Tat in ear

[momto3k9s]

So this isn't an "ears up" question but it's about the ear so I wasn't sure if I should post it here or not. lol

I had a question - Athena has a large green number tattoo in her ear from the breeder. Does it fade with time? It's the whole lenght of the ear and looks - ....not normal! Is this common? This is my first dog I brought from a breeder. I did have some other dogs that I got from the shelter and they did put a tat in their ear - it was a little "s" for SPCA. But this is the large number tat. Did your pups have this too? Does it go away?

[onyx'girl]

Hopefully the tattoo will clearly show up as the dog ages(after all they are for ID purposes). My pup is almost two and I can read his clearly...his breeders do a great job tattoo'ing! Too bad they didn't put I luv mom on his other ear

[Cassidy's Mom]

It's not supposed to go away! Tattoos are a permanent form of ID done by breeders. If the whole ear is green, that will either wear off eventually, or after a few weeks or so you can wipe it off, but the numbers/letters should remain.

Keefer never did get a tattoo, Halo's is along the edge of her ear under her hair and I can't see it at all, but Dena's was right down the centerline, and you could see it easily, even in closeup photos.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Here's Dena's tattoo:

[momto3k9s]

I guess for ID purposes it shouldn't go completely away huh? lol Dumb question - sorry. It just looks so - ...there. I guess it really didn't bother me before today because today we took the dogs out to the store and someone there was saying how cute Athena was and saying how cute she was then she noticed the tat and her attitude changed and she put on a sad face and asked why I did that. She made me feel like my puppy wasn't cute anymore because she had the tat. :-( Well I still think she's adorable! :-)

[JKlatsky]

Most German dogs are tattooed in the ear. It was the standard for identification in the SV and it is important that it is readable. It's only recently that microchips have started becoming accepted. They do fade out over time so they're not quite so vivid...but the best eat tats are readable for the life of the dog. I wish the ear tattoo that my older dogs have were more readable. It makes it much easier when trialing for the judge to be able to just take a quick look.

Don't let some ridiculous person give you grief. Racehorses all have tattoos as well to be sure that the correct horse is being entered. And if you think that's bad...Try showing up somewhere with a one year old dog that you got tattooed because you needed it and the breeder hadn't done it...See what they say then.

[momto3k9s]

I love your camera - that is the clearest picture ever!! :-) That's exactly what Athena's tattoo looks like.

Cute picture by the way!!

[momto3k9s]

So I guess the tattoo are acceptable if you want to show your dog also? ...This is all new to me. Sorry for the dumb questions. :-)

[onyx'girl]

In SchH trials either a chip or a tattoo is the way to ID the dog trialing. But chips have only been recognized in the past few years, and you have to supply the reader, so tat's are just more convienent, if they show up!

[Jax's Mom]

Originally Posted by momto3k9s

I guess it really didn't bother me before today because today we took the dogs out to the store and someone there was saying how cute Athena was and saying how cute she was then she noticed the tat and her attitude changed and she put on a sad face and asked why I did that. She made me feel like my puppy wasn't cute anymore because she had the tat. :-(

Some people think it's cruel (I've even been told before that I'm cruel from cropping my GSD's ears. They're not cropped.) It's actually not done the same way people tattoos are. The characters are just placed in a clamp and all the digits are done in one clamp. Probably the same amount of pain as a chip.