The Control of Dogs Order 1992 states that any dog in a public place must wear a collar with the name and address (including postcode) of the owner engraved or written on it, or engraved on a tag. Your telephone number is optional (but we would recommend this).

You can be fined up to £5,000 if your dog does not wear an identification tag

You do not have to put your dogs name on the tag, this is optional. Unfortunately dog stealing does occur and if the thief knows the name of your dog this may help them pass on the dog to the unsuspecting new owners because it appears they know the dog because the dog responds to their name. We would therefore recommend, you do not put your dogs name on the tag.

An example of the information to put on a dog tag is:

Mr A Smtih
No 54, BH17 7TD
01202 773581

Some people are of the opinion that if their dog is micro chipped, they do not require a dog tag with their contact details on it. This is incorrect, and you should always have a dog tag on your dogs collar no matter if they are micro chipped (which is highly recommended) or not.

There are also companies who run schemes where you pay a fee and if your dog goes missing, they will assist in finding your dog. usually you receive a tag to go on the dogs collar with the companies phone number and an ID code.

Even though it is possible for your dog to be reunited with you if found via such a system, the law still states that you MUST HAVE a tag on your dogs collar with your name and address, i.e. you will have both tags on your dogs collar.

For more information about this, please see Dog Identification Tags page on the Kennel Club web site.