Before microchips were common some people did tattoo their dogs but there really isn't any reason to put your pet through that discomfort now.
Microchips are great, all vets and animal shelters are required to have scanners and they know to scan for the microchip if a stray animal is brought in. They also know where to call to check for the registered owners of these microchipped dogs. If you tattoo your dog a vet and/or animal shelter may only scan for a microchip they may not look for a tattoo since it isn't commonly done anymore. If you could find somone to tattoo your dog (does your vet do it?) you would have to tattoo inside an ear, put it on the tummy, or the inside of the hind leg (ouch) and hope that it was still able to be read years later, that they thought to turn the dog over to look for the tattoo, and that the hair didn't hide the tattoo.
I would recommend you just microchip your dog, they are very safe and very common.
Teresa |