For Dog Owners...

[cynatnite]

I posted late last night about a dog that wandered into our yard. He did have a rabies tag, but no contact information at all. Calls to animal control and another animal shelter were useless. They could not help despite the fact the dog had a tag.

Just as we were getting ready to leave this morning to canvas the neighborhood a van did a slow drive by down our quiet little street. It was the owner and it was great to see them reunited. When I told the owner the problems we had in trying to find them he said he would make sure some kind of contact information would be added to the tag.

Also, our local animal control is only able to hold dogs for five days then they have to put them down.

Just FYI, folks. Please make sure there is some kind of contact information on your pet's tags. The tag number is not always enough. It will make it far easier to make sure pet and owner to be reunited in case of separation. This will help save your pet's life.

[Xenotime]

1. 5 days!?! We need more No Kill shelters around the nation.

[iamjoy]

4. Are You Kidding?

our Republican government doesn't even care about people. Why would they spend money to help animals?

[Xenotime]

8. Maybe we can fix it when dems have full control in DC

[annabanana]

2. Thanks for the update.. I'm glad they were reunited..

(My old dog has lots of ID around his neck)

...not that he has the energy to get far anymore...

[iamjoy]

3. Or Microchip Them

A dog got lost during one of the hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. He was found over 2 years later in Illinois. That's about 1,000 miles. The dog was in good shape and reunited with his Florida people.


http://www.jethrosplace.org/microchips.htm

[flvegan]

13. Seconded. Microchips are a great ID addition.

Just about every shelter and humane society has the scanners, as do a good number of vets. Also important to make sure your information with the chip company is updated when you move, change a phone number, etc.

[hootinholler]

5. Good to hear. kick to be seen. n/t

[jcla]

6. My dogs are tagged, telephoned and ided with

implanted devices that give telephone and address numbers. Plus everyone in our 'hood knows my old lab and would only bring him home when he was hungry and ate them out of their fridge! Dog friendly neighborhood is good to have especially with my two!

[FredStembottom]

7. The Big Box Pet supply stores have realy fun kiosks......

That engrave a name/phone number tag for you right before your eyes. Very enjoyable for kids to do.

[lonestarnot]

9. Yeah!

:applause: Unity!

[Mabus]

10. I can vouch for the usefulness of tags

We moved from Kansas to Maryland earlier this year. My husband began taking our German Shepherd for daily walks in a nearby park. One day she spotted a squirrel and bolted after it. My husband slipped on an icy patch and lost control of her leash. He spent close to an hour walking around calling her name but he couldn't find her. He was heartbroken. He knew he had to get to work so he headed to the car. That's when he saw her. She was sitting in the front seat of the car and was very excited to see him. The passenger window was rolled down and when she saw my husband she started barking when she saw him.

He got home and told me what had happened. We wondered who put her in the car and how they knew which car to put her in (since there were a couple of other cars in the lot). A few hours later my brother called from Kansas. He said he got a call from a local park cop at about 5 o'clock. She said she found our dog in the parking lot of the park and was really worried since the tags were from Kansas. My brother told her that we had just moved to the neighborhood. He suggested that she just put our dog in our car and then told her which car to look for. The cop said that made sense because that's the car our dog had been sitting next to when she found her.

That $2.50 tag saved us a lot of heartache. Since then we got all three dogs updated tags with their names and our telephone numbers.

Here's a picture of our little girl (with her Barney doll). Our lives would be empty without her.

[Barack_America]

15. Great story and what a great cop!

:hi:

ETA: And beautiful puppy! I love shepherds!

[Mabus]

17. We were really lucky

From what my brother told me the cop was really nice. It helps that Skala loves people and is usually pretty obedient. Plus, she loves riding in the car so it wasn't a problem to get her into it.

Thank you. We think she's beautiful too. Skala is our little rez dog. Her name means "very white" in Lakota and she was rescued from Pine Ridge. I grew up with Shepherds but she is the first for my husband and he can't imagine living without one now. She's my first White German Shepherd. She was about 2 1/2 when she came to live with us. I really wasn't aware of them until she came into our lives almost three years ago.

[Shoelace]

11. ah, nice it had a happy ending also you can put free "lost" ads in most newspapers

being a dog lover all my life, that was a great story with a happy ending.
Our little doggy is micro chipped, with name tag, phone #, etc. We found an old Sheltie a couple of years ago so I called the Humane society, gave them the info (wasn't about to take her down there) and whilst working out in the yard that day, I saw a elderly woman driving slowly on our street. I flagged her down, asked her if she was looking for a dog. Sure nuff, it was her beloved companion and the reunion gave me tears in my eyes.
Our newspaper has a section for lost animals and it's free to place the ads.
Best to have owners ID their dogs though lest the creeps around take it to sell for research.

[Barack_America]

12. Our dogs wear collars with their names and our # stitched into them.

Even tags can fall off. Picked them up after Katrina. We've been really happy with them.

Here's an example, but there are many vendors that sell them now.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+4+9063&pcatid=9063

[Howler]

14. Thank you!!!!

For helping a Pup and a fellow Dog Guardian. Then compounding the really good Karma by spreading needed information to other the other Dog people! :applause:

[texanshatingbush]

16. My online vet supply provider--Drs Foster & Smith--have a service....

....which allows you to register your dog with them, and they then send you a tag with your dog's name and their 1-800 phone number. If someone finds your lost dog, they call the 1-800 number, and Drs Foster & Smith staff consult the information you have filed with them--showing your local vet's name/phone, name/phone of a local kennel which will board your pet until you return, and several names of your family or neighbors who will take your dog in until you return.

This service (cost around $20, if I remember correctly) has given me a GREAT peace of mind. I found the service after I heard one of those heartbreaking stories of the family dog who was put down because his folks were out-of-town and he had escaped from the backyard where the neighbor was looking after him.

[LiberalFighter]

18. Animal control didn't have the rabies tag info on file?

They must be totally useless. Don't those idiots keep that info on file?

[UTUSN]

19. Actually, the supplier of the rabies tag (vet, or City) might trace back to the info

A diligent finder contacted the vet's office where the dog got its rabies tag, leading to the registration number, and therefore the owner's/customer identifying info.

[napi21]

20. Part of the problem is with their vet! My dogs' rabies tags have the

#, Vet's name & phone number too! I always thought they all had that! I also have very nice metal ID tage that fit right onto their collar so there are no tags hanging. They cost $7.00 ea. but well worth it. One of my senior babies (18 years) lays down on top of the A/C register, his tag would slip through the slot, and when he got up, the tag would get stuck! Needless to say that would freak him out! He's a wonderful old guy, but has always managed to get into silly situations that no other dog ever does!

[ladywnch]

22. same thing worked for me when I lived in AK. The vet contact info

was on the tag. They called the vet, got my info and contacted me about my dog. AK is a GREAT dog state. Here in CO, I have rabies tag, city license, and contact info tag that I got at one of the big box pet stores mentioned earlier in this thread. Someone mentioned in the thread about chipping thier dog. I've heard some disturbing data about those; that they pose a high chance of cancer in those dogs. Anyone have any info about that?

[napi21]

23. I've read articles about that too, but I've never read any real confirmation

that it's true. I never had mine chipped because when it became fairly common place, my kids were all pretty old and simply would never run away! I also have some concerns about having a lost dog picked up and nobody checking for a chip. I know they're supposed to, but because of so many other failures, I'm just not sure every animal control. humane society, or shelter really does it.

[dysfunctional press]

21. have them microchipped.

collars/tags can come off.

[StarryNite]

24. Round ID tags are safest.

The cute little bone shaped ones and some of the others are more apt to get stuck on fences and such and can result in hanging or strangulation of the dog.