| Losing a pet
is a horrible experience. If your dog is lost or stolen, it will
be nearly impossible for others to identify your dog and help
him find his way home without the proper identification. Recent
studies have shown that only about 3 of every hundred dogs that
are lost or stolen ever find their way back home. Even the most
responsible dog owners occasionally experience the loss of a pet
due to circumstances beyond their control. Identifying
your pet is crucial if it gets lost or stolen. Here are the
most common types of dog identification methods:
All dogs should have a collar with an ID tag that includes your
name, your dog's name, your address and phone number, and if
you are willing to pay a reward for the return of your dog,
put the word "reward" on the tag as well. If you are
traveling with your dog, include an additional tag that lists
contact information of someone that will know how to reach you.
Tattoos are permanent ID tags that involve
marking a code on the dog's skin. If your pet is lost, the person
finding your dog can call a database and use the code marked
on the dog's skin to obtain the contact information of the owners.
This can also be an invaluable procedure should your pet be
stolen and sold to a testing laboratory. The laboratory will
know immediately that this is not a stray, but a beloved pet.
Microchips are tiny electronic devices that
can be imbedded under a dog's skin. When a lost dog is found,
any organization having a scanner, which includes many veterinarians,
animal control centers, and research labs, can scan the chip
and identify the owner of the dog quickly. |
