What other dog owners chose, and why we ask
Deciding what happens after your dog dies can feel lonely. These short, anonymous polls show what other readers chose, set beside published research so you can see the bigger picture.
- One tap to answer, fully anonymous
- Live results after you vote
- Questions drawn from real dilemmas
Why we run them
Why a few quick questions can help when you're deciding
Most of the choices around a dog's death are made once or twice in a lifetime, so almost nobody has a feel for what's normal. Is it strange to want your dog's toy cremated with them? Do most people bring the ashes home? Is a goodbye at home unusual? Seeing how others answered doesn't tell you what to do, but it can take away the worry that you're the only one who feels this way.
Every poll is anonymous and takes one tap. Browse them below, answer the ones that fit your situation, and skip anything that feels too close right now. The questions are written for dog owners specifically, so they deal with things like carrying a heavy dog to the car, choosing an urn for a breed, or whether a collar goes with them. If you share a home with other animals too, our general questions on cost, memorials and grief sit alongside the dog-specific ones.
Browse every poll
How dog owners handle the goodbye, the cremation and what they keep afterwards.
For your dog, would you choose private or communal cremation?
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Where did (or would) you say goodbye to your dog?
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What would you most want to keep from your dog?
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Would you send a favourite toy or blanket with your dog?
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If you have a large or giant breed, what worries you most about aftercare?
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Is your dog a senior? Have you thought about aftercare yet?
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Were children part of your dog's goodbye?
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Which urn style would suit your dog best?
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When your dog died, who did you call first?
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What will you do (or did you do) with your dog's ashes?
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How are you paying (or planning to pay) for your dog's aftercare?
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Which part of your dog's daily routine do you miss most?
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Reading the numbers
How to read our poll results sensibly
The results update live as readers vote, and each person can vote once per question. They are not a scientific survey. The people answering are visitors to a dog cremation guide, often in the middle of a loss, so they're not a random slice of all dog owners. Treat the numbers as a conversation, not a statistic.
Where good research exists, we put it beside the poll so you can compare. For example, UK regulators investigating vet services found that 89%[1] of owners who bought a pet cremation never compared providers. If our readers answer differently, that probably says more about who reads guides like ours than about owners in general. The live results page explains the counting in more detail.
68% cremation; 32% burial[2]
The goodbye
Questions about where and how people say goodbye
Some of our questions look at the hours before cremation: where the goodbye happened, who was there, and whether children took part. These choices shape how people remember the day. Research shows most dog deaths are planned to some extent: in the US Dog Aging Project, 83.0%[3] of recorded dog deaths were by euthanasia, so families often have a say in the setting.
Were children part of your dog's goodbye?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
The question about children tends to stir the most feeling. There's no correct answer. Some parents want children present so the loss feels real, while others protect younger kids from the moment itself and include them in a ritual afterwards. In the RSPCA's pet-loss survey, 93.4%[4] of parents said they wanted better guidance on helping children through it. Our farewell planner can help you shape a small ritual that children can join.
The decision
Questions about cremation type, ashes and keepsakes
Other polls ask about the practical choices: private or communal cremation, what you'd do with the ashes, what kind of urn fits your dog, and which small keepsake you'd want most. The answers help us decide which topics need more explaining on our services page and in our guides.
What would you most want to keep from your dog?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
These are the questions where published research is thinnest. Large surveys tell us roughly how many owners choose cremation (putting the UK and US findings together, our estimate is about two in three, with roughly 30% choosing burial[5]), but very little about what they keep, where ashes end up, or how people split them between family. If you'd like to see how much ash your own dog would leave for keepsakes, try the ashes sharing planner.
Money and feelings
Questions about cost, planning ahead and grief
A few polls ask about money, like how you're paying for aftercare or whether you compared prices, and a few ask how you're coping. Money questions matter because cost is a common worry. Grief questions matter because pet loss is often brushed aside; the RSPCA pet-loss survey found only 13.4%[6] of bereaved owners felt fully understood by the people around them.
If a grief question lands hard, take a break. The grief check-in is a private place to reflect, and our writing on grief after losing a dog has ideas for the first weeks.
A poll can't tell you what to do. It can tell you that other people stood exactly where you're standing.
After you vote
What to do with what you've seen
If the polls have helped you narrow things down, the next step is usually a price. Our cremation cost calculator gives a range for your dog's size, and a short request gets you real local options by email. If you'd like to see all live numbers in one place, head to the results board.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
Were children part of your dog's goodbye?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What would you most want to keep from your dog?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What was the hardest part of losing your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Questions people ask
Are the dog aftercare polls anonymous?
Yes. We don't ask for your name or email to vote, and results are shown only as totals. One vote per person per question is counted so the numbers aren't skewed by repeat clicks. Nothing you choose in a poll is linked to a contact request.
What happens if I vote on the same poll twice?
Only your first vote counts. If you try again, the poll simply shows you the current results and a short note that you've already answered. That keeps the totals honest, so answer the way that's true for you now rather than the way you think you ought to feel.
Why don't you show results before I vote?
Seeing the results first tends to nudge people toward the popular answer. Asking you to choose first keeps the numbers closer to what readers really think. After you vote, the full live results appear straight away, and the results page shows every poll together.
Can I suggest a poll question?
Please do. Some of our questions came from things owners told us they wished they'd known, like whether toys can go with a dog. Send your idea through the contact form and include why it mattered to you.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 89% of UK owners who bought a pet cremation did not compare different providers; 9% did. UK Competition and Markets Authority - Veterinary services for household pets, Provisional decision report Part A (Oct 2025), 2025.
- [2] In a US survey of 2,043 dog and cat owners who had made end-of-life decisions, 68% had made a cremation decision and 32% a burial decision for at least one past pet. Cooney, Kogan, Brooks, Ellis - Pet Owners' Expectations for Pet End-of-Life Support and After-Death Body Care, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2020), 2020.
- [3] In the Dog Aging Project, 83.0% of 646 US dog deaths (Dec 2019-Mar 2021) were by euthanasia. Dog Aging Project End of Life Survey - Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2026), via PubMed Central, 2026.
- [4] 93.4% of parents in the RSPCA survey wanted better guidance on helping children through pet loss. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
- [5] UK and US survey evidence converges on roughly two-thirds of bereaved owners choosing cremation (UK 67%; US 68% ever) and about 29-32% choosing burial. Our estimate: mean(67, 68) = 67.5; burial range 29% (UK) to 32% (US). How we calculate.
- [6] Only 13.4% of bereaved pet owners felt fully understood by others. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
Ready to look at real options?
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.