Identifying Greyhound Ear Tattoos

Before any greyhound races on an official track they must be tattooed. Most litters of pups are done automatically at around three months, so your dog may have tattoos which have not been registered if they later turned out to be a non chaser/too slow. If you are having trouble reading your dogs ear marks then rubbing the inside of the ear with a little surgical spirit will often make them clearer.

Below is an explanation of what the ear marks mean. The following letters are NOT used in earmarks:

C F G O W 5

So if your dog has a mark that looks like the number '5', then it is actually the letter 'S'.

English Tattoos

These consist of either three letters and one number, e.g. ABD 1, or three letters and one letter, e.g. ABD A (used if your dog comes from a litter of more than 8).

All of the above markings appear in the right ear, usually in green ink.

The first letter indicates the year of birth.

Marking Year
Y X 1988
Z A B 1989
D E 1990
H I J 1991
J K L 1992
M N 1993
N P Q 1994
Q R 1995
R S T 1996
T U V 1997
V X 1998
X Y 1999
Z A B 2000
D E 2001
H I J 2002

Irish Tattoos

These consist of three letters in the left ear and two letters in the right ear, e.g. AAA BB. The first letter in the right ear indicates the year of birth.

Marking Year
A 1982
B 1983
C 1984
D 1985
E 1986
H 1987
I 1988
J 1989
K 1990
L 1991
M 1992
N 1993
P 1994
Q 1995
R 1996
S 1997
T 1998
U 1999
V 2000
W 2001
Y 2002

On occasion, the year indicated by the tattoo letter is actually one year out from the year of birth given on the registration documents held for a particular dog. For example, an Irish dog whose whelp date is November 1994 might carry the ear mark 'Q' (1995). This may come about if a litter of pups is born towards the end of the year, so when they are earmarked at 3 months old they are actually given the letter of the year they are marked, rather than their birth year. This is of no real consequence for a dog that is racing, as the tattoos are only used to confirm its identity. The race book would be used to determine a particular dog's age. So please bear in mind that tattoos are only intended to give a rough idea of a dog's date of birth. If the actual date is required, then please contact either the ICC or NGRC.

Occasionally you may see variations of the above in lurchers, where a particular breeder has used their own marking system. For example, David Hancock uses the letter DH in one ear and another letter in the other ear.

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Information contained herein is provided 'as is'. No warranty is given or implied. It is based on my personal experience, and that of others to which I can personally attest. However, dogs are individuals, and what works for one may not work for another.

© 2000-2008, Fiona Moore. Please feel free to copy and distribute for personal and non-profit use, but please acknowledge the authorship and source. If this information is to be published on a web site, please include a link to this site. Thank you.

The proper address of this site for acknowledgements and links is http://www.fionas-fastdogs.com/

The original location of this page was http://www.truffy.com/fastdogs/care/general/tattoos.php