Dog Tag Silencers

There are a lot of different ways to prevent dog tags from making noise. Working at a daycare and boarding facility, I have seen a ton of creative ways to silence that jingling. I've even employed one or two of these methods in the past, but I don't anymore because I realized something. The sound of my dogs' tags don't bother me when they are just bopping around the house.

Photo by Erin Koski

The only time the sound of jingling tags starts to bother me is when a dog is scratching. Most tags are attached to the collar right beside the buckle, and when they start scratching really good with a back foot, the tags whack into the buckle and make a ton of noise.

The solution for this is not to make the tags quieter. The solution to noisy dog tags is to figure out why the dog is scratching and then fix it.

I have seen tag holders that consist of little neoprene bags that velcro around just the tags. Some wrap around the collar with a little pocket to hold the tags without attaching them to the collar itself. Many high-end collars now include a little rubber disc that goes on the split ring between the tags to keep them from banging into each other. At work I have seen a number of dogs with their rabies, identification, and license tags all taped or rubber banded together. Brisbane's Dog Tag Art tag came with a little rubber rim. There exist flat ID tags that slide or rivet onto the collar, and I've also seen regular tags riveted on.

Many of these products and hacks help reduce wear and help keep the tags readable for longer, which is a reasonable goal. I also see a whole lot of completely unreadable tags worn flat from rubbing against their neighbors on the dog's collar. However I'm pretty sure that the itchiest dogs have their tags duct taped together to keep them quiet.

Dogs itch for a lot of reasons. They may have fleas, a food allergy, or an environmental allergy. Figuring out the problem may be as simple as a dose of flea medication, a change of food, or may require a trip to the vet. Still, it's worth solving. If your dog is keeping you up all night scratching and jangling their tags, imagine how unpleasant it must be for them! Muffling the tags just makes them suffer in silence.

How do you attach your dog's tags?