With all this talk about lost dogs and breeders not allowing their dogs to wear collars, I am considering getting my dog's ears tatooed but don't know where to take my dogs. The other problem is trying to get them to hold still while someone does the tatooing. It's one thing to have them hold still long enough to get a quick eye cerf but to expect the dog to hold still while someone is tatooing them is a quite another story.

How much does it generally cost ? Do the tatoos work like the microchips where they tatoo a number and letter combination and then you register that tatoo like you would a microchip ?

Ideally the dog's name and phone number of the owner for quick recovery back to owers but then if you change cell phones or home phone, then what ?? That system can't work too good.

When we have our dog sitter come over to take care of my dogs, and I fear putting collars on them, all he has to do is lift up each dog's ear to check tatoo and know which dog is which so he can put them in their individual crate at night time. With all yellows in my house, my dog sitter has problems figuring out who is who so last time I had him out to dog sit, I had to make color copies of each dog and attach it to their own crate. Even then, he had problems as all my girls look very similar to one another.

My dogs are tatooed on the inside of their groins. Both are done with their reg. number.

I do puppies at 6 weeks with a clamp style tattooer, in the ear. We are in Canada, so we can obtain a registered tattoo combination from the CKC. It's composed of a 3 letter/number combo that they issue you, then you assign each puppy a number in the litter, and then there is a letter assigned to each year, so every dog can be identified down to year of birth. So in total, you have a 5 or 6 character tattoo (depends on how many puppies you breed in a year).

With an older pup or dog, I have a friend do a pen tattoo in the groin while we arrange some helpers to keep the dog on it's side for the job.

You could also have it done at the vet's under a light anesthetic or sedation, if the dog to be done is really feisty.

Forgot to mention, with the CKC's tattoo registry, it's easy to trace a found dog if it has a tattoo. Without a registry, I can see your dogs' tattoos are going to be very long/large, if you have to put phone #, registration #'s, dogs' name, etc......

Maybe you could use your kennel name or it's abbraviation, and assign a number to each dog? 1, 2, 3.....12, 13, etc? for ease of identifying each dog for the sitter?

What a great idea about using my kennel name only I can have my www. website tattoed and assign each dog a #, starting off with 0 and go up !! Then I can write each dog's number on a piece of paper onto of each dog's crate.

I was thinking, I could use my oldest daughter's friend who is a fabulous tatoo artist ! I could find a really good naturopathic type supplement for calming the dog's nerves before he comes over for the tattooing session.

Most people who find lost dogs have computers these days and if they don't they probably have a friend or relative who does and they can get ahold of me right away.

How many people think to check the inside of a stray dog's ears anyway ?

Hi Tattoo Too ! Where can a breeder purchase one of these Clamp style tattoo devices ? Would I still be able to tattoo my website on the inside of my dog's ears ? I'm trying to envision one of those Clamp devices and what they look like and how they work. Thanks for all your ideas folks !!

I did my puppy as as she grew I can barely read the tattoo.

I suppose it's like human tattoos and you have to go in for retouches from time to time.

Maybe I should run all my dogs into our local barber to get their names all buzz shaved across their back once a month !!

Hi back, Tattoo Lady! I purchased mine through the CKC Store, but I'd bet you can get them at any livestock store/supplier; I believe mine is actually for tattooing rabbits, as they do come in different sizes. it is made by Ketchum Manufacturing Inc. Ear Tattooers. Model 50D . They look like a pair of wide pliers.

The smaller the size, the more characters the clamp will hold. Each character (letter or number) is a separate die and fits into the tattoo 'forcep'; when you have all the characters lined up, you close a locking bar to hold them in place in the clamp. So, the size I have will hold 6 characters. You buy the characters all individually, and the pins are stainless steel and easy to disinfect between uses. I use paste ink, Ketchum brand.

Here is a pic of one I found, although mine uses smaller characters - http://cgi.ebay.com/TATTOO-PLIER-Identification-Marking-LIVESTOCK-Supplies_W0QQitemZ130007996252QQihZ003QQcategoryZ53059QQcmdZViewItem

I guess if you ran out of room in one ear, you could always utilize the other ear for even just the number of the dog???

As for them being unreadable as the dog grows, if they are done properly (deeply enough) this will not be a problem. Mine have remainded clear and visible until the dogs' old age demise; my vet often comments on how nice and clear they are......this is why I prefer to do them on young puppies - they are more easily held by my husband so I can get a good deep clamp on those ears. Causes less pain and trauma to them than a sibling clamped on to their lip and shaking and pulling -- the tattooing only takes a few seconds. With an adult dog, just make sure you have enough helpers to hold the dog securely so they can't pull away with you still clamped on their ear; it's no worse than an ear-pinch in force-fetching!

I think if you are doing older pup to take it to the vet to do it. Give them some gas to relax them enough not to wiggle.

I have my kennel name on all my dogs. Even the rescues. :)

All my dogs have been, and are, tattooed. One thing I'd like to mention is that many, at least in my area, agencies (veterinarians, law enforcement, rescues, etc.) do not know about tattoos, but DO know about microchips.

Also, if you do tattoo, I would suggest doing it in the groin area and have it done by somebody who is used to doing dogs. I've had one Canadian dog whose tattoo (in the ear) was not legible by the time she was 4. Her breeder, who lives in Canada, said many times that she would rather do the groin area because they seemed to last longer. She had several dogs whose ear tattoos were not legible at various stages of age.

If you decide to tattoo, be aware that there is National Dog Registry who actually registers your dogs for a one-time "member" fee of $35.00 (at least that is what it was about 6 years ago). They advertise that they help you find your dog should it be lost. However, they did NOTHING when I called in to report that Mimic had been lost. So, I'm not sure it's worth it, but you are now aware of that organization.

I've assisted at several tattoo clinics that our club has held, and have also assisted the woman we used at our clinics. Most dogs do not object very strongly to this procedure, and it seldom has taken us more than two people to hold a dog still.

I had a black bitch tattoed on the belly. Black on black. Didin't work. Ears for me with human tattoo pen. Microchips also is good idea. Tags on collars when out with them on. If I could teach them to speak I would do that too!
:)

I used to Tattoo for Tattoo -A- pet along time ago.They used to be in Ny. But they are still in business. I don't tattoo for them anymore.But for $250.00 you can be an agent/or to register your dogs. and they will give you a decent Marker pen. Not sure if it's the same one I had 12 yrs ago. But it is for the inner thigh or belly area. We used green or red ink on black dogs and was visible. I do know a couple of dogs did get lost i tattooed for others that were registed with them. and the dogs were found very quickly and returned to the owners.

The dogs don't seem to mind. Matter of fact I wish i could find another marker like that.

I bought a couple dogs from a canadian breeder who said her vet belly tattoo's her dogs the tattoo was suppose to be guaranteed to never wear off. MMM it didn't take 2 mos for it to disapear.
I have a couple other dogs who came with ear tattoos they are still very visible and those dogs are 5 or older.
I'm just the opposite out where i live.The law enforcement don't know anything about chips /tattoos.. Our vet doesn't have a scanner.But they know to check for a tattoo and usually call me to figure out where the dog might have come from.
We prefer to ear tattoo.

I had a lot of dogs tatrooed and they did fade over time to the point of being unreadable. The person who did them was excellent and did many clinics. I have no doubt the tattoes were well done. They just did not hold up. Now I am using microchips.

I had once heard that people who steal dogs will cut a dog's ear off so it can't be identified. Is that still a concern?

I know about 8-10 years ago, around here, there were people that would steal anything left out in the yard. Even had peoples' hunting dogs stolen and come up weeks later as strays. Just wonder if that is still a major concern, at least in SE Michigan?

I just got a puppy and discovered a tattoo.
How do I now ID the pup? are only purebreds
tattooed? Thanks for your time in educating me
in this area.

I second FV's comment regarding thieves cutting off a dog's ear, and therefore its tattoo. People who steal dogs used to bait/train fighting dogs do this regularly so the dog can't be traced.

Best to go with a tattoo on the groin. If the dog is black, you can get a green fluorescent ink that I've seen successfully used.

And having a microchip "backed up" by a tattoo is a good idea. Microchips CAN fail, although not often; the tattoo is there for good even if it does fade out/blurr over time.

I just did a 15 mo old pup ear tattoo. My dogs are quite calm and no sediation is required.If you have a long kennel name no way you can get it in the ear.
5 letters or numbers all you will get on there.
Unless you find a marker tattooer and do inside the thigh.Then you can put whatever you want there.