Meet Kanut. 

Kanut loves bounding through the snow. Kanut is so good at scaling snow drifts and plowing through the deep banks that he sometimes loses track of his humans. Good thing Kanut wears a Hattie Tag. Hattie brings you home. 

• Created as a quiet alternative to traditional hanging tags
• Designed for use on an adjustable ribbon, fabric, or webbing collar
• Tag measures 2 1/4" long
• Quiet tag widths are according to the width of the dog's collar
• The plate is cut from thick copper
• Sample tag features the "comic sans" font
• Each letter and number is individually stamped by hand with an antique hammer

Custom Dog Tags - How we make our hand stamped dog tags

Hattie Rex Pet ID Tags are personalized by you and handmade by our three talented metalsmiths/dog tag artists in our downtown Bozeman, Montana studio, and retail store.  

We make these unique dog tags for pets by hand from start to finish.  We start with thick sheets of metal, including copper, brass, aluminum, nickel silver, and sterling silver.  We cut the metal pieces of each handcrafted dog tag using a disc cutter, a pancake die with a hydraulic press, or by hand using a jeweler’s saw.  We remove any metal burrs or rough edges with a belt sander. We’ll do the final polish later, but we sand it down first to make sure we have an even, flat surface for the next step.

This step is our favorite because it’s where the piece of metal becomes your dog’s tag!  We place the metal pieces on a steel bench block and use an antique hammer to hand-stamp your dog’s name and phone number (and any other information you like) on the dog tag.  The hand-stamping process is what differentiates our handmade dog tag method from machined dog tags or engraved dog name tags. Every letter and number is stamped individually by hand, creating a unique, one-of-a-kind artisan dog name tag.  The spacing of the letters is artistically executed, ensuring that your handmade dog tag isn’t mistaken for a robot-produced dog name tag.

Next, the pieces of our metal dog tags are soldered together using an oxygen and acetylene-fueled torch.  This part is the most exciting! We love the way fire can join together two pieces of metal, creating a thick, sturdy piece of dog tag art.  After soldering and cooling, they make their way over to the drill press where we add a hole for the split ring to go in later.

The dog tags go through a round of polishing in a tumbler.  After tumbling, we darken the tags to add contrast before they go through a final polishing by hand.    For our traditional hanging dog tags, we attach a USA-made, heavy-duty, zinc-plated stainless steel split ring to attach to your dog’s collar.  This makes our mixed metal dog id tags durable and safe to ensure that your dog tag art will last for years to come.

The last step is to ship it off to you, complete with a gift box for giving or keeping.  We offer free standard shipping on orders over $50.  This offer is valid only in the United States on orders shipped via USPS First Class Mail and it automatically applies to your eligible order.

Our custom pet id tags make great gifts for dog lovers or anyone who needs a dog gift. Shopping for someone who has everything?  A gift for their dog is always a hit. Our dog tags are available in sizes extra small to extra large, so we have tags for every dog breed and cat tags, too!  If you’re not sure which dog tag to get, we offer gift cards, too. It’s the perfect gift when it has to be special.

Dog Name Tags:  Why your dog should wear an ID tag

Dog or cat id tags can save your dog’s life if she ever runs away.  Every year, thousands of dogs are lost from their owners. When they are found, how do they communicate their phone number and address without a dog ID tag?  Wearing a tag --any tag -- is the quickest and easiest way for your dog’s finder to help your dog come home when she is lost. Whether you choose to buy a machine tag engraved dog tag, or write your dog’s phone number on her collar with a Sharpie, or treat yourself to a high-quality, handmade metal dog tag like ours, it’s imperative that your dog wears a pet name tag that includes a phone number.

While microchipping is a very common dog id method, the dog microchip requires that the finder take the dog to a veterinarian or animal shelter to scan the chip to retrieve the information.  Although we all hope that anyone who finds a dog would take this step, there is no guarantee that someone would take the time to do this, or would have the time to do it quickly. Just think, every minute that it takes someone to drop everything and run your lost dog to the humane society is a minute that you are worried and scared because your dog is missing!  Save yourself the heartache and make sure your dog is wearing an identification tag.

Learn more about Hattie Rex here.

Hattie Rex products ship within 5-7 business days.