Dog Gone!

The irony of it all. Just as the findings are revealed that microchips in animals may cause tumors yet how effective they can be in finding owners of lost pets, Gino disappears.

Gino is a bud of Bacchus'. He lives next door with a very energetic Boxer and a verrrry old Husky. Gino, a Yorkie, was the "mouth." His people came home yesterday to find him gone. The search continued well after dark and conversations this morning revealed a lack of success.

He has a chip. The problem is we live on the prairie. Even with a fenced and gated yard things happen. Sunday the Husky was out. I found him while Bacchus and I were walking. He's old and lame but we got him back to his yard and found the gate to the enclosed yard open. Hub said the latch anchor was full of gravel so the latch wouldn't catch. Fortunately the other two pooches hadn't joined in the excursion. The same could have happened yesterday and it was Gino who decided to explore.

He could have been stolen. He could have just wandered off and with the field grasses matching his coat he'd be impossible to spot. Over night he could have fallen prey to just about anything.

He had no collar at the vet's suggestion to prevent snagging on the fence or anything else snaggable. It isn't hard for a dog to accidently hang himself. No collar, no identification. That brings us back to the chip.

It's their last best hope. The articles I've been reading state appoximately 25% of the dogs that are brought to shelters that do have a chip have out of date information. It's a priority when we move, right along with changing addresses and phone numbers of every account we have, to change the information with the chip registry.

It would not normally occur to me to take an animal without identification to a shelter or a vet to have it scanned. It will now. Just as routinely as we keep our gates locked so an inadvertant gust of wind won't allow it to blow open. As routinely as we lock Bacchus in the house when we're going out without him and lock him in the van when he is with us.

I hope Gino makes it home. The chip gives him a chance. A tumor in a rat - a rat is not enough of a danger signal for me not to provide my pet that one extra layer of protection!