Here at Zwinger von dem Bauernhof we tattoo all of our puppies in their right ear. All of our puppies will have Tattoos that start with “BH” which is an abbreviation for Bauernhof. You will then find the litter letter after so for example the K litter will read as “BHK–” Following the litter letter you will find a number usually 01-10 or higher depending on how many puppies in the litter. This number will correlate with the AKC paperwork as the last two numbers of the AKC registration will count up from 1. This is to help keep all of my paperwork in order but not only that, but the tattoo will help identify who the dog is, what litter it came from, and hopefully help the dog find it’s way back home if it is lost.

 
 
 

We train andwork our dogs in the sport of Schutzhund often abbreviated (depending on the year) as SchH, IPO, IGP. We also show our dogs through the SV style show rings through USCA and other accessible organizations holding these shows to help us prove that our dogs meet the standard of the German Shepherd Dog. The sport of Schutzhund and the shows were developed as a breeding suitability test for the German Shepherd Dog and is now used by other working dog breeds as well to help handlers and dog fanciers across the globe evaluate and read their dogs intricate working abilities to help make promising pairings with partners for their dogs that will compliment each others strengths and weaknesses.

 
 

In the sport and shows we must identify our dogs are the dogs that match our paperwork. This is done through tattoo and microchip. Sometimes microchips migrate and/or fail and so when entering a show, should we find ourselves with a broken microchip or microchip reader, without a tattoo, we cannot trial our dog. In America it is hard enough to find trials to prove our dogs in, so something as simple as a microchip malfunction would be frustrating. Therefore since every puppy is a promising prospect and we never know where their future might take them, we tattoo and microchip all of our puppies so that they are easily identifiable.

 
 

If you are ever wondering if a dog was bred by our kennel that you might have found, please check in their right ear for a tattoo reading “BH—” There will be 5 characters. Sometimes the tattoos are harder to read on older dogs. Look closely, if you think you found a dog with a tattoo that even starts with a BH, please do not hesitate to reach out to me so that I can help find who the dog belongs to, and if nothing else, come and get the dog myself so that I can make sure they always have a home to come back to. I do my best to prevent loss, theft, and keep every dog I produced out of the shelter. The dogs I produce are my responsibility and I take that responsibility very seriously. Please never hesitate to contact me if you are unable to keep your Bauernhof dog, or if you think you found a lost one.

 
 
 
 

CLICK HERE to Check out this Instagram highlight showing a video of me explaining the tattoo process for my puppies and showing the puppies after their tattoos and what it looks like

 
 

If I did not breed the dog, but you found a tattoo in the dogs ear, chances are there is a breeder out there who produced the dog and carefully marked the dog so that he may always find his way back home. Even if the dog is not from my kennel, I would be happy to help find the home or breeder that the dog belongs to.