I wondered if anyone has a novel way of identifying pups in a litter.
At the moment i am marking with pen, but mum insists on removeing it
I only have litter of 4 but they are identical usually in previous litters i could
tell them apart. They are all same sex.

What about different coloured nail varnish on their nails.

I could try but they are so tiny .
Let you know if it works
(kay gone off to hunt for nail varnish)
who gets the glitter one lol

What about snipping a little bit of hair off a different part of their body just enough so that you can see which part has been snipped ??!!??

Thanks if the polish dos not work i will try that.
These poor pups you can imagine what they are going to look like when
we have finished all the sugestions

How about different coloured puppy collars?

You could even make your own with lengths of coloured ribbon.........

Fran

Hi

Snack and snooze do little paper collars that you can write on,I have had them for a litter of rotties which all look the same and if i remember right think they cost about £1.50 for 10.

Thanks ever so much. everyone I like the collar idea but my bitch Dolly
would have them ripped of in seconds.
The nail polish is"nt working they are only 8oz and black even there tails are the same I think ive mixed them up 10 times already.They won"t even answer to there names yet and they are 2 days old dumb or what.

roflol - must be dumb !!! :D

Have used these collars for 2 litters and have found them brilliant. They are strong and can be wiped clean if necessary. Both of my girls have left the collars alone. If you e mail your address I'll put some in the post so you can see for yourself.

Teresa

Funny you should ask this question as i was only talking to a friend about this same problem earlier
I have tried loads of different ways
paper collars are OK but can get chewed off by the bitch or torn
string collars don't work as they fall too easily due to them having to be loose{plus don't like the idea of then getting swallowed!!!}
clipping hair works but it looks horrible and takes ages to grow back!!!!
pens wash off too easliy

THE best way I have found is nail varnish on the tip of the tail{in the case of docked breeds on the ear} if on the tail you can see who is who when they are feeding rather than rooting around looking for each one!!!!!!!
Make sure the others don't lick it whilst its dry and it should last for ages and its nice to let each owner know that theres is pink girl or red boy rather than 'that one!' good luck emmaxx

When I bought my pup the breeder had marked them with tippex

I used nail varnish with my last litter but I put a spot on a different place for each pup, eg right hip, right shoulder etc. Worked very well indeed.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth

the breeder of one off our boys had used sheep spray (like they use on there sides) to mark the puppies - each pup had a different color but then only 4 pups (in a litter of 9) to identify the 3 which were for showing and one which someone had said they wanted subject to it not being selected for a show pup. But then they did life on a farm which had sheep and cattle!

Thanks all some great tips.
The nail polish is going on there tails tomorrow.
I will tell you if it works.

I had this problem with 3 out of my 6 puppies in my last litter, although they were mainly black luckily they did have different colour claws so i could tell which was which.

some one said to me to use the method of the sheep dye nexts time i have a litter,but i just use tipx on my litter,what about kitten collars they would be smaller than the puppy one and they have an elactic bit,

I had six black lab dogs in one litter. One had a tiny white star so that was good. The other five were identical in weight. It was really hard to identify them. I found their coats were too velvety at first and I couldn't snip any hair off. Nail polish worked but wore off quickly. I used hospital wrist bands as these are quite soft and pliable, but also waterproof and tough. I didn't really like having things round their necks but I couldn't really do anything else. Hope you find something that works for you
Lorna

not too sure what I've done here- SORRY

I have always had this problem, and have basically looked at pups every day to see tiny differences in shade of coat or weight. I dsid resort to mutilating their coats in a litter where I had 5 and 6 of the same sex. My breed are all same colur except for the odd white toe or spot onchest, but sometimes there is nothing to distinguish. I have always worried about puttinganything round their necks in case they strangled or got caught up by the legs in anothers collar. Have you found collard on whelps safe, it seems to be the done way ion the States?

I've used the puppy id collars that you can write on for years. I've never had a problem. They can be changed as the puppies grow or they get scruffy looking. The dams seem to leave them alone. I have found it's very easy to keep track of the individual puppies (since I weigh them daily I need to have a means of making sure that each puppy's chart is the right puppy). Plus I normally use one color marker for the boys and one for the girls. Easy to separate out the sexes then.

I bought some of those ID collars from znooze and snack, but haven't used them yet, will have to wait until next spring :(

With 4 girls ive found the easiest way has been to cut a different leg off.
(JOKE)
I have ended up useing tippex seems to be woking.
And since i posted the question pups are becoming more identifiable.
They are now a week old i can not wait for there eyes to open.

Re putting things round pups necks - this worried me - but if you use 'real wool' as opposed to synthetic it actually breaks quite easily.

HTH

Fran

You are right the wool does break and it is never tight and we change them as they grow, and the bitches have not touched them.