Coming home one night just before dark, a huge red and white border collie ran literally under my wheels. I jinked, but caught him, probably with the corner of the bumper; it damaged the signal. I missed him with both wheels. I stopped as soon as there was a place I could get off the road, but he was gone when I went back. I drove back and forth banging on doors for a half hour or more, without finding anyone who knew him, much less owned him. Giving up, I set off home again, but shortly saw a truck and horse trailer on the side of the road. I stopped there, and two girls had spotted him on the road (at least a half mile beyond where he’d run out in front of me), but he was down.
They helped me get him into my truck, and I stopped at home, and called my vet. It was ten o’clock by that time, but my vet was on call, luckily, and she met me at the hospital, with a chip scanner. We had a harder time getting him out of the truck than getting him in, but we got him on a stretcher, she scanned him, he was chipped and registered with the chip service. She called his people, they OK’d treatment, and though he was quite badly injured, he did recover.
Two things here – the kids with the horse were RUDE about this. They behaved as though I had deliberately run him down and abandoned him, in spite of the fact I had been driving up and down and banging on doors. That he recovered was no thanks to them; his back was injured, and it was a miracle they didn’t paralyze him permanently, the way they handled him. That was the first thing. It’s true that people do hit animals deliberately, if they can – but those people don’t stop and try to find the animal and help. Use your head to think with in these circumstances.
The other thing is, the chip isn’t some magical gizmo which will bring your dog home automagically. You have to register the chip to you with the chipping service. Chipping the beast is only the first part of the process!
And having said that, there are also services which still register tattoos. If you are leery of the chips, having heard horror stories, you can still permanently id your pets. Many foreign dog clubs are still tattooing for permanent id, including Canada and Germany that I know of for a certainty, and the worst thing about tattoos is that some shelters and even rescues don’t check for them. Since all don’t scan for chips, either, I propose to return to tattooing mine. I have one dog with two chips; whether the first chip was faulty or he managed to shed it somehow, I don’t know, but I know one breeder who had a dog he chipped three times – because the chip kept disappearing. This kind of thing is the worst I’ve heard about personally, but it’s enough for me. I’ve recently been hearing that at least some of the chips do tend to fail after a year or so. True or not true, I have no idea, but I don’t like the idea of chipping them repeatedly if the things disappear. That’s probably OK for meat stock, but not for pets.
Sorry – didn’t mean to write a missive :-) Hopefully someone will find something useful in it though!
SashaW over 10 years ago
Don’t give him to PETA, they kill, almost every animal they get.
Elvanion over 10 years ago
I sure don’t see a collar or leash on the cartoon dog. Watch from him on the next “Lost Dog” episode.
goblyn over 10 years ago
Public Service Announcement ;)
Hawthorne over 10 years ago
Coming home one night just before dark, a huge red and white border collie ran literally under my wheels. I jinked, but caught him, probably with the corner of the bumper; it damaged the signal. I missed him with both wheels. I stopped as soon as there was a place I could get off the road, but he was gone when I went back. I drove back and forth banging on doors for a half hour or more, without finding anyone who knew him, much less owned him. Giving up, I set off home again, but shortly saw a truck and horse trailer on the side of the road. I stopped there, and two girls had spotted him on the road (at least a half mile beyond where he’d run out in front of me), but he was down.
They helped me get him into my truck, and I stopped at home, and called my vet. It was ten o’clock by that time, but my vet was on call, luckily, and she met me at the hospital, with a chip scanner. We had a harder time getting him out of the truck than getting him in, but we got him on a stretcher, she scanned him, he was chipped and registered with the chip service. She called his people, they OK’d treatment, and though he was quite badly injured, he did recover.
Two things here – the kids with the horse were RUDE about this. They behaved as though I had deliberately run him down and abandoned him, in spite of the fact I had been driving up and down and banging on doors. That he recovered was no thanks to them; his back was injured, and it was a miracle they didn’t paralyze him permanently, the way they handled him. That was the first thing. It’s true that people do hit animals deliberately, if they can – but those people don’t stop and try to find the animal and help. Use your head to think with in these circumstances.
The other thing is, the chip isn’t some magical gizmo which will bring your dog home automagically. You have to register the chip to you with the chipping service. Chipping the beast is only the first part of the process!
And having said that, there are also services which still register tattoos. If you are leery of the chips, having heard horror stories, you can still permanently id your pets. Many foreign dog clubs are still tattooing for permanent id, including Canada and Germany that I know of for a certainty, and the worst thing about tattoos is that some shelters and even rescues don’t check for them. Since all don’t scan for chips, either, I propose to return to tattooing mine. I have one dog with two chips; whether the first chip was faulty or he managed to shed it somehow, I don’t know, but I know one breeder who had a dog he chipped three times – because the chip kept disappearing. This kind of thing is the worst I’ve heard about personally, but it’s enough for me. I’ve recently been hearing that at least some of the chips do tend to fail after a year or so. True or not true, I have no idea, but I don’t like the idea of chipping them repeatedly if the things disappear. That’s probably OK for meat stock, but not for pets.
Sorry – didn’t mean to write a missive :-) Hopefully someone will find something useful in it though!