Dog related question.........

After reading the Do you know where your dog is...... thread I figured I'd ask this here rather than hijack that thread. How many of you have your dog personally identified, i.e. tattoo or micro-chipped and if you have had it micro-chipped did you join the national registry? I had Levi MC'd and joined the registry but we purchased an electronic ID also which can be programmed if you were traveling so a local phone number, i.e. hotel, motel, friends home etc, or mobile phone # can be listed as well as your dogs name and address where you are staying on the road. Lists allergies and lots of other data also. Anyone use these things? Thanks............

Great thread banjo....Maybe some don't know they can do this.
We have 2 of our three MC'd.
I did not have Lacie, my 15 year old Yorki-Poo, MC'd because she never leaves my side. Literally. :eek:
( well..now she sticks close to Lady's Buck but if he's not there she's with me )
Great information here.

Our dog is MC'd and as soon as he old enough to be is nuetered, he will be registered nationally.

My dogs have MCs but I've never filled out the registry papers. Simple procrastination on one of those minor details of life. I am not concerned about it because of my dog's natures. They do not even let people they know approach them without barking their heads off. Someone they don't know would never be able to approach them, let alone catch them.

They are constant companions, shadow dogs. They are in the house if we aren't home and they are in the house with us if we are home except for their potty breaks. They have a doggie door to go in and out freely while we're home.

When we're out in the wilderness and they are off leash we will sometimes try to ditch them and play hide and seek. It never works. Usually we can't even get out of sight. We've trained them since being pups to never get out of sight of us. On straight stretches they may get out a maximum of 30 yards in front of us before doing a head check, paues or running back to greet us. They know to wait before going forward on turns or hills so we can catch up to them. This training serves to keep them within shotgun range when BIGGUY takes them pheasant hunting too.

We have not yet had our dog MC'd. Our 3 cats are, though.

Levi is a wimp and he tried to hide behind me and the chair at the vets when he saw the needle but it went very well. My reason for MC'img him is that I will use him to bird hunt and know we could get seperated although it's unlikely since like Truckin's dogs he's a Velcro dog and needs to have me in his window and isn't the kind of dog to go visit someone unless he knows them very well. I do like the electronic ID though as it was very inexpensive at under $40 and would be a good thing to have if you do travel, the con would be it's removable unlike the MC, or tattoo, which are not.

Our yellow Lab came MC'ed (purebred pound puppy) and registered with them and the CKC. Our other Lab was a pet store puppy and we never got him MC'ed (didn't know about it). After 15+ years, I don't think we'll bother.

Our next dog will likely be MC'ed.

Razi will be MC'd when he's old enough. I've been told it's not a good idea to MC a puppy.

Our dog has a tag and our neighborhood is very secluded so I decided not to MC. Our dog also is never out of our sight 24x7.

A tag with a phone # and address is critical so people who find your dog can call you and not take the dog to the shelter.

I had a good week, found a foster home and adoption home for 2 dogs.

Our rabbits are MC because we do not have a collar on them. I think that I read somewhere that you can get a GPS tag for your pet?

One of the vets around here said that they'll start refusing to treat your dog if it's not mc'd. I don't know about how well that'll go over.

If the mc includes gps, then I think it's invaluable. I saw a poor woman last year run after her little puppy to a mangrove type area, impenetrable for her but her little puppy disappeared into the 'woods.' She had a large group of people with her, so I didn't stop to help search, but her face haunts me to this day. I sure hope she found it.

My wife works with dog rescues and at the human society- none of our seven dogs are chipped. She has looked into this and found out that the scanners that are used are not standardized. Several vets and rescues told her the same thing-- when they find an animal they scan according to the machine they have and they do miss some of the "nationally registered" chips since the machines are different. If your dog is chipped and someone scans them with the wrong type of scanner it would not register anything. Not to say they are without benefit but until there is a standard system she does not want to do this. We have tags on the collars with three separate phone numbers and emergency info (one has seizures, one has allergies- ETC).

...They are constant companions, shadow dogs...
You reminded me of a dog I had once that was named Shadow. That was before micro-chips..... that was before micro-anything! :D

Nice doggie-avatar, Truckin'.

Yes, there is a GPS locator for your pet...

http://www.globalpetfinder.com/

But it's a pretty big unit.

This question is for "Truckin". I noticed you listed a doggie deck as one of your accessories. Could you tell me about this? Is is something you made yourself. Any pictures?

Doggie Deck by Truckin' (http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1087&highlight=doggie+deck)

I have both my dogs MC'd and had two different vets pick up the chips when they scanned for it. They both have tags as well, but the chips do give me piece of mind that whatever happens there will at least be some way to indentify them.

Look at what happened after Katrina, 100s of dogs with no possible way to find their owners. At least the MC is something.

Both of our labs are chipped, labs are pretty intelegent, I may buy them cell phones as well.

All 4 of mine are chipped and registered, there is only 1 vet in town and they use the same scanner as the shelter, so if they do get out they'll get back to us. My America/English Bulldog is deaf, so she doesn't go anywhere w/out being on a leash. I really don't think they will ever get out or get get very far, our newest rescue has a broken pelvis so she won't go far at all. The MC is mainly for my wife's peace of mind. And if she ain't happy, nobody's happy:D

Thanks fishnbanjo for pointing me in the right direction. I'm just learning my way around the site. There's an incredible amount of useful information here.:)

Both of our labs are chipped, labs are pretty intelegent, I may buy them cell phones as well.

http://cellphones.engadget.com/2005/12/06/petcell-gps-tracker-phone-for-dogs/

:D

I never thought about MCing until reading this thread we have 3 Yorkies (we call them pocket wolves they think there that bad :D ). The yard is fenced, when we go in the RV they stay on lead most of the time lot of real dogs around that could eat a pocket wolf in one bite. Will look into the chips. Thanks all for the info.