To Tag or Not To Tag???

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

Okay...so that title wasn't exactly accurate as tags are necessary but I thought it might attract some attention.  This morning I was watching It's Me or the Dog.  In one of her informational segments, she stated that you should not put your dogs name on their tag.  I of course, have both my dogs with tags with their names on it because I thought this would help in the event they were lost or something happened to them.  Anyway, she stated that you do not want their names on their tags because if a stranger can learn their name by looking at the tag, if they called your dog and your dog came, even neighbors would not suspect anything suspicious.  I'm not sure I totally agree with this only because if someone wants to steal one of my dogs, they're more likely to hear me say their name than they are to get close enough to check their tag.  Should I never say my dogs names in public or have fake names to provide stangers? (j/k obviously).  She did go on to say that the best thing you can do is microchip which I agree with but what do you all think?   Is having the name on the tags really a big risk?  Is this more of a risk for people who leave their dogs outside unattended or take them shopping only to leave them tied up outside of the store?

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

I agree.  It seems like it would require the perfect set of circumstances for this to truly be a factor.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This doesn't really make sense to me. As you said, the person would have to get close enough to Jack to read the name on the tag, and there's no way that could happen unless they actually came into my yard, since that's the only place he's ever alone outside for even a minute. And if a stranger could get close enough to him to read his name, they wouldn't need to know his name to get him to come to them, lol. And if he was lost and someone found him, he'd probably be reassured if they called him by name.

I wouldn't be worried about having names on tags, it doesn't seem like a big risk to me.

[BG and Gavin]

It seems like a bit of a reach...

That being said, my friend who has a dog guide never gives out the real name of her dog when strangers approach and ask the dog's name.  She was trained to do this so that the dog will not respond to the stranger, thus distracting him from his job of looking after her.

[Adina P]

I was watching the SAME show this morning!  I also think it's silly to NOT put a name on a tag.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I agree. It seems ridiculous. Luca might just go off with anyone, Calla probably wouldn't. But none of that has to do with knowing their names, just with who they are. And I certainly would not want to train Luca to be less trustful. Besides, if your dog is truly lost I think you'd want it to go to a hopefully helpful person.

[BG and Gavin]

They do have this Greg.  At least in collar form.  They use it on hunting dogs.  I know of a pair that were chasing prey and got caught on an iceflow and ended up on the other side of the river miles away from home and in a the USA.  They tracked them with the GPS on their collars.  Can't embed these units (like a microchip) that I know of - they would run into battery problems.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have name tags on both my dogs. It just seems practical to me. I found a dog once running down the street and thankfully, he had name tags on because I was able to get him back to his home. I think it is riskier not to have a tag on your dog.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

When my DH was a policeman for a small village they had a case where someone stole another person's dog.  The dog was not wearing a tag with his name on it only his license and rabie's tag.  The people that owned the dog said they saw their dog being walked outside at a house a on the other side of the village (1.9 sq mile village).  My husband goes to the house and asks the people about their dog and said their ownership of the dog was in question.  He asked them to produce the dogs license and any vet information they had, they couldn't "find' it.  So then my husband asks what's your dogs name and they say Buddy or whatever they were calling it.  So my husband calls another officer that was out on duty and tells him to stop by the house - he tells the other officer what the dog's name was from the missing family - its name was Hanford (after Hanford Dixon the old football player).   The other officer comes to the house, gets out of the car and says "Hi Hanford, good boy Hanford.....blah blah"  the dog goes NUTS clearly his name was Hanford.  Had they known his name was Hanford and my husband having nothing else positive to identify the dog with it would have ended up a civil matter.  Needless to say Hunter's tag does not have her name on it and none of our kids are allowed to wear shirts or own things with their names on it. 

[Kyoko]

good point!!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

i do not have Coopers name on her tag - it just says "micro-chipped" and our phone number. However, she would go with ANYONE if I wasnt around, but I never leave her alone except for in the house

[Michael Gurley]

Everywhere Sunny goes outside of my house, she is with me. The only time I had a problem with someone trying to steal her, she was 4 months old and it was her 2nd time at the dog park. Some lady just leashed her up and was walking her out of the park! Of course, since Sunny is my baby, I looked around for her (I had looked away for just a moment) and saw her right outside the fence. I kicked my flip-flops off and RAN to confront this lady and get my puppy. Luckily, about 5 other dog owners who saw what was going on came and confronted the lady along with me. She was leaving her own dog in the park and just taking mine!

 

But Sunny does have her name on her collar, and she's microchipped. If she was alone outside of my house, I'd be a little more wary, but she is always with me when outside the house.

[BG and Gavin]

That is unbelieveable!  Talk about nervy.  I guess she was trying to "trade up."