Whether you choose an easy-care washable nylon dog collar or a handsome leather one, personalizing it is the simplest and most immediate strategy to identify your pup.
- Make sure their collar fits: It should be snug, but not tight, allowing you to slide two side-by-side fingers under it. Plus, the right fit makes your dog’s collar less likely to catch dangerously on something.
- Keep it on: A personalized collar only works if your pup is wearing it.
- Stay vigilant: Monitor their collar for wear and tear. Adjust or replace it as needed. Remember to get your dog a new collar if your contact information changes.
There is no such thing as too much dog identification—a redundant system is a great strategy, so don’t be afraid of repeating the same information that’s on their collar on the tags. Plus, ID tags can give you some flexibility that a personalized collar can’t—with more room for multiple phone numbers or tags, it can improve the chances of being reunited.
- Make sure your dog’s up-to-date rabies tag is on their collar: In a pinch, it can be used to identify them since the tag number is linked to your name and contact information in a local registry.
- Add a microchip tag: If your dog is microchipped, it should wear a tag identifying the microchipping company’s name and phone number as a backup.
- Add urgency: A “needs daily meds” message engraved on your dog’s ID tag lends a sense of urgency that may reunite them with you more quickly.
Think of the implanted microchip as the backup plan to the backup plan. When all else fails—if your dog loses his tags and collar—the chip is their last best hope to return safely home to you. Permanent, virtually painless, and super effective, we highly recommend microchipping in addition to other ID strategies.
How it works:
- About the size of a grain of rice, the minuscule chip is injected by a veterinarian under the skin between the dog’s shoulder blades.
- A scanner passed over the microchip reads its unique code, linking the dog to corresponding contact information in a database.
From easy-to-read collars to ID tags to microchipping, there’s an ID system to suit every dog and its owner. In the event your dog gets lost, having an ID system (or three!) in place can help get them home safely, sooner.