Belle’s new identification tag
Our town has a new ID tag law. You are to register your dog each year with the Humane Society who provides an ID tag for your dog. Now, I already had a hanging identification tag for my dog that I had bought online and she also wore her rabies tag. Add a third tag to the mix and the dog jingles everywhere she goes.
This isn’t necessarily a problem for Belle, but it does forewarn all of the neighborhood dogs that we’re coming and they start barking before we even get there. I decided to try and reduce the number of tags that Belle had to wear to reduce the noise.
Dog Identification (ID) Plate for the Collar
There is a wonderful ID plate that attaches to a collar with rivets, making one less tag that hangs from the collar. An added benefit is that this identification tag is wider, allowing you to put more information on it.
We bought a new leather collar that came with this ID plate. Since it is attached to the collar and does not hang from it, it is much less likely that your dog will rip off this plate compared to a hanging tag. Belle has already lost one of her tags before when it slipped off of the ring attaching it to the collar during play. Additionally, the leather collar doesn’t look get so worn looking or smell as bad as the vinyl collars we had been using. I think it will last a lot longer too.
So the new collar solved two problems for me: loss of identification tags, noisy jingling when we walked, and also gave me a longer-lasting collar material. It also meant that she wouldn’t get a hanging tag caught on something (this happened on the carpet once or twice).
How to Pick the Right Dog Collar Size
If you order a collar online, make sure you check to see how the collar size is measured. Some stores measure from the end of the collar, some from the end of the buckle. Most stores will list which neck sizes the collar fits.
Take a cloth measuring tape and wrap it around your dog’s neck where the collar would sit (the middle of the neck) and make sure you can get two fingers in between the dog’s neck and the tape. This is the size of your dog’s neck. You may want to add a few inches to this measurement to get a collar the dog can grow in to. You want a collar that is tight enough to stay in place but allows the dog to breathe and pant easily. When in doubt, contact the store you are purchasing the collar from and ask them about how to measure for a correct collar size.
When making an ID plate, put your name, your phone number (house and cell, maybe even work) and then your address. Make it easy for people to return your dog to you. If you travel with your dog, then your address – at least city and state, is very important.