# What does this tattoo on my dog's belly mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796 "2009-07-12T23:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/1 "2009-07-12T23:59:38Z")
Earlier this year, we rescued an abused dog that was dumped. We thought she is a German Short Hair Pointer and Lab mix. My dad took one look at her today and insists she is pure pointer, though possibly a mix of long and short hair. At any rate, she has the number 3800 tattooed on her belly. We assumed she had gone through a pound. Now we are wondering if it’s a litter number or something. Is there a way to find out? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/2 "2009-07-13T00:01:33Z")
The pond tattooed a circle on my dogs belly to indicate he was neutered. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/3 "2009-07-13T00:16:40Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The pond tattooed a circle on my dogs belly to indicate he was neutered. Remind me not to swim there… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/4 "2009-07-13T00:18:37Z")
[Dog tattoos.](http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/how-to-care-for-a-dog8.htm) [National Dog Registry.](http://nationaldogregistry.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/5 "2009-07-13T00:32:53Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Remind me not to swim there… LMAO! ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/6 "2009-07-13T00:34:15Z")
Get rid of her at once! She’s the dog anti-Christ! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/7 "2009-07-13T00:46:49Z")
Pound. You can not swim there either. Because of the Tat ,he farts like crazy. What else could it be? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/8 "2009-07-13T01:38:33Z")
How old of a dog do you think she is? Maybe about 9? Because it reads like a birthdate. Greyhounds, like our Zane, have tattoos in their ears. One states the month and year of their birth and the order in their litter that they were tattooed. The other is their official registration number. Maybe it is something similar. Or maybe a spay tattoo, like **gonzo** suggests. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/9 "2009-07-13T03:43:04Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > Earlier this year, we rescued an abused dog that was dumped. We thought she is a German Short Hair Pointer and Lab mix. My dad took one look at her today and insists she is pure pointer, though possibly a mix of long and short hair. > > At any rate, she has the number 3800 tattooed on her belly. We assumed she had gone through a pound. Now we are wondering if it’s a litter number or something. Is there a way to find out? If the dog is actually purebred, that may be a tattoo that the breeder put on when she was very young. Have you had her scanned for a microchip? ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/10 "2009-07-13T13:10:47Z")
Don’t know if this is the same type of tattoo, but years ago, I adopted a retired champion terrier who had developed a thyroid condition and they didn’t want to breed her any more. She was 4 years old when I got her. The breeder explained that the tattoo on her belly (the letter L and a 3 digit number if I remember correctly) was a breed registration, in case she was ever lost or stolen at a dog show. I can’t swear to the truth of her statement, but that’s the explanation I was given. She was a great dog and lived to age 15. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/11 "2009-07-13T13:41:12Z")
A dog with a tatoo means he/she is a “bad ass son of a bitch” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/12 "2009-07-13T16:47:07Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The pond tattooed a circle on my dogs belly to indicate he was neutered. Isn’t it apparent that a male dog has been neutered by the lack of testicles? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/13 "2009-07-13T17:45:54Z")
Mrs. Plant used to tattoo pets with information for identification. Did you check with runner pat’s link to the national dog registry? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/14 "2009-07-13T18:56:56Z")
Did you by any chance rescue the dog from a place called Bow-wow-schwitz or Bark-enwald? ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/15 "2009-07-13T19:41:49Z")
> [@The\_Raven](#): > > Isn’t it apparent that a male dog has been neutered by the lack of testicles? Undescended testicles aren’t externally visible. The tat would confirm that the dog was neutered and not simply cryptorchid. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/16 "2009-07-13T20:13:43Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Undescended testicles aren’t externally visible. The tat would confirm that the dog was neutered and not simply cryptorchid. Besides, some dog owners have the vet replace the original equipment with prosthetic Neuticles®. We had a thread, back when Neuticles were a new thing, with speculation on why anyone would want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/17 "2009-07-14T00:55:56Z")
The folks at the National Dog Registry (linked to above)are good about helping out with tattoo searches - I rescued a sheltie that had a SSN on his thigh, but we could only read a few of the numbers. They figured out who he was, though! Have you got a pic of the dog? If you’d care to post some nice side shots, standing, I’d give you a hand in breed ID. Most shelter and pounds these days are microchipping and checking for chips, so I’d bet that any chip is one they put in. I’ve only heard of breeders and owners tattooing, except for spay/neuter signs. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/18 "2009-07-14T01:54:59Z")
You jokesters are cracking me up 😃 **DSeid** , we think she was about 1 1/2 years old when we got her and about 2 now. So no go on the b-day theory ☹ If I contact the National Dog Registry, and there is a hit on her tattoo, will the previous owner be notified that his dog has been “found”? I don’t want to take any chance that the previous owner could get her back. He very obviously abused her and it’s taken her a while to come out of her shell and get her personality back. I am merely curious about her background. It’s hard to get a good picture of her. I’m using my cell phone and she just moves too fast! Here’s what I’ve been able to get: [Chelsea playing dress up](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/liirogue/Chelsea1.jpg) [Chelsea chasing bugs](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/liirogue/Chelsea2.jpg) [Side shot of Chelsea laying down](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/liirogue/Chelsea3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/19 "2009-07-14T02:16:47Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > He very obviously abused her and it’s taken her a while to come out of her shell and get her personality back. How do you know he had her last? ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796/20 "2009-07-14T02:17:49Z")
Oh my goodness, what a cute pup! Clearly, her tail wags so fast that the rest of her has to try to keep up. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-tattoo-on-my-dogs-belly-mean/502796.md?page=2)