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I was wondering if you share the same problem as myself 5 months back?

You see. I failed to find any unique or good-looking dog tags anywhere ' online or offline!

The search mission for a better-looking tag started when my girlfriend, Alice bought a new Chihuahua pup ' Misty. While looking for a dog tag, she complains to me that most of the dog tags available are both too ordinary and actually boring looking'.

"C'mon there must be better-looking ones..." I assured her confidently and went online to look for one. To my surprise, I can't find any! All the tags I found online are deemed boring and not unique at all' at least according to her standard.

I even went to the local pet shops ' the dog tags there are not any better, if not worse. Ordinary engraved dog tags ' I guess they must have been around for at least 15 years. And they still look the same today. Amazing!!!

Ok, I admit. I did find some good-looking personalized dog tags online ' there are some high-end ones, such as sapphire, real silver, gold, and even diamond embedded dog tags. But seriously, I'm just not prepared to pay hundreds on a dog tag! I'll rather spend the money on better grooming services or maybe on her food.

I'm looking for something in the range of maybe 10-20 dollars maximum.

2 days later' I gave up. I simply can't find any!

I decided to custom make one for Misty ' to keep Alice happy of course. ;-)

With the help of a friend, Lee who is in the plaque business and with his (trade secret) coating technique, I can basically put any artwork, graphic and even image onto the tag. I went on to design Misty's tag.

Using the idea of a newborn baby permit I saw online, a good-looking (newborn pet permit) tag with Alice's contact information and Misty's image was made.

Alice was happy when she saw the tag. It was unique, personalized, and one of its kind. It was special, just like her pup ' Misty.

But... her happiness did not last long. The tag was not scratch-resistant! The design started to peel off slowly. It was good-looking... but not functional.

Frustrated but not about to give up, (seriously, I don't have any solution at all then) Lee then coated the tag with his company's patented protective coating.

Problem solved! The tag is now scratch-resistant and anti-tarnish (image won't turn yellowish over time) because of the coating. It was even better-looking now! Because the coating leaves the tag with a beautiful glossy finished.

8 weeks of research and development (definitely much longer if without Lee's help, this article may makes it look easy... trust me. its not.), close to a thousand dollars spent. A good-looking, highly personalized dog tag was born.

"Was it worth all the effort?" If you ask me, I seriously don't have the answer.

But I admit I did learn a lot from this experience' and of course in the process Dogcustomer.com was born. I'll leave that story to another day.

My stand is that Misty won't feel the difference between wearing a conventional engrave dog tag or a highly personalized good-looking one. Only Alice will' and only Alice will understand why she wants that...