My dog has a nasty habit of shaking her ears when they itch rather than just scratching like a good human child would. It's fine, but it drives me insane when her tags make that 'jingle jingle', mostly because long bouts of 'scratchy ears' only seem to show up around 3AM.

Asking around town for silencers got me a lot of "we have *dogtag* silencers, but no *dog* *tag* silencers". I finally found some at the pet store (duh, should have looked there first), but the city's vaccination and licensing tags are oddly shaped, and these bits of round plastic do no good. This instructable demonstrates how to silence any shape of tag using an old bike innertube.

Step 1: Materials

Gather up what you will need, it's not much:

- Old bike innertube
- Rubber cement
- Something heavy (bricks are heavy!)
- Hobby knife or razor blades
- Wax paper (not shown)
- Tags to silence

Step 2: Cut

Begin by cutting blanks from the tube, these should extend around the entire shape of the tag by at least 5-10mm.

Step 3: Glue

Using a ridiculous amount of rubber cement, glue the backs of the tags to the rubber blank. You will achieve the best results if you use enough glue that the silencer 'floats' without touching the tag at this stage.

It is best to glue the tags to the inside of the the part of the tube that was previously the interior of the tire. The slight curvature in the rubber will cause the silencers to peel off much more quickly if you do it the other way.

Wrap the tag in a piece of waxed paper with the waxed side towards the tag to save against the excess seepage from ruining your work surface.

Step 4: Wait

You can watch the glue dry if you want, but that would be about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Put something heavy over the wax wrapped tags and wait for the glue to set completely.

Step 5: Trim & Clean

Using the razor blade, cut around the edges of the tag. It is best to place firm pressure on the tag with one finger, and cut around the edge at an inward angle. This will 'bevel' the rubber backing slightly and keep it from peeling as quickly.

Next, use your razor blade to poke small holes in the attachment points on the tags so you can put it back on the collar. Make this hole small, it will help retain the tag on the ring and cut down on some of the sound.

Finally clean off excess cement on the front of the tag. This is best accomplished with the greatest tool anyone can own, a finger. Just rub the tags until the excess cement is clear.

You can now put the tags back on the ring, and enjoy a full night sleep.