INKED:Your mother comes across as a very strong woman on the show.

Mariah: That’s always been how my mom is. That’s how my sister and I were raised to act. My mom is the epitome of a pit bull: She’s extremely strong, she’s nice when she needs to be, she’s mean when she needs to be. She just has this strength that a pit bull has, and she won’t apologize for who she is or what we are.

INKED:At the same time, she wouldn’t have started this organization without being a forgiving, nurturing person.

Tania: My mom is absolutely a forgiving person—sometimes too forgiving.

INKED: Is she as patient with the two of you as she is with the dogs? Tania: It’s always different when you’re the child, way different. How did she react to your tattoos?

Tania: There were a few that she wasn’t happy about. She wasn’t too pleased with the ankh next to my eye, but she got over it. Right now I’m working on a sleeve at Great American Tattoo Company, and I think my mom is more on board with that one.

Mariah: I got my first one when I was, like, 14 or 15. It was the ankh on my ankle. The next one I got when I has 16—it’s the one across my stomach that says, “Pirate’s life for me.”