i have a litter due next week and for identification and weighing purposes i need something to mark them with incase their chest markings arn't distincitive.

does anyone have any ideas?
so far ive heard people mark their pups with:
1) nail varnish - i fear this may harm their delicate skin!
2) coloured ribbons - scared the bitch may try pull these off hurting the pup in the process
3) stretchy cat collars - as above reason
4) sheep marker! - slighly dangerous dont you think LOL
5) felt tip pen! i think not!

any safe suggestion greatly welcomed!

thanks in advance x

We used coloured felt it stretched if mum pulls it and would come off, all of the breeders that we got our dogs from did this. To be honest our bitch never pulled the collers so wasnt a problem. Maybe sombody will come up with another idea.

P.S The felt got dirty very quickly and needed to be changed ever 2 days, so whatever method you go for have plently of it in stock, good luck for the whelp

I've used these for my current litter - http://www.pup-id.co.uk/ - they are made to fit the age and breed of the litter and adjust as the puppies get bigger. I've had no problems with my bitch trying to remove them and have found them to be a great idea.

For my last two litters I have used embroidery thread about 20 skeins for a £1 in pound shop.

I change it every few days to once a week just knotting it around the necks with loose enough to get finger under and leave a tag of the two ends about 1 to 2 inches long, worked brilliantly.

For years I had been told by fellow breeders that they used a strand of coloured wool in this way but I worried about strangling but not once did Mum or other pups get caught in the collars.

The collar colours work as temporary names, so we had Pink, Orange Yellow and Blue etc.

thank you all very much it seems i am worrying when there is no real need to!

think i'll go with the felt idea, i had never thought of that.

how do you all go on for the recording part? im mainly wanting to just record weights of the pups and maybe jot down a few notes about each personality to find the most suitable homes for them. what other kind of notes/findings do you all record?

here hoping the whelp goes well, ive not had her scanned but she is showing all the signs over pregnancy just without a big belly! although just spoken to another breeder and he says he has a bitch that didnt put any weight on at all! he was expecting 2 or 3 pups and she delivered 11!! so there is still hope for me, although i do hope there isnt 11 hiding in there somewhere!

With my litter we used silk ribbons but after the 4th day we could tell them apart anyway, litter of 5.

The silk comes undone very easily and we only used them when taking photos, for puppy buyers. Hope everything goes ok for you whelp wise, they can be unpredictable in guessing how easy or not the whelp can go.

Fingers crossed

Hi darcydee just remember when pups are born right at the side of them if the delivery was good or if bad put down what happend ,if anything goes wronge over the next few days with that pup and u need to get it to the vets you can tell the vet about what happend .
good luck :) xx

i mark a toe nail with tippex and top up if it rubs off

When we take notes we note-

Time of Birth.
Sex.
Weight
If they were warm or cold.
Any difficulties- born feet first or brech birch (backwards).
and as a deep chested breed if you needed to clear their airways.
and
Born in sack if out of sack did it present later (easier said than done as it can happen fast).

:)

> Time of Birth.
> Sex.
> Weight
> If they were warm or cold.
> Any difficulties- born feet first or brech birch (backwards).
> and as a deep chested breed if you needed to clear their airways.
> and
> Born in sack if out of sack did it present later (easier said than done as it can happen fast).
>

the litter i helped with we did all this on the computer, a different file for each that you could add to as the grew and put in bits about personality etc. handily the room they were in was the computer room so easy to update at 4 in the morning when watching them

I have used Tabbands for years now, and wouldn't use anything else.  They started in human hospitals in the USA but soon became popular in veterinary hospitals.  I have never had one pulled off, twist, or hang a pup. 

Contrary to some concerns I've heard (from folk who've never used them), I love them.   I also like the fact that you can write on them.  When a pup is chosen, I write the name on, that the new owner has chosen, and people know for sure that they are getting the right puppy.  Handy when the litter is all exactly the same colour.

I use the Tyvek wrist bands, I cut them in half lengthways as they were too wide and then just cut them down to size, I had pink for the girls and blue for the boys and just wrote the number of birth order on the bands.  I had to change them every few days as they got a bit icky.  When the new owners had chosen their pups I wrote their names on instead of a number.  I have never had any problems with these at all.

I've got a litter of 9 at the moment and am using these. The packs give 2 each of 10 different colours. I cut them lengthways also, but as pups are growing rapidly seem to be changing them every few days. Only problem when first used them was stuck sticky part to pup's fur and couldn't get it off!! Am much better at putting them on how.

Just make sure whatever you put around their necks you check every day that they're not getting too tight. The last lot had to be changed after 2 - 3 days!!

I have plaited loads of different coloured wool into little collars, they have never got caught on anything, and it sure helps me mark off who I have fed and toileted as we are hand rearing a litter of 11!!

I can highly recommend the pup id collars also.... as empm stated. I have them on my litter at the moment and they have been great, all handmade to the sizes that you require (just tell her your breed and she makes them to size.) They are fully adjustable and she has a massive range of colours/patterns. All collars are also washable (haven't done this yet, but all pups are off next week end :-( so  can't comment on how well they wash, but I can't see it being a problem.

What a lot of people do (not in my breed as they're pretty uniquely marked) is use the 'rickrack' stuff you get for sewing?  It's wavy and comes in different colours.  They just change it every day or two as the pups grow.

Wendy