Hi,

I have question for everyone and wonder if anyone can help me. My dog, a german short hair pointer was adopted by us. He is quite old now and recently went for some surgery on his side. The doctor removed the growth but while shaving him found a large numbered tattoo on his side. We know very little about this dog except that he was abused. Does anyone know what this could be from? A lab perhaps? I know they normally tattoo dogs on the ear and inner thigh.

thanks

Jennifer (Bone's mom)

wow
thats really weird
poor dog

[Yogi]

for many years breeders of purebred dogs had the ear tattooed. In Canada this is still done. On the side though I have never heard of. It was usually done on the ear but I guess for a large breed it could be done in an area where with growth it could be better served.
Protection Through Tattooing

[DoggieVogue]

Originally Posted by Yogi

On the side though I have never heard of.

I haven't heard of this either.

We ALWAYS tattooed on the lower side or abdomen. Why? Because it can't be amputated the way an ear or leg can!

Thieves could whack off an ear pretty quickly, then turn around and sell the dog to a laboratory. A leg was a little more difficult, but it still happened. Laboratories will not purchase a tattooed pet.

[Yogi]

makes sense but this was not common for AKC dogs that I know of. Was this just a security precaution that some owners took ie: not AKC breeders?

[wishbone]

Could you take some pics of those tattoo? On humans, soon on their life the ink of tattoo will have some effect, with smaller dog it would take some effect too. Poor dog, hope he's just fine. That tattoo could be part of his abuse.

Originally Posted by Yogi

makes sense but this was not common for AKC dogs that I know of. Was this just a security precaution that some owners took ie: not AKC breeders?

We had AKC registered show dogs. And once it was pointed out (at a local kennel club meeting) that ears and legs can be amputated by thieves we started tattooing the abdomen. The vet I worked for, at that time, bred and showed Airedales, and also tattooed on the abdomen.

[Yogi]

It has just been so long that we even bothered with tattooing, I totally forgot about the possibilities as to where they would have been done. I just remember years ago we did the ears. I dating myself here but this was the most common but it does make sense for the abdomen to be done. With the inception of micro-chipping, tattooing has somewhat gone by the wayside. I know that the CKC still requires it or least last time I checked. But in the end, if the dog is lost and not returned deliberately, chip or tattoo would be of no consequence. Which unfortunately does happen quite a lot. Thanks for reminding me, like I said it has been years since I dealt with the tattooing issue.

[chevy & karen]

Originally Posted by JenniferHolme

Hi,

I have question for everyone and wonder if anyone can help me. My dog, a german short hair pointer was adopted by us. He is quite old now and recently went for some surgery on his side. The doctor removed the growth but while shaving him found a large numbered tattoo on his side. We know very little about this dog except that he was abused. Does anyone know what this could be from? A lab perhaps? I know they normally tattoo dogs on the ear and inner thigh.

thanks

Jennifer (Bone's mom)

Hi Jennifer, I hope your pup is doing ok since his surgery. Thank you for adopting him and showing him love...

In the 1970's I found a stray that had a tattoo as you describe. I don't recall the breed of dog I found (I think it may have been a cocker spaniel), or how we figured it out (Did we call our vet? Or the County?) but I remember the number was used to locate and contact the dog's owner. The owner responded very quickly.