The American Beagler Forum

Is tattooing a dog's ear easy to do or is it more trouble than it's worth?

i do that way they have my mark on them for life

Does it hurt them enough to make some want to bite or shy away from you for awhile afterward?

Back40 - I have done it to pups when thay are about 5 to 6 months old and they didn't act shy from me after the next day or so! On some hounds it makes they cry a little and some they don't seem affected by it at all.

Good luck and use plenty of ink when you do the tattoo!

Briarcreek Kennel Supplies
David N. Riley II - Bglenut
Briarcreek Beagles

I dunno, it starts with a tatoo, then they want another, then they start with body piercing, leather, and running with outlaw bikers! Maybe you ought to try micro-chips!

I tattoo my dogs. It hurts a little but they are quick to forgive.
As far as Microchips, my wife used to work for a local animal shelter. The bad thing about microchips is that if the vet or facility that scans your dog doesn't have the same type scanner as your chip, they will have no way of knowing that your dog even has one. In other words, different manufactorers require different scanners.A tattoo is there and can be seen by anyone.
Best thing you can do is have your name and phone number on a coller. If someone steals your dog and doesn't want to be found out, tattoo's and Chips won't matter anyways.

Have tatooed everthing I kept for the last 25 years. Cannot stop stealing but if found there is proof if you keep records. I know a man that took the law to a fellows house after seeing his hound there. Of course he lied but he got his hound back

My big Redd male was found at the local running grounds by an AmTrak employee. He had been recently purchased by a man and wouldn't come in to him. The fellow that found Redd knew Ralph kept beagles and brought him to us. We took him to the vet and had him scanned for microchip even though his ears were tattooed. Checked with all the tattoo registries - no luck. Put an ad in the paper - no luck. We gunned him that winter and the following year started trialing in ARHA trials. One month I was really looking at dogs' names in the hunt results of the Rabbit Hunter when a name caught my eye - CPC Red Ryan. CPC was one of the tattoos in Redd's ear. The other was his litter and pup #.

After a few phone calls I was able to track down the breeder, Paul Abell in Bowling Green KY (who keeps immaculate records), and he was able to identify the hound and trace him to the owner in Indpls. I contacted this man, told him I had his dog and would like to buy him. After eighteen months of looking for the owner, Redd became mine because of the tattoo and his registration remained intact.

yup i think its a great idea . i had a man call me once had some greyhound puppies wanted to know if i had a tattoo outfit said sure bring them up. my tattoo outfit was designed for cattle and his greyhounds ears were smaller than one number. that didnt work cause number he wanted was long they were baby pups we could have tattoed them dont think theyd have survived it. i used to do all my dogs ,kind of got out of the habit lately. in the late 70s coonhides real valuable and a sorry coon hound was worth good money . we freeze branded our dogs this is even better. you ask somebody if theyve seen a dog with a letter in their ear they remember it. i did some of these freeze brands myself some with dry ice and alcohol and some with liguid nitrogen. if youve never seen them if done right the hair will turn white. its a little tricky cause if you leave on too long will leave a bad scar and no hair. the trouble is all dogs hide a little different what works good on one will scar another. i dont think ive ever seen a beagle with a freeze brand. it really doesnt improve their looks but does help you recover them . used to be real popular with big hounds. since fur prices dropped theyre not stolen as much. it would be easy to tattoo a dog with reg # phone # etc. im not sure if ukc still does it but they used to put a tattoo number on papers for coonhounds. with computers today this would be an easy thing to make work. lot of benefit and very little cost. the trouble with tracking collars and name plates is they can be removed in two seconds. tattoos are permanent but may never be seen. freeze brand is very noticable. you advertise dog stolen with your initials in its ear and somebody will notice it. you can buy a spray can of nitrogen now from nasco or could a few years ago. no iron needed . its like stenciling i experimented with this a little with my cows for practice. never got around to try it on dogs. never know i might yet . pete

I'm going to start having my hounds tattoed inside the hind leg. I have spoken with a man who tattos coonhounds and beagles alike. He started out tattooing in the mouth, then on the ear. He says that by far the most humane area on the hound is inside the back leg. He says that they appear not to mind it nearly as much as other more sensitive areas. Does anyone else have any feedback on this? I'm tenderhearted about my hounds and pain. I punished one excessively once before I got ecollars and will never get over it. Hurt me more than it did him, apparently, since it didn't stop him from running deer until the ecollar (used thoughtfully and sparingly, I might add) but it made me more conscious of discomfort in these little hounds that give us so much.