Alternative to collar for city-issued tag?

[dogmelissa]

My 10 yr old Maltese dog, Cube, had dental surgery a year or so ago and ever since he often has major coughing fits, especially in the morning. He sleeps in a kennel with no access to water at night and when he drinks first thing he sometimes gags up all his water. But worse than the "old man" coughing fits in the morning is that generally he seems to have trouble with his throat. At first I thought it was because of having many teeth removed (all his incisors), but now I believe that his throat was injured or at least became more sensitive due to the intubation and/or anesthetic during his dental.

This morning around 10am I took his (rolled leather) collar off & haven't put it back yet - and he seems to be better. Less coughing/hacking for sure. BUT I live in a city where dogs are required to wear a license tag (and he also has ID tag, rabies vax tag & microchip tag) so leaving his collar off is not a good idea. I think I will leave it off @ night at least until a solution is found but am uncomfortable with a "naked" dog all the time, in case something bad happens and he needs to be ID'd. (This has happened when we were out of town and he was accidentally let out in a strange town.)

So what alternative tag-carriers are there for a dog who apparently can't have something around his throat? I've considered martingale but am unsure if it would help with the weight of the tags. Will it? When we walk on-leash we use a figure-eight harness but it doesn't have a place to hook tags unless I somehow attached them around the webbing.

Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Melissa (and Cube)