Dog Ashes Into Tattoo Ink

A Look At Placing Dog Ashes Into Tattoo Ink

Remember them for what they showed you about humility, true love, and (most of all) how to destroy a brand new dog bed and get away with it.

Your best four-legged friend has always had a way of pulling at your heart strings, as well as pulling at their lead, so we’ll keep this article thorough but honest, with the good times in mind. Your dog was a part of your life. For them, in most cases, you were their whole life. That’s the bond a dog tattoo with ashes is built to keep.

We’ve placed dog ashes into tattoo ink for hundreds of clients over the years. The reasons are always different, the love is always the same. And tucked inside the story of why we do this is a particular dog called Treo.

Treo And Sergeant Dave Heyhoe

Before we’d even started Cremation Ink ® as a standalone company, and back when we were doing this work out of our tattoo studio in the UK, we became part of a story that went around the world.

Treo was a black Labrador. A military working dog, part of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, attached to Sergeant Dave Heyhoe in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Treo’s job was to find improvised explosive devices, hidden bombs planted by insurgents along the routes used by British and allied troops. He was extraordinary at it. His nose saved lives, more than once, and he was decorated with the PDSA Dickin Medal, often referred to as the animal Victoria Cross, for his service.

Dave wrote a book about him. It’s All About Treo tells the story of their bond in their own words. After Treo retired and came home, Dave often talked about wanting his old friend’s ashes tattooed into his own skin when the time came. As Treo aged and the time finally arrived, Dave came to us.

I knew Treo personally. He used to come round and play with our dogs at home. So when age finally caught up with him, it was a humble day for us as well. We placed his ashes-infused tattoo on Dave’s leg, in the spot where Treo would always sit at heel.

The story was picked up around the world. The Daily Mail covered it. Outlets in Spain, Hungary and the US ran features. Dave still wears the tattoo, and Treo still goes everywhere he does. That bond didn’t end. It just changed shape.

The Loss Of A Dog

It’s hard losing a dog. Some people see them as “just” a dog, and yet the bond between a dog and an owner is loyalty and unconditional love made into a living thing. They are your confidant. No matter what time you walk back through the door, they’re there with happy enthusiasm and a drooling face of love. Their best friend, home again.

Many people share a deeper bond with their dog than they do with the humans closest to them. A dog has no agenda. They’re ready for an adventure whenever you are. They share your walks, your sofa, your bad days, your stupid jokes that no one else laughs at. They guide you into adventures you didn’t know you needed.

When they go, that quiet they leave behind is the loudest thing in the house.

Your Four-Legged Shadow

We’re going to make an honest statement here about your dog. They were amazing. That’s it. We’ve never met a dog owner who didn’t have admiration for their dog, no matter the age. The old saying that you live part of your life in the presence of your dog, while for the dog, it’s their whole life, is one of the truest things ever said about the bond.

They live life to the full. You’re the biggest part of their adventure. And when they’re gone, you want a way to keep them with you that means something. That’s where our tattoo ink with ashes comes in.

Celebrating, Not Mourning

After working with so many clients who’ve lost their dogs, the common theme is that they aren’t getting a dog ashes tattoo to mourn the loss. They’re getting it as a celebration of the life and bond they had together.

Portraits, lead designs, names, paw prints, dog tags, tennis balls, scribbled doodles of their best ridiculous expression. Every design we see is its own personal way of remembering a happy time. Maybe that’s the common thread in dealing with the loss of a four-legged friend. There’s a lifetime of memories wrapped up in that furry ball of fun, and a tattoo lets you carry them somewhere visible, every day.

If you’d like more design inspiration, our sister page on dog memorial tattoo ideas goes into more depth, and the dog ashes tattoo page covers the tattoo experience itself.

Can You Put Dog Ashes In Tattoo Ink?

The simple answer is yes, if they’re processed by Cremation Ink ® first. The principle is the same one we cover in detail on the wider tattoo ink with ashes page.

The cremation process destroys all the DNA in the bone fragments, so the ashes that come back to you are biologically inert in that sense. Many of our clients tell the crematorium beforehand what they’re planning, and the crematorium will often make sure the ashes are processed to a finer, more workable consistency.

Don’t be misled though. Cremation heat doesn’t leave the ashes truly sterile by the time they reach you. Everything that happens after the ashes leave the heated chamber (the cooling, the collection, the milling, the bagging, the urn) is not sterile. There are heavy metals, medicinal trace elements and other contaminants still in there too. That’s why every set of ashes we work with goes through full sterilisation and contaminant removal before they’re anywhere near our pigment. The wider safety story and the legal position are covered in detail on their own pages.

How Your Dog’s Ashes Are Treated

Your dog’s ashes will be carefully handled and respected by our team. Instead of a local tattooist tipping some into the ink pot and hoping “a bit” might end up in the tattoo, your dog’s ashes are handled by one of our experienced technicians. That technician makes sure the ashes are free of toxins, fully sterile, and brought to the right state for true infusion into our tattoo ink.

Once you order online, we send you a kit, you post us a small amount of your dog’s ashes (about a tablespoon), and one of our team takes them through the whole process from start to finish. Any ashes we don’t use are returned to you alongside the finished ink, tracked and signed for, anywhere in the world.

We have vast experience in placing dog ashes into tattoo ink, so if you have any questions, we’re happy to talk you through what’s involved at what’s an emotional time. Get in touch whenever you’re ready.

Press Coverage Of The Treo Tattoo

Treo and Dave’s story was covered widely. Just a small selection of the international press features below:

• Daily Mail — Ex-soldier gets tattoo of ashes of heroic dog
• The Dodo — Veteran honours his service dog
• O Globo, Spain/Brazil — Soldier tattoos ashes of his Afghanistan dog

When you feel ready, you can order your inks here. We’ll send out a kit, walk you through it, and look after the rest. Your dog stays with you, in a way that nothing else can match.

Can you really put dog ashes into tattoo ink?

Yes, when the ashes are processed properly first. Cremation Ink ® sterilises the ashes, removes the heavy metals and medicinal residue, and infuses them into our high quality tattoo pigment in our UK lab. The finished bottle is then a professional dog ashes tattoo ink your local artist can use the same way they would any other quality ink.

Can my tattoo studio just mix my dog’s ashes into ink themselves?

Any reputable tattoo studio would never put raw ashes straight into ink, dog or otherwise. A tattoo studio is not built for the lab work involved in preparing cremation remains, and doing this work in a studio is not safe for the client. Cremation Ink ® was founded to be the UK-based specialist that handles this preparation properly, so by the time the bottle reaches your local artist, your dog’s ashes have already been cleaned, sterilised and properly infused into our pigment.

Who was Treo, and why does his story matter?

Treo was a black Labrador military bomb-detection dog who served with Sergeant Dave Heyhoe in Afghanistan. He saved lives by finding hidden IEDs and was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, for his service. When age caught up with him, Cremation Ink ® tattooed his ashes into Dave’s leg in the spot where Treo always sat at heel. The story was covered around the world and remains one of the most loved examples of why families choose a dog ashes tattoo.

How much of my dog’s ashes do you need?

Only about a tablespoon per bottle of ashes tattoo ink. Anything Cremation Ink ® does not use is returned to you alongside the finished bottle, so the urn at home is not emptied. We track your dog’s ashes against a unique order code from arrival to return, so you get back everything we did not use.

How long does the process take?

From the day your dog’s ashes arrive with Cremation Ink ®, the finished ink is usually ready within five to nine days. We then post it back to you tracked and signed for, anywhere in the world.

Is it safe for my dog’s ashes to go into the ink?

Yes, when Cremation Ink ® has prepared them. People often assume that cremation heat leaves the ashes sterile. It does not. Everything that happens after the ashes leave the heated chamber, the cooling, the collection, the milling, the bagging, is not sterile, and the ashes still contain heavy metals and medicinal trace elements. We remove all of that and sterilise the ashes thoroughly before they are bound into our pigment. By the time the bottle reaches your tattoo artist, the ink is fully safe to use under the skin.

What designs work best for a dog ashes tattoo?

Paw prints, portraits, names in clean lettering, dog tags, lead designs, silhouettes of their breed, a favourite spot they loved on a walk, or a small doodle of their best ridiculous expression. The most personal designs are the ones that bring your dog straight back to mind. Many of our Cremation Ink ® clients tell us their dog memorial tattoo is the one design they were always going to get, the moment lost no longer to “if” but only to “when.”

Can my own local tattoo artist use the dog ashes tattoo ink?

Yes. The Cremation Ink ® bottle behaves like any quality professional tattoo ink, so any good local artist can use it with no special training. They pour the ink into their pot and tattoo you the same way they would for any other piece. The technical work of preparing your dog’s ashes has already been done in our lab.

Do you do this for cats and other pets as well as dogs?

Yes. The Cremation Ink ® process works for any pet. Dogs are the most common, but we have prepared ashes tattoo ink for cats, horses, rabbits, parrots and other companions. The love is the same, and so is the process.

Can I get a paw print from my dog before cremation?

Most pet crematoriums will gladly take a paw print before cremation if you ask. Some do clay impressions, some ink, some both. Your tattoo artist can scan the print and recreate it perfectly onto your skin using the Cremation Ink ® bottle, so the original keepsake stays safely with you.