A tattoo question - Page 1

Hello, all...

I'm new to the group.  Joined mostly for the sake of learning more, but due to a communication I had on & off via e-mail yesterday, have a question I'd like to ask already.

We just took in another GSD, and were given "papers" for her.  Long story short, I'm not sure the papers are for this dog.  If they are, she's tattooed, but I would like to know exactly where the tattoo would be, 'cause I'm not finding one.

According to the papers, she came out of Germany in June 05, having been whelped that January.  It would be a two letter, four digit tattoo.  Would it be in the right ear?

Usually in the right ear, sometimes on the inside thigh.

yes all german imports are tattooed in the right ear. Is your dog black or has very dark pigment in it's ears if so tatooes are harder to see

Where abouts in the right ear?

Yes, she is black & I'm guessing the tattoo would be green/ish.

About what size would that tattoo be?  She's got really hairy ears, so that's not helping much either. 

Here's a link to a thread with a photo of a tattoo. That should help you locate it if it's there. You may have to shave or clip the hair, though.

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/bulletins_read/103555.html#103620

shave the inside if the ear and clean it, sometimes it  helps to rub oil on the skin too.

The easiest way to read a tattoo, be it bad or in a hard to read ear is to lock yourself and the dog in a dark room (ie a closet) and put a flashlight behind the dogs ear.  The tattoo will show up as a series of small dots to form letters and/or numbers.  If the tattoo was a bad one there might only be a few dots to see but if the dog is SV registered that means that the tattoo should be legible as it was given by somebody that has experience as the "tattooer" in that certain region or LG

hope it helps

As my father in law used to say, 'It's a bad day when you don't learn something new!'

Thanks for the info, Doug! That's very useful to know.

I have a GSD, her tattoo is in the inner thigh.  You have to move the hair to see it.

Thanks for all the great info / tips.

Unfortunately, I'm not finding so much as a dot on her.

Maybe I have copies of papers for her mom.  I'm going to start a new thread on searching for a specific dog.  I can find the GSD I've got papers for in the Pedigree database, but it ends at her existance.

Thanks again for the help!