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The doghouse

No ID tag on lost dog.

24 replies

NCISaddict · 28/02/2014 13:17

Just bought a dog home who attached himself to DH on the dog walk today. Lovely black and white small springer/cocker who is lovely and well cared for. Had a collar but no tag. We asked everyone we saw and left notes in the car park and then took him to our vets to be scanned. He is chipped and his owner will hopefully be coming to collect him later but would have been quicker and better if we could have called the owner when we found him.
He also doesn't answer to his name or a whistle so has emphasised the importance of good recall to me.
Glad it's a happy ending although we would have kept him if no owner was found.

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MothershipG · 28/02/2014 16:58

To be fair tags are easily lost, but you're not wrong about recall being probably the most essential skill you can teach your dog.

And I say that as an owner with an 8 year old work in progress! Blush

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NCISaddict · 28/02/2014 17:38

I'm even more cross now the dog has been picked up by friends of the owner who was at home but without his car, who say he's never had a tag and hasn't been trained. He escaped from the garden this morning so had been missing for at least seven hours. And not even a thank you phone call!

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MothershipG · 28/02/2014 17:43

That's a shame NCI Poor dog Sad

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NCISaddict · 28/02/2014 17:45

He seemed quite happy, had a whale of a time playing with my dog but covered in mud, I wonder if it's a regular occurrence, I would be beside myself if my dog was missing for seven hours.

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ErrolTheDragon · 28/02/2014 17:46

Seems a bit odd to chip him but not bother with a tag. Still, good thing (a) he was chipped and (b) he fell into your good hands.

You deserve Thanks

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mrslaughan · 28/02/2014 19:46

But his breeder chipped him, and registered his owner, that's what happened with us?

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NCISaddict · 28/02/2014 19:48

Quite possibly, I know some breeders do but it's illegal to not have a tag and would have been useful in this case. We'd have dropped him back home then.

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AlpacaLypse · 28/02/2014 19:49

I've got a couple of clients who haven't actually tagged their dogs (dogwalking agency). I have mentioned it more than once.

They all wear a tag with my name and mobile number on it when they're with me.

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AlpacaLypse · 28/02/2014 19:51

Posted too soon. Each time, I've had a bewildered 'But he's chipped, so no problem' from the client. So I politely explain that very few people who happen to find a lost dog when they're out walking their own, or living on a farm in deep country, happen to have a microchip reader...

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NCISaddict · 28/02/2014 19:51

That sounds wise Alpaca We actually stuck a note with our number on the dog walking company van that was in the car park as we thought they might know him, also to make people realise we weren't pinching him, as an intact make he would be quite valuable I should think.

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LtEveDallas · 28/02/2014 19:53

MuttDog loses tags weekly it feels like, so I've now invested in an Orvis named collar that I've had our phone number embroidered on. Cost me £15. Here

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furbaby · 28/02/2014 19:56

We have our boy chipped and also have home and mobile telephone numbers lazer printed onto his coller and lead as I hate the jaggling noise of dog tags on a coller.
As he is off lead most of the time living in the country at
least if we accidentally lose his lead we will hopefully get it back :)

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bakingtins · 28/02/2014 19:58

The maximum fine for alowing a dog to be in a public place with no ID tag (or collar plate) is £5000. Having a chip does not exempt you.
The fines are very rarely levied, but the best reason to tag your dog is so that the well-meaning member of the public who finds him doesn't have to find someone with a scanner in order to contact the owner.
If they are repeat offenders for letting him roam (vet will often know if the same dog keeps being brought in) then they will pass details to the dog warden. The legislation is there to punish them if it's appropriate and education fails to have the desired effect.

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StuckOnARollercoaster · 28/02/2014 20:01

We have picked up 2 stray dogs in the last 6 weeks and neither had tags. It would have been a much simpler reunion to their owners if they had a tag rather than all the palaver of getting the dogs to the dog warden to then eventually be claimed and reunited...
Can't understand it...

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StuckOnARollercoaster · 28/02/2014 20:02

Both dogs had collars but nothing to help identify them...

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furbaby · 28/02/2014 20:02

Thats not good op , I would have been very upset if ours went missing :(
A thank you phone call isnt too much to ask for .
Bet you wish you had kept quiet and kept him now poor pup x

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bakingtins · 28/02/2014 20:03

To comply with the law the information has to be on a tag or a plate attached to the collar and must include the owner's name (not the dog's name) and address. A collar with a phone number only does not comply, though for all practical purposes it gets the dog back to you, and you'd be unlucky to be hauled across the coals for it.

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bakingtins · 28/02/2014 20:10

Flowers for you NCIS

Sadly the people we reunite with their dogs are often bloody ungrateful to the kind person who brought them in, the staff member who scanned them, contacted the database then contacted the owner, or often put posters up and put them on Facebook because they had no ID at all, the kennel assistant who cleaned out the kennel they were occupying, and the person who informed them of their responsibility to tag the dog (and from 2016 idchip them too)
Other times the dog only got out or away from the owner by accident and effusive thanks for his safe return are on offer. Sorry you got the first sort.

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furbaby · 28/02/2014 20:13

Thanks bakingtins for info didn, t realise it had to be address as well .
we are lucky that we have a lazer printer at work so I will add address on monday :)

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furbaby · 28/02/2014 20:25

Microchipping is a good thing , we were on way to work last week when we saw a boxer dog running around spooked in the middle of the road , all the cars slowed to miss him but we stopped raised the boot and he came running to us and jumped in boot , lucky we had our darling dogs cage in back .
We dropped him at vets and said if they couldnt find owner to let us know and we would care for him until they were found ( didn, t want him in rescue )
As it was he was Microchipped so within an hour his owners were found and he was home safe :)

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NCISaddict · 28/02/2014 22:25

I really couldn't believe it took so long from the vet telling me they'd contacted the owner to him being collected. I would have been on the phone straight away making sure mine was ok even if I was delayed picking him up.
I would have happily kept him though I think he would have needed a lot of remedial training.

He was an intact male so would have been quite valuable to thieves too. We put notes on the dog walking company van and the car park notice board with our number so that people didn't think we were stealing him.

Ours is chipped and has a tag with our name, phone numbers, post code and house number on it.

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Hoppinggreen · 28/02/2014 22:43

We found a dog a few months ago but it didn't have a chip either.
It was a Sunday and the only option was to drive it 40 minutes to a kennels that according to the vet nurse who scanned it for the chip is horrible!!
I decided to keep him overnight but managed to find his owner via FB - he belonged to the parents of an ex of a friend of a friend!!!
The owner came for him and was very nonchalant about the whole thing, if I had taken him to the kennels they would have put him to sleep after a week!!!!
People like they make me really cross

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1MitchellMum · 01/03/2014 12:29

Dogs without tags drive me crazy. OK they may be chipped but not everyone has the desire/time/willingness/knowledge to get dog to vet to be scanned. As most people carry mobiles it can take less than a minute to call the owner! As well as the legal situation of course ...

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Hoppinggreen · 02/03/2014 10:04

I agree. The one we found ( see above) would have been home within 10 mins of finding him instead of 4 hours, including us taking him to an out of hours vet for scanning. Not everyone could or would have taken him in.

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