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Original poster

What Did You Do With Your Dog's Ashes?

30 replies

FiveHoursSleep · 04/09/2012 18:53

The Old Boy's Ashes are at the vets and I have to go and pick them up this week.
I don't know what to do with them :(
What have others done?

OP posts:
honeydragon · 04/09/2012 19:27

We have buried them in the garden in her spot. It will be hard leaving when we have to move - but she will take good care of the new residents.

YouveCatToBeKittenMe · 04/09/2012 19:29

I have 3 boxes of ashes on top of my bookcase in the lounge Blush
I don't know what to do with them. The first dog died in 2004!
I might scatter them along their walk one day.

Jellykat · 04/09/2012 19:37

Sorry to hear that FHS Sad

Not his ashes, but him and his blanket are buried in my garden, next to where i sit, and i have planted a big beautiful garden full of flowers.

When he died i had a thread, on which a MNer posted that her friend had taken her dogs ashes and sprinkled them along their favourite walk, which sounded like a lovely idea too.

Original poster
FiveHoursSleep · 04/09/2012 19:38

The OB didn't have a favourite spot in the garden. He liked to sleep next to my side of the bed. Would it be weird to put them there for a bit?
He had lots of favourite walks- I wonder if you can divide ashes up?

OP posts:
Jellykat · 04/09/2012 19:49

Not weird at all, my boy is as near to my back door as possible because he was scared of the dark! but if i had ashes i'd of put them in the same place as you for a while, as he slept next to me as well..

Happydaze · 04/09/2012 20:07

Am really sorry for you, it's so sad to have to collect your old boy for one last time Sad

We picked up our boy's ashes last week, I drove home with him by my side, had a few words with him as we drove home which I actually found very comforting, talking to him, not just about him ...

He is currently lying by the fireside which was his favourite spot and I think in the spring we will bury him under his favourite tree, a cherry blossom, which is beautiful when it flowers ... He loved sleeping under it ..

I am sure wherever you decide it will be the absolute best for you and your boy and if he slept by your bed then yes, if you want let him carry on sleeping by your bed for as long as you need x

queenrollo · 04/09/2012 20:07

yes you can split the ashes if you aren't going to be upset at doing so. They are fine dust. We buried our old girl in the garden but old boy was too big for us to manage so we had his ashes instead. We planned (and now have) to put fruit trees on that patch so they have a particular tree each, and we buried most of his ashes where we have put his tree. DS (who was 6 then) really wanted to scatter some along our regular walk though so all three of us took a handful and spread it at various points on the walk.
If it comforts you to keep them at your bedside for a while then do that.
I'm sorry for your loss. It will be a year soon since we lost our boy and I can still remember how hard those early days and weeks and were.

TheWalkingDead · 04/09/2012 20:14

Sorry to hear about the loss of your Old Boy, FiveHoursSleep Sad

My parents have a lovely box with a small plaque and the name of their dog engraved on it. He was their first, and probably think he will be their only dog, and he has pride of place on a shelf with a lovely framed photo by the box. He died at the beginning of the year and it would have been his 13th birthday today.

Thinking of you FiveHoursSleep

Lonecatwithkitten · 04/09/2012 21:02

We took the ashes of the dog that came before to 'Bigwigs' tree the only place she was truly free and scatter.

ChocDee · 05/09/2012 08:32

Hi. I am so sorry for your loss, I know it hurts like mad.
I am a keen pottery person so a part of me saying goodbye was making a a pecial urn for Ike which I decorated with lots of trees in full bloom as that was the season when he died.

No one would know it is an urn but we do and it sits pride of place in a display cabinet. When we left our old house we took some of his ashes into the garden. It felt like a nice thing to do.

I will be thinking of you.

stowsettler · 05/09/2012 12:21

So sorry for your losing your OB. I'm sat here sobbing in work Blush

I have no idea what I'll do when my terrierists check out. If I'm honest, at the moment I'd be tempted to do what ChocDee suggests. With instructions, when I pop my own clogs, that they come with me to wherever they scatter me Blush Blush

takingthestairs · 05/09/2012 15:14

Sorry for your loss FiveHoursSleep
I'm going to scatter my bichon's ashes by a place that I used to go on holidays to and that I'd been to lots of times with her. It's where I got married (she was there too!) and where I've been on lots of holidays with my family and her. The staff used to dote on her too.
She loved it there, but I'll be spreading her her ashes by the orchards and fields rather than the lake because she hated water. It might sound silly but it works for me.

SheilaWheeler · 05/09/2012 21:37

My collie's ashes are still in our bedroom, 15 months later. I like to have a chat now and then.

reddaisy · 05/09/2012 21:39

We put our collie's ashes into a big flowerpot and planted flowers in it. I am glad we did as she moved with us a year later.

reddaisy · 05/09/2012 21:40

Sheila, I haven`t had a dog for years but I would love another collie. Ours was a red one and she was the best dog we have ever had. I still miss her six years on.

reddaisy · 05/09/2012 21:40

And so sorry for you loss OP. It is so hard losing a pet.

SecretNutellaMedallist · 05/09/2012 21:42

Our old girl's ashes are in a carved wooden box in my mothers bedroom. Still miss her nearly 2 years on. Would love another collie, but circumstances don't allow.

Canidae · 09/09/2012 16:07

My terrier's ashes are in a wooden box in a cabinet in the living room. Her collar/tags are placed on top.

whojamaflip · 09/09/2012 16:10

My old girls ashes have been sitting on the top of our kitchen cupboards for the last 10 years Blush

The intention is to buy a fruit tree and bury her underneath when we finally get round to it

However, there is a chance we will have to move from here and I will want to take her with us.........

Catsmamma · 09/09/2012 16:16

Lily's ashes are buried in the garden, where we used to have a rosemary bush, she was a bugger for hiding her poo and she especially liked to assume the position and back up into this bush. We have a wee cairn of stones over the top.

I still have Ludo's ashes in the box, they are under my desk, along with my best cat boy's ashes. Second best cat is buried in the front garden, dh never thought to ask about cremation for some reason and once he came home with him it seemed wrong to send him off again.

I think we will make the effort and re dig Lily's grave and add those two over the October holidays.

My mum and dad's dog was cremated and put in a lovely box, when Dad died, Leo's ashes were tucked in with him....so I have to tuck Dad's ashes into Mum's coffin when she dies.

NoWayNoHow · 09/09/2012 16:25

Our boys ashes are buried in the garden under the bush that he used to sleep under when it was too hot for him (he was a chow-lab with A LOT of hair, bless him). Our dog before that died very young and we scattered his ashes in the river where he used to splash on his walk.

caz1967 · 14/07/2017 11:27

Devasted, we had to make a decision to have our baby put to sleep , Monty was 15yrs old, last sunday we had to take him to the emergency vets He was not right and had been quite and not himself a couple of days, then he seemed to be in pain as he was crying and whenever we tried to stoke him he would wince, They gave him a couple of injections and we had to go to the local PDSA the following morning, they examined him and said he seemed to have arthritis in his back legs, and she also said he had a degenerative spinal disc problem, however they did not feel comfortable giving him anti inflammatory injections as with him being so old for a shih Tzu they would need to check his kidney function, Anti inflammatories can damage the kidneys. The following day Tuesday we took him back for a blood test and just a basic pain jab, We went back at teatime when we were told they would be unable to continue any trestment as his score had come back indicatuing his kidneys were in a bad shape, which led us to have to make this horrible decision, I asked if we could have one more night with him which we did, he was so good the evening, and he slept on the bed most of the night due to us falling asleep. However the following day driving him to the vet was the worst 20 minuets of my life. Holding him , cuddling him both myself and my husband were torn apart,, it would of been so easy to of stopped it and bring him home, however we could not have him suffering, You cannot feel good whatever decision you make. Im writing this broken and so deeply upset, trying to find the strength to make the phone call to the vet , we were given till today to inform them of our wishes,, we loved the idea of ashes to glass, into a beautiful paperweight globe, until I found out they only use a teaspoon of ashes, I cannot split his ashes I do not feel its right to do it.. w will probably make the decision to scatter him over my moms grave, she loved him and he loved her she spoilt him. How long is this depth of grief going to be .. we both keep bursting into tears, He was such an integral part of our lives ... Were lost without our baby....

abbey44 · 14/07/2017 11:40

It's heartbreaking to lose your companion, but when my old dog died, I planted her ashes in an outside planter with an olive tree in (she was called Olive, so it seemed appropriate). She's since been joined by my cat's ashes and it means that whenever we move, they can come with us.

Roystonv · 14/07/2017 11:41

Comfort to all those missing their friends - we have 3 boxes and 1 tube (seems to be the latest thing very pretty with a photo of bluebells on) of ashes for our dogs, Sam, Finn, Cassie and Maisie in a drawer and I like to think they chat to each other comparing walks taken and food stolen! Smaller pets are buried in the garden too many to mention (old gimmer here in case you were worrying) but special memories of Royston my ferret and best ever friend.

Clg199 · 14/07/2017 11:52

We scattered both of our dogs ashes in a huge park where they loved to run. We put them in the trees where they chased squirrels.

I was surprisingly unsentimental about the ashes - they both had lovely lives and that's not going to be affected by where we put their ashes. It's something we do for ourselves rather than anyone else, so if you think of somewhere that seems right to you, then why not? I don't mean that to sound harsh, but that thinking made it easier for me to decide what to do.

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