Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Thank You
A great big thank you to John at PetsDirect.co.uk for giving The Pack an award for our blog Dogs Don't Use Computers and a huge thank you to Nik at PinkNik Designs, without whom, there would be no blog in the first place.
The Merits of Microchipping - It Can Happen To Anyone
On more than one occasion I have posted information on a missing dog and had a rant about why its so important to chip your dog. For a change I'd thought I'd share a story that shows how well microchipping works and proves that it really can happen to anyone.
As you may or may not be aware I am the proud owner of a 7 year old Border Collie named Tia, she came to me at 4 having seen none of the outside world and was a very nervous, excitable dog with a list of bad habits as long as her tail. She is now a very laid back animal who is no longer fearful of men, doesn't throw herself at visitors and walks well on a lead. She still has some crinkles which haven't been entirely ironed out but she is definitely a different dog. One of the issues we have with her is that at every given opportunity, i.e. if the front gate is left open, Tia will take herself for a walk. This is not to say she runs away as if you catch her in the act and call her name, she will happily trot over to see what the fuss is about. A couple of months ago, however, Tia seemed to be getting out more than usual, even when the gate was shut, this lead to a lot of fingerpointing at home, trying to figure out whose fault it was. Tia can easily jump the fence in our garden but is so laid back that unless it is to retrieve a stray ball that has been thrown too far it really wouldn't occur to her to do so, knowing this we ruled out that as a possible escape route.
Around the time that Tia was giving us her best Houdini impressions my youngest niece had to attend Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow for the first part of an operation to fix her heart problem. I was asked to house sit and care for my sister's menagerie which includes an un-neuterd Staffie dog. For this reason I had to leave Tia at home with my mum. At about 9 o'clock on the evening of the hospital visit my mum called to say that Tia had done her usual trick. I immediately donned my trainers and popped a lead on Boston to go have a look for her, knowing her usual haunts. Meanwhile my mum and my oldest niece were also out looking for Tia. We searched till quite late but with no luck and no return home from Tia we were quite worried. We agreed that we would call it a night and contact the police in the morning to see if perhaps she had been picked up. I barely slept that night and contemplated wandering the streets in the early hours, worrying that she was still out there.
The next morning I recieved a call from Bandeath Dog Kennels to say that Tia had been handed in the night before by police. They had recieved a call from someone who had taken her in. If it wasn't for her microchip they would never have known who she belonged to. Luckily for me it was an honest person that found her and not someone who decided just to keep her. It turns out that honest person is one of my newer customers who had never met Tia before and didn't realise who she was.
Tia can no longer do her disappearing act as we found that she was getting out via a hole in the fence between our garden and next door. Our neighbour had replaced the fence and there was a gap that was hidden by a conifer bush on our side but was quite visible when we looked at the other side. I am happy to report that it is now blocked and Tia only goes for walks with me and my customers' dogs.
I think this shows that there is always a lesson to be learned when it comes to our animals, no matter how much we think we know and it proves that microchipping really does work.
As you may or may not be aware I am the proud owner of a 7 year old Border Collie named Tia, she came to me at 4 having seen none of the outside world and was a very nervous, excitable dog with a list of bad habits as long as her tail. She is now a very laid back animal who is no longer fearful of men, doesn't throw herself at visitors and walks well on a lead. She still has some crinkles which haven't been entirely ironed out but she is definitely a different dog. One of the issues we have with her is that at every given opportunity, i.e. if the front gate is left open, Tia will take herself for a walk. This is not to say she runs away as if you catch her in the act and call her name, she will happily trot over to see what the fuss is about. A couple of months ago, however, Tia seemed to be getting out more than usual, even when the gate was shut, this lead to a lot of fingerpointing at home, trying to figure out whose fault it was. Tia can easily jump the fence in our garden but is so laid back that unless it is to retrieve a stray ball that has been thrown too far it really wouldn't occur to her to do so, knowing this we ruled out that as a possible escape route.
Around the time that Tia was giving us her best Houdini impressions my youngest niece had to attend Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow for the first part of an operation to fix her heart problem. I was asked to house sit and care for my sister's menagerie which includes an un-neuterd Staffie dog. For this reason I had to leave Tia at home with my mum. At about 9 o'clock on the evening of the hospital visit my mum called to say that Tia had done her usual trick. I immediately donned my trainers and popped a lead on Boston to go have a look for her, knowing her usual haunts. Meanwhile my mum and my oldest niece were also out looking for Tia. We searched till quite late but with no luck and no return home from Tia we were quite worried. We agreed that we would call it a night and contact the police in the morning to see if perhaps she had been picked up. I barely slept that night and contemplated wandering the streets in the early hours, worrying that she was still out there.
The next morning I recieved a call from Bandeath Dog Kennels to say that Tia had been handed in the night before by police. They had recieved a call from someone who had taken her in. If it wasn't for her microchip they would never have known who she belonged to. Luckily for me it was an honest person that found her and not someone who decided just to keep her. It turns out that honest person is one of my newer customers who had never met Tia before and didn't realise who she was.
Tia can no longer do her disappearing act as we found that she was getting out via a hole in the fence between our garden and next door. Our neighbour had replaced the fence and there was a gap that was hidden by a conifer bush on our side but was quite visible when we looked at the other side. I am happy to report that it is now blocked and Tia only goes for walks with me and my customers' dogs.
I think this shows that there is always a lesson to be learned when it comes to our animals, no matter how much we think we know and it proves that microchipping really does work.
