Dog Memorial Tattoo

Dogs Are Amazing!

Dogs are amazing creatures, our private confidants, and for most people, our best friends. They never judge, and they never fear. Our own personal warrior, ready to fight our emotional and physical battles if we need them to.

A dog has a fantastic sense of empathy and reads emotion better than most humans do. That’s why they make such brilliant therapy dogs. You can ease the stress of a hard day with a cuddle from your best friend, or get outside for a walk and watch your dog interact with the world in a stress-free way. They’ve got a lot to teach us about being present.

Why Can’t They Stay Forever?

But (and this is the big but) they aren’t with us forever. We’re around for the whole of a dog’s life, while a dog is only around for part of ours. At some stage, nature and ideally a grand old age will call, and they cross the ‘Rainbow Bridge’ to run free as the free spirits they always were.

• Dogs are amazing
• Dogs are explorers
• Dogs are friends
• Dogs are security
• Dogs are daft
• Our four-legged amigo
• Our personal shadow

Getting A Memorial Tattoo For Your Dog

The hope and the goal is that they let go at a grand old age, peacefully, with no discomfort. And when they go, there’s a huge void in your life. The shadow that’s disappeared. The space on the sofa, still ruffled from their nesting before sleep. The half-hour of the day that used to be their walk. When they leave, they take a piece of your heart with them.

To soften the blow, and to help with the grieving, plenty of people get a tattoo of their dog to remind them of the best friend they’ll always hold dear. The wider story of why people do this is on our dog ashes into tattoo ink parent page, and the practical side of the ink is on our dog ashes in tattoo ink page.

Dog Ashes Tattoo

Some people take a more determined route and go for a dog ashes tattoo, a tattoo that has the dog’s ashes infused into the actual ink. This gives a different kind of comfort, the knowledge that they’re not just remembered in the tattoo, they’re literally part of it. With you, every day, for the rest of your life.

Whether it’s a set of paw prints, a portrait, their name, a silhouette, the fact you’ve got a permanent visual reminder reinforces the bond that was between you and them. And with our ashes-infused tattoo ink with ashes, the design carries a part of them inside it too. Having their feet pressed into moulds or copies taken from them while they’re still alive means you can have an exact copy of your pet’s feet tattooed onto you. A unique fingerprint, in dog form.

Paw Print Tattoos

A paw print is one of the most popular designs people pick. There’s something about the simplicity of it. The shape of their foot, exactly as it was, sitting on your skin for life. No two paw prints are the same, just like no two fingerprints are.

Some people get the paw print copied after the dog has passed, with help from the pet crematorium. Many crematoriums will gladly take a print before cremation if you ask, sometimes in clay, sometimes in ink, sometimes both. Scanned to protect the original print, your tattoo artist can recreate it perfectly on you.

Others want to be braver about it and capture the print while the dog is still around. This isn’t being macabre. We all understand that a dog will pass before us, so a print taken now is just preparing in advance, and you get the bonus of a story to tell about how it went. Which brings us to…

Getting Your Dog’s Paw Print, In Theory

To do it properly, get some blank wallpaper and line a floor with it. Move all the things you hold dear out of the room. Children. The special vase your mum bought you. The rest. This is going to be carnage, particularly if your dog is something like a Great Dane.

Now that everything’s lined, get some kids’ acrylic paint (the washable kind), have a bath ready for after, warn the family, and prepare yourself. Place the dog’s paw pads in the paint (a small roller tray works better than a pot), then just let them walk around. One of the paw prints on the floor will be a beauty to use for your tattoo design.

That’s the theory.

Getting Your Dog’s Paw Print, In Reality

You grab the paw gently. The dog suspects you’re up to something and starts wrestling like a snake has got hold of them. You’re still being ever so polite about it, saying things like “good boy” while you try to get their foot near the paint. The foot’s in. But it’s gone right in the paint, and the dog’s onto you now, big time.

You and your dog are now locked in a wrestling match of paint-soaked paws. You’re trying to stop the paint getting everywhere. The paint’s gone over the dog. The dog’s flown off and is now doing everything in their power to avoid you, like you’ve just dipped their paw in a bag of sharks. The kids want to know how it’s going on the other side of the door. You’re now trying to stop the kids getting in, while also trying not to make the situation worse, while the dog is putting paint prints on every surface in the house.

You’ve failed.

This is the moment to give up. The wrestling paint-soaking king has your number. The kids are crying. There’s paint everywhere. Let the dog out, and if you look over your furniture, the sideboards, or even down at your own jumper, you should find a perfectly serviceable paw print to use.

Ninja Time

Or you can do it at night, like a ninja. The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to extract a single paw print without your dog noticing. If you get one, hold it dear, because that’s one hell of a day you’ve had. And when you turn it into a tattoo, you’ll always remember the afternoon you got the design that reminds you of your professional wrestling four-legged friend.

Either way, you end up with a design that no one else in the world has. It’s just yours and theirs. When you take the print and your bottle of ashes-infused ink to your tattoo artist, what you get back is a paw print on your skin made with their actual ashes inside it. The closest you can get to keeping them with you, every day, for the rest of your life.

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. Or contact us first if you’d like to talk through anything. Your local tattoo artist takes care of the design, and your dog comes with you, for life.

What’s the most popular dog memorial tattoo design?

Paw prints are the most popular by a clear margin. They’re personal, unique to your dog, and they translate beautifully into a tattoo. Portraits and the dog’s name in clean lettering come close behind, often paired with the dates they were with you below.

How do I get a paw print of my dog?

A few options. Most pet crematoriums will gladly take a print before cremation, either in clay or in ink, if you ask. If your dog is still with you, you can capture one at home with kids’ acrylic paint and a sheet of wallpaper (with or without your dog’s cooperation, which is half the experience). Some vets keep clay kits behind the counter for exactly this reason.

Can my tattoo artist recreate a paw print exactly?

Yes. A good tattoo artist will scan or photograph your original print and recreate it precisely on your skin, so the original stays safe at home with you. The paw print on your skin becomes an exact match of your dog’s real foot, a one-of-a-kind fingerprint in dog form.

Should I get the paw print done before or after the dog passes?

Whichever feels right. Many owners take a print while their dog is still with them, partly because it’s easier and partly because the process itself often becomes a memory worth keeping. Others wait and have the crematorium take it. Neither way is wrong.

Can my dog’s ashes really be infused into the paw print tattoo?

Yes, and this is exactly what Cremation Ink ® was built for. We take a small amount of your dog’s ashes, prepare and sterilise them properly in our UK lab, then infuse them into high quality professional tattoo ink. The finished bottle is sent to you, and your tattoo artist uses it to create your paw print tattoo. The result holds a real, physical part of your dog inside the design.

Why can’t my local tattoo artist mix the ashes in themselves?

Any reputable tattoo studio would never put raw ashes into ink at the counter. A tattoo studio is not built for the lab work involved in safely preparing cremation remains, and doing this work in a studio is not safe for the client. Cremation Ink ® was set up specifically to handle this preparation properly off-site, so the bottle that reaches your local artist is ready to use the same way they would use any other quality professional tattoo ink.

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

About a tablespoon per bottle of ashes tattoo ink. Anything Cremation Ink ® doesn’t use in the infusion is returned to you alongside the finished bottle, so the rest of your dog’s ashes stay with you.

What other designs work well for a dog memorial tattoo?

Plenty of options. A portrait, a silhouette, their name in your own handwriting, a meaningful quote, a date, a small symbol like a heart or a bone. Some people choose a piece of landscape that mattered, like the route of the walk you did together every day, with a paw print in the foreground. The best dog memorial tattoos tend to be the most personal, so trust what feels true to who they were.

Will a paw print tattoo hurt much?

About the same as any tattoo. The pain level depends more on where on your body the tattoo is placed than on what the design is. Forearms, calves and upper arms tend to be more comfortable spots than ribs, ankles or feet.

Can I use the Cremation Ink ® bottle for more than one tattoo?

Yes. The bottle is professional tattoo ink, so at your artist’s discretion it can be used across several tattoos, the same way any artist uses ink across multiple clients in a sitting. That’s especially useful when more than one family member wants a matching paw print to remember the same dog by.