Pet Tag Engraving

Pet Tag Engraving and the Dog Control Order 1992

Since the introduction of the Dog Control Order (1992), pet tag engraving has been a busy and varied industry in the UK. The vast majority of UK pet owners - principally dog owners - appreciate the practicality of tagging their dogs. Over the years, tags have advanced in terms of design and variety, but the basic principle of using an engraved pet tag to provide contact information, hasn't changed much over the years.

Interestingly, the Dog Control Order simply requires the name and address of the owner to be engraved onto the pet tag. It does not specify anything else, but today with the advent of mobile phones and the internet, it makes sense to include a mobile phone number on the pet tag.

Many dog owners put superfuous information onto the tag - often serving no purpose for anyone who finds the dog. Additional words engraved onto a pet tag can in fact take up valuable space on the tag surface, leaving less room for more important information.

In some cases - particularly where a pet has a medical condition - it may be very important to specify the pet's medical needs and to also provide a telephone number for a vet.

But in general, a pet tag should have engraved on it only the important contact information and an address.

 

Pet Tag Engraving and Cats

Cats do not readily take to wearing collars, and tend to wandering more widely - particularly at night - and in most cases they find their way home. So tagging a cat may not seem essential to many cat owners and for every 50 dog tags we engrave, we may engrave one or two cat tags.

But many cats do indeed get "lost" and there are also many stories of cats happily adopting a "new family" and setting up home with complete strangers. Sometimes, cats will live with their new owners for may years - even if their "original" home is a few yards away.

Cats are also very opportunistic and most cats will enter other homes at night to steal food. Cat flaps will let in any cat - not just your own.

So there are good reasons why cats should be tagged - mainly to prevent them from exercising this feline "choice" of where and with whom they may prefer to live.

Cats will take to collars - if they are introduced to them when they are kittens. We recommend pet tag engraving for cast as much as we do for dogs.

QR Code Tags and "Speciality" Tags

In the last few years, a number of tag engravers have introduced "QR Code" tags. The QR code on the tag can be scanned by a "Smart-phone", after which the phone links to a website or web-page, containing information about the dog.

Tagmakers looked into "QR Code" tags in great detail, but decided to stick to simple, plain engraved tags, because the principal purpose of a pet ID tag is not so much about the pet, but its owner.

The first thing a person wants to do when he or she finds a lost pet is make quick and easy contact with its owner - and in practically every case, will telephone the owner if the ID tag shows a number (or numbers).

In three separate customer focus groups, the participants asked one simple question... "Why go to all the trouble of trying to scan a barcode when a simple telephone number does the job faultlessly?"

Additionally, over 73% of the customers in our focus groups had no idea of what a QR code does, or how to scan it.

The results of these customer interaction sessions told us that QR code tags are largely a gimmick, and very "geeky", and over-compicate what should be a simple and commonly-understood message. "It's like fuelling up the space shuttle to take a quick trip to the supermarket," said one participant. "Why have to scan a code to get a phone number? Much easier and convenient to have the number there in the first place."

We agree... the best and most reliable tags are simple, deep-engraved durable metal tags, that feature the owner's name, number and address.

We make such tags...