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Microchipping your dog


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Tess wears a tag that says she's microchiped, and on the other side there's my phone number. I think it's the fastest way for someone to contact me if she ever gets lost. But I notice many of you don't put your phone number on the tag. Is that because you don't like the idea of your phone number being "public"? Just curious.

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My dogs wear tags with my cell and my husband's cell numbers on them. It is the fastest way to get a dog returned to you at any hour of any day (nights, weekends, holidays) as apposed to someone having to call a vet or go to a vet/dog control. I also put our names on the tags, and not the dog's name.

 

I think most people put their phone number on their dog's tags, but also put other information such as microchip number, their names, town/address, and so on.

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I wish all the microchip companies would contact the owner directly. Usually when someone stops in our office with a found pet it is in the middle of appointments and things are nuts. The AAHA website is very speedy locating the chips manufacturer but then I am usually on hold with the microchip company and sometimes have had to leave messages with them. It would be great if they would then contact the owner themselves and have the owner call our office. In the meantime I could ask the person who found the pet if they minded their phone number (only) being given out or if they wished to wait for the owner to call. Then I won't have a dilemma about giving out anyone's personal information.

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On Keeper's collar I have my number, my mother's number, and "microchipped-reward". I very much appreciate when dog's have an address on their collar, I've walked many dogs home. Once I'm done moving around I'll be adding that to his collar. I don't know that it would do much, but I'd like to think it would be a slight deterrent in case anyone ever found him and thought about keeping him. It may be nothing, but it lets me sleep at night. I also put his name on the collar, I know people say it can make a dog go with a stranger more quickly. But considering Keeper went away with a total stranger and obeyed an out-of-sight down stay for ten minutes (friends of mine...) I'm pretty sure he'd listen to any name someone gave him within five minutes. I also think the name on the collar is a badge of honor, because I'm a sappy SOB. :(

 

I have no issue with my personal information getting out in order to get my dog back. Here! Take my SSN! Anything to bring him home!

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My dogs have a riveted tag on their collar. There was room for 4 lines.

Line 1 is dog's name and town, state

Line 2 is my home phone

Line 3 is my cell phone

Line 4 is "microchipped" -- in the hopes that if someone finds my pet, they will think twice about keeping him because he is microchipped and possibly could be traced -- if they took him into a vet as a stray and the vet scanned for a microchip.

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Hmm, Kenzi's chip number is ON her 24hr Pet Watch tag. She still wear the tag (note, slightly flexible plastic tags are the best ever - 6 years on an active dog and still fine) and I wrote my phone number on the blank side with a Sharpie.

 

 

Oh, true! But I think many dogs are found without collars, either having lost them or having had them removed, so there's no chip tag for anyone to see. I was thinking in terms of chips being discovered only upon scanning, with no collar on the animal at all. That's often the problem with lost or stolen dogs, I think, or dogs who escape from an accident or mishap.

 

~ Gloria

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There are many things wrong with the way dogs are treated in Spain but the microchips rules are very effective. By law the dogs have to be microchipped, and registered. It is a one off-fee of 10 euros, and arranged by the vet, the number and contact info is registered with the Spanish Veterinary college, and the owner info can only be changed by a vet. When a dog is taken into a shelter it has to be scanned, and if it has a registered owner they can not adopt or put down the dog until the owner agrees to relinquish. If the dog does not have a chip or a registered owner then there is still a waiting period, which I believe is 30 days. When you go to a new vets they scan for the chip.

In the US you can register a microchip with a different database than the manufacturers, if it is one of the international standard ones, so even if you figure out the manufacture the chip # might not be registered with that company. I know my dogs # is registered with a different company to the manufacture as the rescue wanted all the numbers registered with the same database. Makes the situation very confusing.

On my tags in the US had my street address and both our mobile numbers, I use the gundog supply collars with the riveted plates. We lived in the type of town where someone would just walk your dog home, if they found them close to your house. Now I have both mobiles and "microchipped" on the plate.

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Working at a vet office you see quite a few 'found' animals brought in. One of my biggest fears is one of dogs gets lost so i try to do all I can to prevent that and to go the extra mile when reuniting dogs with owners.

 

All my dogs wear snug collars 24 x7 with riveted tags so there is little chance of getting collar caught. They are also all microchipped with a home again chip. Not all readers have been able to read every chip but most if not all can read the home again. I chip all pups in a litter and register them to ME - that way I know at least i will be contacted if the owners do not transfer that info. I tell new owners they can leave me as a contact if they choose. All pups also go home or on a plane with collar and ID. To transfer I either need to call the company and do it or the new owner sends me a form that I need to sign and send in. I do not like their chip number on the collar, Nothing stopping them from saying yeah thats my dog here is his number. Home again also will take info and photo and has lost pet alerts they send out to vets and others - great service.

Chips can and do migrate and will occasionally not be found. Happened to me, in that case they will replace that chip at no charge and have both chips registered to that dog. Always a good idea to check the chips when the dog is at the vet office.

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Not where I live!

 

 

I think that may be a UK thing, since someone said dog "warden?" In the US, I think most police have almost nothing to do with stray dogs unless they find one on the highway or endangering someone. Usually police just call an animal control officer when faced with a lost or stray dog.

 

~ Gloria

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Interesting article in yesterday's paper in Fargo, ND. The city is now scanning deceased cats and dogs they pick up (usually hit by a car) so there can be closure for the owner. It is not that they have so many pick-ups, but rather that someone "in charge" cares. They actually have to transport the animal to the pound for the scan, as they do not have the equipment.

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I think that may be a UK thing, since someone said dog "warden?" In the US, I think most police have almost nothing to do with stray dogs unless they find one on the highway or endangering someone. Usually police just call an animal control officer when faced with a lost or stray dog.

~ Gloria

I was always really impressed with how the police department in Newport handled dogs. They had an Animal control officer, but he/she worked a regular 5 day week, the rest of the time the police handled lost/stray dogs and often did when they were on duty. Drove dogs home in cruisers if they could rather than out to the shelter, the despatcher was always happy to help coordinate the return of lost dog. When a dog went missing, everyone called the police first, then the shelter. That said the town has a huge police department due to being a very busy resort for 3 months of the year so there is no shortage of officers available.

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I would be extremely angry if I found out that a vet office had scanned my lost animal and then simply given the info to the person who brought the animal in rather than calling me. that is just like giving the animal away if the person who brought it is in not honest.

 

My vet would scan any new animal brought in to the clinic, unless brought in by someone she has known for years. I doubt that she would scan an animal I brought in because she has been my vet for over 10 years and knows me to be honorable. (She even gave me my Kit dog :) ) I think all vets should scan new animals as a matter of course.

 

When Digger became my dog and I had to change his chip registration I found out that the previous owner had never registered him in her name. The chip company would not tell me what name he was registered under. They asked me questions about how I came by the dog and insisted that I provide proof from a vet that the dog had been with me for a minimum of six months before they would change his registration to my name. My vet provided that, as I had had him in her clinic immediately after he came to me and we were there again that day. She just faxed something to the chip company saying she had seen the dog with me seven months prior and then again with me that day. I was glad the chip company did not make it all that easy to change the registration.

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I was always really impressed with how the police department in Newport handled dogs. They had an Animal control officer, but he/she worked a regular 5 day week, the rest of the time the police handled lost/stray dogs and often did when they were on duty. Drove dogs home in cruisers if they could rather than out to the shelter, the despatcher was always happy to help coordinate the return of lost dog. When a dog went missing, everyone called the police first, then the shelter. That said the town has a huge police department due to being a very busy resort for 3 months of the year so there is no shortage of officers available.

 

That's great! :) I've heard plenty of stories about police doing wonderful things for lost and stray pets, from rescues off busy highways to saving from accidents. And yes, sometimes helping a lost dog. But out my way, anyhow, it seems people only call the police when a dog is problem like chasing livestock or other pets. It's good to know that other places are different! :)

 

~ Gloria

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That's great! :) I've heard plenty of stories about police doing wonderful things for lost and stray pets, from rescues off busy highways to saving from accidents. And yes, sometimes helping a lost dog. But out my way, anyhow, it seems people only call the police when a dog is problem like chasing livestock or other pets. It's good to know that other places are different! :)

 

~ Gloria

 

Philly has a great "Lost and Found Animals" Facebook page where the volunteers at the Animal Control Facility post lost and found animals and have great success reuniting with owners. They regularly have dogs posted who came in in the back of squad cars. It's nice to know the police are willing to take the time to scoop up a dog and bring them in.

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Tess wears a tag that says she's microchiped, and on the other side there's my phone number. I think it's the fastest way for someone to contact me if she ever gets lost. But I notice many of you don't put your phone number on the tag. Is that because you don't like the idea of your phone number being "public"? Just curious.

 

Cal ate her tag. :blink: We have a phone number on her name tag! She wears 4 zip tied together to a tag clip - Rabies, county registration, name tag with phone number, and the "I'm microchipped" tag that we made because she ate the official microchip tag!

 

Also, here's my related PSA: Get the microchip checked next time you're at the vet. Cal has two because the first either got lost or deactivated somehow - Our friends told us to double-check it because they found theirs on the floor about 6 months after it was injected (and it was such a surprise to find it because they're tiny). We went in and got her checked out just because they said so and the vet looked her over with the wand, head to toe, nose to tail...NOTHING! We got a second injected at the vet's office who promised us that having two wouldn't be harmful if the second one was just lost in there but we suspect that it fell out and we didn't notice!

 

@PSmitty - That's a shame...Hopefully in the next few years this will start becoming more and more common. Our vet says she gets more interest in microchipping every day as people realize it's so helpful.

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...it probably wouldn't hurt to have them scanned again just in case

 

Yes, because sometimes they do stop working.

 

The local DCO here will scan dogs if we bring them in and ask, just to make sure they're still working and also to make sure that their scanners will read the chips. Not all scanners read all chips, so this gives me an extra level of confidence that if my dogs should get lost locally their chips can be read.

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Another PSA about chips, there is an international standard ISO chip and the one that is really only sold in the US. If there is a chance your dog might travel overseas make sure you get the ISO chip. A friend of mine almost had a huge problem bringing her dog to Europe with her because she never checked the type of microchip.

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Another thing is that the chip only works as well as the people working the phone lines at the company for the microchip.

 

Several years ago, Jester went missing in a small town many states away from home. The person who found him called the microchip company because he had the number on his collar. The microchip company never called me. As it turned out, Jester was only a block away, but of course the person who had him had no way to know that because my phone number on his tag was from a different area code. I only found him by going door to door, radiating out from where he went missing.

 

When I called the microchip company to complain, they swore up and down that they had called me and there was no answer. I had had my phone on me the entire time, and it never rang. Of course, sometimes someone can call and the phone for some reason doesn't ring, but in that case the phone invariably shows a missed call. It's just not possible that they called ore than once as they said and my cell phone neither rang nor showed a missed call, so they were lying. Additionally, I had called the microchip company when I realized that Jes was missing, and I pointed that out to the manager I spoke to when I called to complain. She told me that there was no record of my ever having called.

I was angry enough to change companies, but of course once a chip is in the dog, it's in there and you cannot just change it.

 

Years later, Jes went missing again and once again the company did not call me. They claimed later that they called my number, and that it was not a working number, which again is BS. Fortunately in that case they called another number that was listed with the company and that person called me and gave me the information to contact the people who had picked Jes up (only about 50 feet away from where he had been hanging out with me.....but they did not know that) and took him home.

 

I hope my experience is not common. Of course, I have made sure that all my other animals have a different company managing their microchip information. But it taught me that having a chip, as useful and necessary as it is, is by no means a guarantee, even if the person who finds your dog calls it in.

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D'Elle, I'm curious what microchip company this was, if you don't mind saying. I read it on Facebook all the time about how a dog is found, has a chip, but the number 'isn't working' and now I'm wondering . . . I have all of mine registered on PetLink.net, even those whose chips were from another company. It's free and you can put in picture, medical information, etc. I had a Home Again chip in one of the one older dogs and when I tried to look it up it kept saying no such number.

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FWIW, one of my dogs (rescued) has a chip that has migrated to right over her shoulder bone. I can feel it, and every time I do, it freaks me out for a second. Then I remember....

 

And I've had it (and my other dog's chip) checked - the last time, the vet held the scanner at least 6" above the dog's back and it read just fine. So, unless the migrated chip is causing problems, I think it's just fine.

 

As for registration....just ugh. It should be simple, straight forward and easy to change!

And I wouldn't care at all if a vet or shelter or ACO gave out my info to someone finding my dog!!

diane

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D'Elle, I'm curious what microchip company this was, if you don't mind saying. I read it on Facebook all the time about how a dog is found, has a chip, but the number 'isn't working' and now I'm wondering . . . I have all of mine registered on PetLink.net, even those whose chips were from another company. It's free and you can put in picture, medical information, etc. I had a Home Again chip in one of the one older dogs and when I tried to look it up it kept saying no such number.

The company was Avid, which is now called PetTrac. I don't know if things got any better when the company name changed, as Jes has never gone missing again and those incidents happened quite a few years ago now.

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  • 1 month later...

I have mine registered with multiple companies because my initial company was bad at responding to phonecalls when I wanted to update their information. I figured if they're bad at responding how are they going to get my animal home/

 

Remember that you can register your chip with more than one database.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I rehomed a dog, the microchip company called me to make sure I wanted to release the microchip to the "new owners."

 

I gave a cat to a friend (she was in love with him) they changed the microchip info no problem. I was never notified or anything.

I was pretty upset with Home Again. What if he was stolen?!

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I gave a cat to a friend (she was in love with him) they changed the microchip info no problem. I was never notified or anything.

I was pretty upset with Home Again. What if he was stolen?!

Funny, it was Home Again that called me. I wonder if their policy has changed.

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