> Out of interest, to those that tattoo....how do you get the pups tattoo? Does someone come out, or do you have to go there? I have read (somewhere...) that tattoo's fade, is this true? What is the cost of tattoo, is it better value than a chip?
The tattooist comes to you if you have a litter.
In my experience good tattoos do not fade. I can still easily read each of my dogs tattoos (bearing in mind my sight is poor) and the oldest will be 11 this year. All done with the small callipers in black. My old girls one was done as an adult using the old callipers in green, and could be read until her death, and her daughter was done with large callipers as a baby and because of the way the tattoo spread took some guessing to read. for this reason my next litter (the nearly 11 year olds) were done by a tattooist from a different are who I payed to come as she used the small callipers (a friend in my breed used her). Now fortunately I think theyn all use the small calipers so that when the tattoo grows it doesn't distort.
I did have one litter tattooed when my tattooist moved by a different persona nd the results were poor. I now realise that she didn't shave the inside of the pups ears, and my usual tattooist always does even if the ear appears hair free.
I believe this person no longer tattoos for the registry and the registry did offer to have the bad tattoos re-done in the other ear.
Personally I like the fact that the Tattoo registry is run by dog people who understand the breeder viewpoint and will always contact the breeder if the owner cannot be contacted, as your details are kept on file.
Also even with a faded or partially readable tattoo they can extrapolate who the dog might be by process of elimination. If a chip fails that's it.
I also like the fact a tattoo is a visible deterrent, and no equipment is needed to see one, though very hairy ears may need to be clipped out or some surgical spirit rubbed on to make the tat clearer.
Chips can be missed, even when you know they have one it can sometimes take a while to find it, because the readers batteries are low etc. If a dog is just being checked for the presence of a chip in such circumstances it could easily be missed.
Any dog taken to a rescue centre should be examined by a vet and part of a normal health exam would be teeth eyes and ears so a tattoo should be picked up.
Both systems can fail due to human error, which is why I like to have both.
You can contact the NDTR here:
http://www.dog-register.co.uk/You can see tattoos in the ears of my dogs in photos on my site, and even read some of them.