SO Aggravated!!!!

[VStar Mama]

While I sit here and curse my soft mushy heart for complicating my life....I am also immensely angry about irresponsible pet owners.

 

Why....WHY.....don't people spend the money and take the time to get their animals microchipped......

 

This afternoon while running around collecting children from after school activities I came across a pair of Golden Retrievers gallivanting down one of the busy city streets. So I pull over and call them over. Both are friendly as can be! Soft, fluffy, and just the epitome of the best of Golden's all over the world. They both have collars and are fatty fat fat....indicating that someone takes good care of them.

 

I figure someone left a gate open and it won't be an issue finding their people. No one seems to be out looking for lost doggies so I take them over to my vet to check for a micro-chip. No dice. We all head back to the neighborhood I picked them up and we start asking people walking around, coming home from work, knocking on doors and asking around. No one recognizes the doggies and no one knows any one who owns Goldens.

 

Okay....so head home and call Animal Control...closed. I start posting on the local Facebook pages, lost and found sites, craigslist, and Holloman Yard Sales, also run into a couple of biker people I know and they sound out their network. Call the police and ask if anyone reported missing dogs. Evening comes and goes and I'm not getting any calls or messages.

 

OKay, they are good boys; like my kids, and are okay with my dogs so I'll let them stay the night. I don't mind really. But if these were my boys, I'd be turning the city upside down looking for them.

 

I just don't understand why people don't take the time to get their dogs chipped.....or at the very least, buy some of those engraved ID tags with contact info? Some of them are really cheap and can mean the difference between getting your dogs back or the animals disappearing from your life forever. My kids already love these guys (their temp names are "Fluffy" and "Taco Bell"), but reality is I can't keep them longer than tomorrow 4pm. I'm going to call around to the local vets tomorrow and see if anyone is willing to call any clients who have two male Golden's to see if they are missing but I'm not going to hold out much hope and I'm afraid I'll be turning these sweet boys over to Animal Control tomorrow.

[KimKim]

So sad, hopefully they are looking for them and just haven't found you. Or they are out for the evening. Thanks for stopping to pick them up. One of my dogs is chipped, shelter dog, and the other is not. I'm not sure how I feel about a foreign body inside, but that's another topic... However, they both wear collars with id tags and when I leave the house they are put in their outdoor kennels (with a roof on cement) or locked in the house. I am paranoid of ever loosing my babies. I hope the owner turns up. Good luck!

[VStar Mama]

I understand the reluctance about inserting a foreign body into our animals bodies....but it is my opinion that the benefits outweigh the potential consequences. People have had lost pets returned months and even years after losing them thanks for microchips.

 

My Boxer is a skilled escape artist/ opportunist. She loves to go walk-about. Loves to meet the neighbors and make friends. Most of the people in the immediate area know where she lives and she's been returned without my ever knowing she escaped a few times. But before my neighbors knew where she lived, people used either her tag or the microchip service to contact me and let me know where I can get her. I've had more than one person express some disappointment that they were able to contact me because they wanted to keep her, fortunately the people who Maddie choose to befriend were honest!

 

If I didn't have two dogs already, I'd seriously entertain keeping these boys myself.

[Luvparrots]

All my pets are chipped, except my canary. When I lived in the country I had a German Shepard who would carry wood with me but loved to swim the River and people were always picking him up and taking him home. If they would just leave him alone he would have come home. Thankfully, the people would take him to the vet and the vet would call me. Once I had to run an ad in the Lost in Found and the only reason I got him back was because they knew by his actions that he was very loved and cared for. They knew he was owned by a family with children because he was so sweet to little kids. They keep him for over a week. Not everyone is honest unfortunately. I am a huge advocate for micro-chipping.

[judygram]

I hope these two dogs get reunited with their owners but if you are around when that happens I am sure they will get an earful if you catch my drift, there are too many irresponsible people out there. Please keep us updated on what happens.

[Talon]

Well, Bless your heart for caring enough to take them and try and find their home. many others would just ignore them. AS for micro-chipping, I have 2 Bichon's. One came to me micro chipped, and the other did not. I read a lot on the internet about cases of animals that developed cancer or tumors near the site of the micro-chip, being a foreign object, I too was against it, so I chose not to micro chip my second Bichon. We installed an underground invisible fence, so I put collars on my dogs when they went out. I got very comfortable in the am, didn't bother with the collars as they only went out to go to the bathroom, and hurry back in to eat breakfast.

 

 

Fast forward...one Sunday morning after a torrential downpour during the night. I threw my bathrobe on, went downstairs and let them out. My bichon that wasn't micro chipped didn't come back. I threw on my sneakers...trudged out, he took off somewhere into the woods. It was soaking wet, I had to run back into the house, throw some clothes on and go out searching, having no idea where he was, or what direction he went in. IF you know anything about Bichon's they have a mind of their own and don't listen, they follow their nose. My poor Rocky has never left my yard, so I knew there was no chance of him finding his way back home....Panic set in when I realized that if he made it out to the main road, if he survived and someone found him...I would NEVER get him back as he had no ID on him...I was in tears and felt so STUPID cause if I had him micro chipped, I knew I at least had a chance....know I had none...

I started walking out in the woods and listening....after quite some time, I saw a glimpse of him and managed to catch up to him and scoop him up in my arms.

 

 

The very next day, he was at the vets getting micro-chipped. After my experience, IT IS A MUST!!

 

 

I hope you find the owners and I also hope they learn from their experience as well.

[VStar Mama]

Sorry for the tardy update. In addition to hosting my canine guests, I've been battling some nasty gastrointestinal bug that has invaded the house.Bleh...

 

Anyhow, there was a happy ending. The puppies were picked up by their grateful Mommy yesterday afternoon. I ended up having to call Animal Control as all my other avenues of inquiry didn't return anything. When I called as said that I had two strays that I needed to be picked up the dispatcher asked if they were from an intersection near my house. When I confirmed that and the breed of dogs she said that a lady had called in for them.

 

I was given her phone number and ended up sending a text as my calls weren't answered (probably screening and a full voice-mail box LOL). She was at my house within 20 minutes and the Golden Boys (as I referred to them) were happy to see their mom! I'm glad there was a happy ending.

 

I wasn't feeling well at this point (having been sick all night already) so didn't give a lecture on tags or microchips. I did tell the dogs that next time they run away they were welcome to come visit! LOL

[KimKim]

Yay for a happy ending

[Greywings]

Wonderful happy ending!

[BaileysPapa]

Hooray for a happy ending. I agree about microchips. During the last 2 big hurricanes, I volunteered with the SPCA to help get & return lost pets. The microchipped animals were returned home quickly & easily. Many were not chipped, and only some were returned to their guardians. The others have found new homes, because time would not allow them to be kept longer in order to search for their owners. As far as foreign bodies inside the animals, there is very little evidence of problems. Most chips are the size of a grain of rice. They are well worth the effort, expense, and bodily invasion.