Dog ID tags - what exactly has to go on them BY LAW?

[PacificDogwood]

I am totally confused.
I read the tag needs to show name of the owner AND address - by law.

Just had one engraved and the Timpson guy (expert in the field because he once had a cat rescues by the RSPCA ) told me no, address does not need to go on

Our rescue grey is currently ID tagged as per the rescue he came from, also his microchip is still registered to the rescue, all of which I need to change tomorrow, so I'd quite like to know what exactly it is that I MUST do - obviously there's a whole other thread to be had whether his name should go on or not etc etc.

Has the law changed on 1.4. when microchipping became compulsory?!

Dogs name is not advised as it can be used to encourage your dog away from you

That always makes me smile. He'd answer to pretty much anything anyway

Anyway his has:

Murphy
House number
Postcode
My phone number
Scan me I'm chipped

Mine too Sisters

envious the lump will either be fluid or scar tissue. If it's the latter, it's actually not a bad thing, because it means the chip can't travel and end up elsewhere on the dog.

My younger dog's chip moves around, although admittedly not so far it can't be found. He once injured himself overenthusiastically leaping into his car crate, bashing the area where it tends to sit and ended up with a massive seratoma the size of a fist over his withers that took ages to go down.

Compulsory microchipping comes in from 6th April 2015 and will be enforced by local authority dog wardens, the police and PCSOs. All puppies have to be chipped before 8 weeks of age so from 2016 the onus will be on breeders, but all older dogs also have to be chipped by the above date. Non compliance will result in a 21 day grace period to comply, followed by £500 fine. It will be an offence not to have a chip but also not to keep the database up to date. This is a big problem at the moment, owners move house or change phone number and forget to update the database, rendering the chip useless.
As now, vets will have an advisory role, informing clients of the requirements. Hopefully we will spend much less time trying to reunite unidentified lost dogs with their owners.
I suspect what llama means is that as ever the good owners will comply and the useless ones won't. Even so it will massively increase the proportion of dogs that are chipped.

6 April 2016

Ours just have vet name and number.
We got the tags free when our dog joined the vets

Too cheap to get anothergrin

Just checked ours again IT does not have the dogs name just our last name. So they could ring the vets say I've found chatty dog post code can you contact the owner.

Tags are not big enough for names, address, phone number, I'm chipped plus dogs name. A lot of dogs that escape have slipped their leads and collars anyway or escaped gardens and many owners don't have the dogs collars on whilst home due to crate use or just not liking collars

I have a standard cheap tag from the local key cutter.
It has our name, noX, post code and my mobile no on it.
Plenty of space for that.

Shame the post code is the incorrect one…

I have a lovely hand-stamped one on order, with the correct post code

I actually thought that the microchipping was becoming compulsory this year, but hey ho, I'm glad he had it done at the rescue anyway.

Interesting. We just have microchipped & our phone number written on ours.

I ordered the tag through the vets and they advised us not to put any more info on in case of him being stolen. I hadn't realised that by law it had to contain certain info.

puremorning a fiver tops on a new tag with the legally required information doesn't sound expensive to me compared to a £5000 fine.

If the tag or the microchip has enough info to get the dog returned should it escape then probably the local authority/police wouldn't impose a fine, but the point is they can. If the dog is causing trouble and they want to make an example of someone.....

I deliberately didn't put our name on the tag as I was worried that this would give a potential thief all the info they required to pass themselves off as owner. We have - dog's name, house number, road and postcode, 2 mobile numbers and 'I am microchipped'. So his tag is illegal, but it is quite clear who he belongs to.