Laura,

The incident you speak of actually happened like this: Handler gets called to an incident. He gets out of his car to contact the suspect in question. The dog STAYS in the car. During the course of the investigation, the handler becomes involved in a struggle of some sort with the suspect. During the course of the struggle, the handlers remote door-popper button on his belt is pressed by accident, releasing the dog from the car (the handler never even knew his dog was out of the car until a few moments later.)

The dog, having seen his handler needing help, is revved up and ready to go. He comes out of the car ready to fight and help the handler. There is only one problem. During this time, a small crowd has gathered nearby the police car. When the dog comes out fo the car, the first target he see's is a young boy (who happens to be black) running nearby in front of him. The dog immediately gets "target-lock" on the boy (who looks like a very big prey item) and engages him. After a moment, the handler realizes what is happening, disengages from the suspecdt he is fighting with and runs over to where his dog is engaging the kid. He outs his dogs and puts him in the car.

Local politician's (who happen to be black) get into a tizzy, claiming that the dog was "racist", etc. Basically, playing the race card. That is absolutely false. A dog cannot be racist. The dog engaged the first target that presented itself. Period. Nothing more. Unfortunately, it happened to NOT be the suspect, but someone who shouldn't have been standing around cheering the bad guy on in the first place.

I tattooed one dog at a year old while he was awake (not really a good idea) tattooed another while he was under for his prelims neither had ears that flopped, neither were ear shy. I now have a 2 year old without a tattoo and will do hers in her ear but will do the pen method instead of the pinch as that will be easier.
Annie

I had my male GSD tattooed when he was....I think 3 maybe 4. The person who did the tattoo just muzzled him, gave him the good ol pinch in his ear(he got a bit pissed and growled a bit) and everything was done, his ear has not had any ill effect thus far.
Now I watched another older dog get tattoed that pissed all over the guy holding him.

My dog was tattooed on the inside of his thigh when he was 22 months old. No problems till the vet touched him with the needle <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />. After I convinced my dog that he couldn't eat the nice man and his two helpers, he just layed there and grumbled till it was over.

I have a Tattoo pliers which will hold 5 digits 5/16"... will this be ok for a young pup's ear? Suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Why tattoo inside the ear? Isn't one of the main ideas of tattooing so that a dog that's lost or stolen has a better chance of being returned to the owner. People who steal dogs to sell to fighing rings or labs will merely cut the dog's ear off if there's a tattoo inside the ear.

Elaine: Unfortunately the kind of laboratories that deal in dogs of unknown parentage from unknown origins, and those procuring dogs for fighting rings don't give a damn whether a dog is tattooed or micro-chipped.

In schutzhund your dogs tattoo number is also in the dogs score book. At trials you have to show the tattoo so it is verified as the same one as in the score book. Most feel it is easier to show it in the ear because the dog doesn't have to lay on it's back which is a submissive posture and therefore a little stressful for the dog at a trial. Also you would have to shave the area before each trial.

 Quote: melissacato

I have a Tattoo pliers which will hold 5 digits 5/16"... will this be ok for a young pup's ear? Suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Soooo, any suggestions?

I am not a trainer I am just a pet owner but I have known alot of people who have told me do not place a tattoo on a dogs ear... Reason is because if the dog is lost or ("STOLEN") the thifts have been known to cut off ears of the dog where the tattoo was... I been told to place the tattoo on the inner back thing of the dogs legs or on the belly (BELLY) is were it hurts the less.... Just what I have read and heard Dog Training Professional correct me if this is incorrect information.

We tattoo all our GSD pups and Malinois pups in the ear, between 7 and 8 weeks of age.

This is the equipment we use. http://www.leerburg.com/hauptner.htm

We also tattooed one of our adult dogs in the ear, he did not have a tattoo when we purchased him. We did the tattoo ourselves when he was knocked out for his OFA xrays.