Paw print keepsakes in Dublin
About 1,500 households in Dublin lose a dog or cat each year, by our estimate. A clear paw print, taken at home or by your vet, is often the keepsake people are most glad to have.
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Dublin, Ohio
Paw print keepsakes in Dublin: where to start
Many Dublin neighborhoods have homeowners' associations with rules about what can go in a yard. A low, flat stone tucked into an established planting bed usually passes without any fuss, whereas a statue or upright marker might not. Central Ohio's freeze-thaw winters split cheap concrete, so granite, slate or a piece of Ohio sandstone is the better long-term choice for a garden spot.
Because a lot of Dublin households came here for jobs and may move again, memorials that pack easily are popular. A handsome urn for a bookcase, a pendant with a pinch of ash, a nose print pressed into clay: each goes wherever the family goes. When a grown child who lives out of state also wants a share, confirm the total volume with your provider before choosing sizes.
There may be no ceramic studio or engraver in Dublin, but that matters less than it used to. Most jewelry, engraving and print-art makers work from a photo or scan of the print, sent by email, and post the finished piece back. Photograph your print flat in daylight, keep the original safe at home and shop around online without sending anything irreplaceable.
With roughly 49,094 residents, Dublin is the 18th-largest of the 106 Ohio communities we cover. The nearest larger centre is Columbus, about 13 miles (21 km) away, which is where some providers serving Dublin are based.
The closest communities we cover are Powell (5 miles), Hilliard (5 miles) and Upper Arlington (7 miles). Providers serving those towns often travel to Dublin too, so it can be worth asking them for a quote.
Our estimate
18,000
Dublin: dog- or cat-owning households, our estimate
How we calculated this
49,094 ÷ 2.5 = 19,638 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 18,000. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
1,500
Estimated dog and cat losses in Dublin each year
How we calculated this
18,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 1,500 a year. Treat it as a minimum.
53%[1]
53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households.
12.69 years[2]
US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years.
39%[3]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[4]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
The numbers above come from American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, if you'd like to read the original sources.
Burial, cremation and paw prints in Ohio
About 59.1%[5] of people in Ohio are cremated, so cremation and burial are both common. Pet owners are split the same way: some bury at home or in a pet cemetery, others choose cremation. Either way, a print should be taken first. With a burial you usually have more time and can do it yourself; with cremation, ask the vet or crematory when you book.
The Ohio figure comes from NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). It describes people, not pets, so read it as a sign of local attitudes rather than a pet statistic.
Heat, humidity, cold and drying times
With 4 months of freezing average lows, Dublin winters are hard on posted parcels too. If you're sending a clay print away to be cast in metal or scanned for jewelry, wrap it well, avoid shipping over a weekend and send a photo or scan first where the maker accepts one. Then the original never has to leave your warm house at all.
Plaster and cold don't mix well. Plaster sets more slowly in a cold room, and if the water in it freezes before it cures, the cast turns chalky and crumbles. In January, February, March and December, mix plaster with lukewarm water, let it set somewhere warm indoors and never leave a curing cast in a car, porch or shed overnight. The same goes for air-dry clay.
What paw print keepsakes cost in Dublin
If you'd like the print framed with a lock of fur, one Northeast crematory network charges $133 for that combination and $23 for a fur clipping on its own[6]. Some water cremation providers bundle a print in too: an Arizona aquamation service includes an ink paw print in individual packages from $75 to $349[7]. In Dublin, it's worth asking every provider what comes with the package before adding extras.
The full price table by product is on our Ohio page, and the services page explains what each option includes.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
What the law in Ohio does and doesn't cover
Burial rules in many places, including Ohio, exist partly because the drugs used in euthanasia stay in the body and can harm wildlife or other pets that dig. A print carries none of those concerns, which is why no one regulates it. If you're choosing between a home burial and cremation, the notes below cover what's allowed here; take the print before either.
Not sure which office covers Dublin? The Ohio local government directory is the official list.
For Ohio's rules on burying a pet at home or scattering ashes, see the Ohio guide. Local rules in Dublin can be stricter than the state's, especially in homeowners' associations and rentals.
What to do first, and what can wait
- If your pet dies while you're away from home, phone whoever has them, the kennel, the sitter or a nearby vet, and ask for two things first: that your pet is kept cool, and that a paw print is taken.
- Ask them to photograph the print and send it to you, so you know it's clear.
- Decide whether to bring your pet home instead of arranging cremation locally; the print goes with you either way.
- Ask for ink rather than clay if the print will be posted to you. A flat card survives the mail far better than damp clay.
- If you're driving home with your pet, keep them cool and take your own print when you arrive, before burial or collection.
- Keep names, numbers and receipts for everyone involved, so everything can be matched up later.
Keeping the print and the memory close
A bio urn paired with a native sapling, perhaps a flowering dogwood, a serviceberry or a swamp white oak, suits a Dublin backyard. The Irish heritage the city celebrates also draws some families to plant a small ornamental tree in a shady corner. Plant in April or October, water deeply every week of the first summer, and check your HOA's front-yard rules first.
Compare every option on our services page, or compare your instinct with the poll results, there are guides for the big decisions and articles for the details, try the free planning tools. Close to Dublin we also cover Cincinnati, Columbus, Akron and Cleveland; the full list for Ohio and for the United States is a click away.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
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When did (or will) you take your pet's print?
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What worries you most about taking a print yourself?
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If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
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Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Paw print keepsake chooser
Match a print method to your pet's size, fur and the keepsake you want to keep.
Jewelry ash capacity guide
How much ash fits in pendants, rings and glass, and how many pieces one pet can fill.
Questions people ask
Is Dublin big enough to have several pet aftercare providers?
Probably, on the numbers. By our estimate about 18,000 Dublin households keep a dog or cat and around 1,500 lose one each year, which is enough steady demand to support more than one provider. We derive that from population (about 49,094), household size and national ownership and lifespan figures.
Will I have to travel to Columbus to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Columbus (roughly 13 miles from Dublin) collect from here as a matter of routine, and the paperwork is done by email or phone. If you want to be present for a witnessed cremation, that is when the drive matters.
How does Dublin's weather affect pet aftercare?
July is the hottest month in Dublin, with average highs around 85°F, so prompt collection matters most then. Average lows drop below freezing in January, February, March and December, which can make digging a grave hard until spring.
Is cremation common in Ohio?
For people, yes: about 59.1%[5] of Ohio deaths end in cremation, according to NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes the same figure for pets, but in our experience pet choices in Dublin follow the human pattern closely, so cremation is the default most families here start from.
Why take a paw print in Dublin if I already have plenty of photos?
Photos show what your pet looked like; a print records something you touched every day, at actual size. We estimate Dublin has around 18,000 dog- or cat-owning homes and loses about 1,500 of those pets a year. Most of those owners have hundreds of photos. The difference is that photos can be found later, while a print only exists if someone makes it before the body is cremated or buried, which is why it's worth doing first.
Who else can take a paw print if my vet in Dublin doesn't?
Several people can. The crematory that serves Dublin normally makes one when your pet arrives. A mobile or home-visit vet may carry a kit. A groomer who knows your pet can tidy the paw fur and help you take one on a good day. And you can do it yourself with air-dry clay and a pet-safe ink pad from a craft store. What matters is that it happens before cremation or burial.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [4] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [5] The NFDA projected Ohio's cremation rate at 59.1% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Final Gift charges $49 for ink paw prints, $76 for a clay or silver-clay paw print, $111 framed, and $133 framed with a fur clipping; a fur clipping alone costs $23. Final Gift Pet Memorial Center – Memorial Products, 2026.
- [7] A Greener Place in Mesa, Arizona, charges $75–$349 for individual pet aquamation by weight, including an urn, nameplate and ink paw print. A Greener Place Pet Aquamation – Pricing, 2026.
- [8] The median price multiple of private (ashes returned) over communal cremation across 8 markets is about 2.0x, ranging from 1.25x (Tokyo) to 5.2x (Auckland). Our estimate: median(private_price / communal_price) same weight band: US CareCredit 51-70 lb midpoints (250/75) = 3.33x; Auckland 15-25 kg (445/85) = 5.24x; Norway 1-20 kg (3790/1190) = 3.18x; Singapore 10-20 kg (480/260) = 1.85x; Ontario 25-250 lb (549/279) = 1.97x; Tokyo 20-30 kg (38500/30800) = 1.25x; France 20 kg midpoints (200/95) = 2.11x; Germany range midpoints (270/145) = 1.86x. How we calculate.
Tell us about your pet's print
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.