It’s interesting how something so simple - a dog tag, has evolved over the years. The truth is when you want to pick out a dog tag today, there is a very wide variety of dog tags to choose from. Before we take a look at different dog tags, let’s take a look at the reason why we need one in the first place.

Losing our dog. It’s one of the most heart-wrenching things, yet by statistics, your dog is likely to be lost at least once in its lifetime. And if you are following any dog group or lost and found pet group on Facebook, you’re bound to see many missing pets.But why? It most certainly happens to the best of us for a many reasons. The type of comments I hate the most in response to someone’s “Lost Dog” post on Facebook or any other channel is “What was the owner thinking?” or “How could they lose their dog?”. Unless they are absolutely insane, no dog owner would want to lose their dog on purpose. Yet it happens. Some of the more common reasons for a lost dog:

• Gate was not latched properly.

• Someone else didn’t close the door.

• Naughty dog took off to freedom.

• Dog broke free from the leash and got distracted.

Whatever the reasons, if your dog is friendly or is picked up by someone, the first thing they would do is to look for identifiers. And even if you have a harness screaming out your dog’s name, well, at least that gives one clue, who the dog is and helps when posting online, but that isn’t a lot to go by. Whilst most dogs if not all are microchipped in Singapore, it may come across as a hassle to bring them to a vet office, humane society, or animal control for free scanning, especially if the dog is found at an odd hour. Quite honestly, many may not even bother.

Smart Trackers
One of the growing trends is to get a Smart tracker. There are some out in the market like:

• The GeoZilla GPS Location Tracker

• TKSTAR Personal GPS Tracker

• Nut Smart Tracker

• Tile Pro Smart Tracker

• Apple AirTags for Dogs

Dog Tags
But truth be told, the most basic thing is a good old-fashioned dog tag that is as normal as they come. It is the quickest and easiest way for your dogs to be identified and if you have the right information on the dog tag, it could mean finding your dog even faster. As mentioned there is a variety of personalized dog tags in the market. Here are some common ones:

• A Funny Dog Bone Tag

• Assortment of Dog Tags with Engraving

• Dog Collar with Engraving

• Personalized Dog Collars

• Harness Custom Velcro Tags

• Super Custom Resin Dog Tag by relixer co.

Information on the Dog Tag
For these basic dog tags, it’s worthwhile to look into the important information you need to have on the tag by order of priority:

1. Name of Pet

2. Mobile Number

3. “Microchipped” label

4. Name of Owner

5. Home Address

6. Personal Information like “I’m friendly” or even medical issues.

7. A Reward if Found

But honestly, the most important information is the name and your mobile number. With that, in an instant, whoever finds your dog can contact you right away.

So while there are a plethora of options, make sure you have the basic covered that is great to have and the rest will be good to have.

You might want to consider the new Apple AirTag for your dog! To learn more about the Apple AirTags for Dogs, click here.