. If I was doing something that had a much more subtle tuck, I'd do something like a single decrease stitch in a row, then a row with no decreases, then a row with a single decrease stitch.

And for things like this, I always have a google image tab open to whatever breed I'm working on, looking at various dogs as examples!

If I'm working on something entirely different than anything I've made before, I just visualize it beforehand. Then hold up my progress frequently to see that it's taking shape as I've imagined. Even if I'm not using the dimensions that I'm used to, it helps to have them as size references. Like I know what 6 stitches around looks like, I know what 18 stitches look like, I know what 24 and 32 stitches look like. So then I can be like, ok I want this piece to be larger than 24, but smaller than 32 stitches wide. If that makes any sense!

This is a really interesting/informative comment to read, because I was going to mention that you did a good job on this Min Pin's body type.

Thank you! Yeah when I saw the original comment, I thought, that's a great question, I have a lot I could say about that. c:

Oh, wow, thanks for the proper reply! I wasn't honestly expecting much other than "yeah kinda" (in all due respect!) Thanks for the effort you put into this reply.

It does make a lot of sense! I'm not terribly great at hand-sewing stuff that needs to be turned inside out (I mostly do decorative solid stitches, like blanket stitches, and straight stitches right-side-out on very small things) so I turn it right side out a lot to check and see if it's taking the shape it needs to. It's kinda the same thing, I guess.
Obviously your methods work great, because I love your work and the variety it takes. I have seen a lot of sellers like you, but none with such a great diversity. It's hard to make something so small look so different from one another but I have to say you nail it every time. Not only that, but it's accurate. *-*

Ahh thank you so much! And no problem, I love talking about crafty things!