The County Clerk has inquired about recording a brand for a dog, much as she records brands for cattle.

Anyone ever heard of this? Is the clerk required to accept the citizen's brand for registration?

Thanks

See Texas Agriculture Code 144.001:

Sec. 144.102. RIGHT TO REGISTER. In accordance with this subchapter, a person who owns one or more horses, hogs, dogs, sheep, or goats in this state is entitled to register for exclusive use any tattoo mark or other generally accepted identification method that is not previously recorded.

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But reading further, the statute sets out how marks under subchapter E (which is where dog tattoo registration is dealt with) go through the DPS, which forwards a certified copy of the registration to the County Clerk. It is the certfied copy from DPS regarding the dog tattoo that is filed by the county clerk.

Early in the chapter, the "brand law" lists a number of animals to which brands may be applied for recordation, but dogs do not appear in that part of the chapter.

And so the question: is branding a dog a "generally accepted identification method"? Please tell me it's not!

When I first started showing dogs, we would tattoo the AKC number, owner's DL or SSN inside the thigh (on the broad part of the thigh up closer to the stomach than the hock) of the dog for identification. (Believe it or not, this was done at shows, without any drugs - and I rarely saw a dog react!) The fear was that - even back then - dogs were stolen from shows, and identifying them was difficult. A person who knows dogs can go to the fence and call "puppy puppy" and probably get a response. In many breeds, individuals look quite similar, making it hard to prove the identity of the animal. The fact that we used DLs and SSNs tells you how long ago that was!

Most people who are active in raising / showing dogs these days use a microchip instead of tattooing.

A traditional "brand" like a cattle brand? That I don't remember!

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

I'm not aware of anyone using a traditional fire-brand to mark a dog. However, I have heard of people using freeze-branding to mark dogs.