I've just had to take a wee stray cross terrier to the police station, found him wandering down our road, nearly got run over. I brought him into the house, fed him and phoned the police. If only he'd had a tag on he could have been reunited with his owners in no time.
He was a nice wee soul too, entire, which may have been the reason for his straying.

Will they scan him at the police station?

Did he have a collar on at all? If he didnt there may have been the case he slipped his collar.
It happened to us once with one of our girls, she slipped her collar whilst out on a walk, she then took fright & was running about disorientated for quite some time, her pads were very sore when we eventually managed to catch her. We are very careful with the tightness of collars but they go an extra notch now...the blood can just about circulate....

Mine always have three forms of ID, collar tags (with full address and Tel), tattoos and chips.

I would be surprised if the police have equipment to scan a dog's chip.  Don't think they are in the business of taking in strays either.  Seem to remember a story of someone picking up a couple of labs in the night that were wandering all over the road.  The police didn't want to know and there was no-one else to take them on at that time of the night.  The person kept them in her car all night - had to stay with them until the 'pound' opened in the morning. 

Yes it is the local councils that are responsible for strays, the police or the RSPCA are not allowed to take them. A few months ago we picked up a stray Akita in the middle of the road, the stray kennels (council kennels) said they shut at 10 pm so we had to get there before then eventually made it by 10.30 ( we weren't exactly close), thankfully they opened up and took the dog as I dread to think what I'd have done with an Akita overnight! Also we had to call the dog warden first and get a reference number as without the number they would not take the dog at the kennels.

The police are not the best i found a stray puppy bout 5yrs ago now and they said to let it go as they wouldn;t take it in.
  So i took it to my vets and they took care of it till the rescue centre opened.

Our local police station take strays in, the only time they weren't going to I told them I would take it back to the park and let it go, they very wisely decided to take it in. When I took a stray there a few years ago my sheltie was young and quite light so I put his lead on the stray and carried Arran, when I went to the front desk and told them I'd found a stray they thought it was Arran and were falling over each other to get him, they weren't so pleased when I said nope sorry it's this one :0

He did have a collar on, but I doubt the police would scan him, that would have to wait till he got to the pound. I must say the police were great, the operator I spoke to first phoned me straight back to say someone from Cupar station would be phoning, I really thought they wouldn't, but ten minutes later they phoned and asked if I could bring him to them, which wasn't a problem. when i got there 3 cops came out of the office to see him and they were very nice to him, he was just going to spend the night in the office with them rather than go into the kennels.
Before I took him in I went up to the pub to see if anyone recognised him, nobody did, the pub gossip quickly decided that he'd been dumped. I popped back in after dropping him off to let them know where he'd gone just in case they heard of someone looking for him.
I did wonder if he belonged to one of the shooters who were out at the back of our houses yesterday, but I'm not sure if they would have a terrier for shooting birds.

> Mine always have three forms of ID, collar tags (with full address and Tel), tattoos and chips.

Same here. And harnesses so less easy to slip (or get caught on things if they do get lost, and safer for someone to get hold of on a frightened dog I think).

Only two of mine aren't tattooed - Tia, because she's old and has extremely sensitive ears, and Raine, because the stress of it at this stage would still make her physically ill with enteritis and probably very severely at that (considering me just looking at her hurt claw from a distance made her ill for a week!).  She will be done eventually but not for a while yet.

I recently scooped up a Staffie dog whom was playing Russian Roulette with two Sugarbeet lorries on a very busy 'A' road, in the middle of knowhere. It was clear that no one else was going to stop, so we did. It took me a while to convince him that I was there to 'save him' and not harm him. When I finally got hold of him, he was clearly well loved. He had a collar on but no tag as such. He had a 'microchip database' tag with a phone number on, so I guess his owner thought that was enough. IT WAS NOT !!!

If a tag complete with their own phone number had been present, I could have called them and returned him to them thus saving much time and effort. I don't tend to carry my microchip scanner with me when I am going shopping, so the tag was pointless in these circumstances!

We ended up driving MILES to find the nearest village and someone whom could point us to the nearest vet. All in all it took us just over an hour to do all this. I was coverd in mud and Staffie foot prints!  I do not begrudge the time and hope that someone would do the same for my dogs if in the unlikely event that they ever 'got out'. The dog would clearly have been run over if we had not intercepted, but having (only) a 'microchip database' phone number was just not good enough.

Please, even if your dog is microchipped or tattooed, get them a tag with your phone number on. You never know when it might help save their life!

Totally agree, this is one of my bug bears! I have a few friends who refuse to put anything other than the dogs name on the tag (how pointless is that?!) and think the microchip tag will be enough.
When told its the law they always say that they would never put their address and home telephone number on the dogs tag because of 'security', further pressing can only get vague explanations of the possibility that this will somehow lead to them being burgled, and their mother/father/nan (delete as applicable!) always warned them against it.
Anyone else ever encountered this explanation for not putting the proper info on tags or is it a local thing?

> I have a few friends who refuse to put anything other than the dogs name on the tag (how pointless is that?!)

weirde.  dogs name is the one thing I never put on a tag.  I figure makes to easy to steal if someone got name of pet. 

I've heard it but not something I worry about really.  Just having your address from a tag doesn't give the burglar any info about who lives there, other dogs, work times etc - no more info than they could get just from scoping out any random house.  All it tells them is that the dog on the other end of the tag lives there.  And for argument's sake, if it was a worry - the owners could still put their number on the tag, as just a phone number doesn't give a potential burglar any info at all really!

Mine have their chips and tattoos, and they all have tags with every bit of possibly useful info - vet number, my mobile and landline numbers and address (it is a legal requirement regardless of the concerns), and those with medical conditions have these named also, just in case.  And they each have a tag stating 'chipped/tattooed' to encourage numpties to actually *look* for a chip or tattoo...

> weirde.  dogs name is the one thing I never put on a tag.  I figure makes to easy to steal if someone got name of pet. 

I don't buy that at all.  For them to read the dog's name on the tag, they have to be close enough to read it, and be able to handle the dog's collar/harness in order to do so... in which case, they are perfectly able to just steal the dog anyway.

Anyone else ever encountered this explanation for not putting the proper info on tags or is it a local thing?

I have, the dubious explanation I was given was so the owner wouldn't be the victim of a ransom demand.

I don't have my dogs name on their tags, only because once my address, two phone numbers and the vets number were on there, there was no room. They also have a yellow tag that says neutered and microchipped.

I'm sure that even if he's unclaimed, the dog I found will get re-homed, he was cute, looked possibly to be a Cairn or Norwich cross, and was very sweet natured. But all this could have been avoided for the sake of a five pound tag, the owners will have to pay a lot more than that to get him back now.

i do not have tags on my dogs collars as they seem to get taken off by the others or lost etc, so they all have collars that have phone number and ID CHIPPED, sewn into the collar

I have tags that have my name, address, tel number, vet address, tel number, the fact they are chipped and neutered! I ALSO have tags made with the same info and their names. I tend to use the "name" tags where I live and the unnamed when we are on the mainland. My logic with names being where we are, the chance to be stolen is slim, but the chance of them getting lost or getting out the car etc etc is higher, and I have decided that potentially someone knowing their name is more beneficial then a risk.

Having an agility dog and one that hates anything dangling off her collar - I have my mobile number embroidered on collar and lead (my husband has a habit of loosing leads!) However she has slipped her collar when she has been frightened.  Luckily for me she bolted straight back to the car and safety (at an agricultural show) - she won't go far from me normally.

this really annoys me. It costs almost nothing to get and saves a lot of heartache aswell as time searching for the dog.
We have our surname, address and mobile numbers on the tags. Only a few months ago my girl escaped after some workmen had left the gate open and thanks to the info on her collar we were reunited in less than 10 mins

my old nabour is terrible for tags, they did get them the ones that is a meatel tube with a bit of paper in but the bottom fell out years ago and the paper was lost, i did tell them but it has never been replaced, and there dogs have acess to wander the streets free 24/7 due to a catflap and the gat being left open all the time (another thing that i dont like).
Its not like they are expensive, on my pups tag i have on one side my name, first line of my adress, phone number and on the back says im chipped and the vets number just incase she need emergancy treatment, and that was abot £2-£3 form the engravers.

I have just bought 6 tags, with our new tel number, from ebay.....they were £7.50 inc engraving & p&p.

I remember a few years agao , a girl i worked with came into work crying because her wee pup had got out of her garden and she went searching for him and could not find him, i phoned the local police and they said they would keep an eye out while they were doing their rounds, well not only did they find the puppy they took him to the police station cleaned him all up because he was in a right state after his adventure, they fed him and gave him a drink, then they phoned the work to say they found him, they kept him at the station  and all the police officers played with him for about 3 hours then they brought him to our work, it was an awsome sight 2 big  policemen walking into the shop with this tiny wee puppy, my friend was so happy to have her puppy back, the police could not have been any nicer they said they enjoyed having the puppy there and the puppy had a great time, a happy ending thank god, and that puppy had a great life he never got the chance to stray again, and my friend had him chippedm i think the police officers would like to have kept him every day LOL.

I hear this time & again but it matters not if you put the dog's name on the disc: a friendly dog will go to anyone who talks to him and an unfriendly/ shy dog won't.
The legal requirement is the owner's surname and address. Phone number is not a legal requirement but just plain common sense. If my dogs were to go missing on a walk, I would not dream of going home until I found them so mobile number is a necessity! Home number also important in case they are well & truly lost for days. My dogs don't wear collars at home but are chipped.

I was in the pub this evening and the barmaid who lives along the road from me said that someone ( not a local ) was looking for a small terrier !. Unfortunately the man asked her Dad who was in the garden and didn't mention it to her until sometime later, hope the guy has the sense to phone the police.

I have a toy breed and just wondered how on earth I would get name, address, phone numbers and everything else on the "cat" size tag that he wears.  (Over here the fact that he is microchipped is sufficient).

I got a a really tiny tag for my sheltie from a website called indenti-tags and they managed to fit everything on no problem :)

I have my surname on one side and my mobile number on the other and my 2 dogs are microchipped. My Rottie has been free before now when my gates blew open when the kids let the dogs out, and I got a call within 5 minutes asking if I owned a young dobie. I said nope but I had a Rottie, they said they had her down the road. I ran down the road in just my dressing gown (about 20 houses)
All it needed was a mobile number (I refuse to0 have my address on the tag, apart from anything else, if I am out looking for the dogs I would have had to always left the kids at home from 13 onwards which would be too young to open the door to anyone, and before that they would have been with me so there would be an empty house, before any personal reasons, and if it is the law I would question the law if it came to it!!!!)
Lea :) :) :)

GRets said:

> I hear this time & again but it matters not if you put the dog's name on the disc: a friendly dog will go to anyone who talks to him and an unfriendly/ shy dog won't.

That is very true, and if anyone wants to deliberately find out your dog's name, they only have to shadow you in the park... or stop you, make a fuss of your dog and ask what his name is. And in a community, these things become common knowledge anyway - they might not know YOUR name but they'll know your dog's!

Lea said:

> (I refuse to0 have my address on the tag, apart from anything else, if I am out looking for the dogs I would have had to always left the kids at home from 13 onwards which would be too young to open the door to anyone, and before that they would have been with me so there would be an empty house, before any personal reasons, and if it is the law I would question the law if it came to it!!!!)

It is the law unfortunately... maybe it's time to lobby for a change? Especially now we are in the mobile phone age, and there are microchips and tattoos, which were not around when that law was passed.

>maybe it's time to lobby for a change? Especially now we are in the mobile phone age, and there are microchips and tattoos, which were not around when that law was passed.

That would only be reasonable if everyone carried a microchip scanner everywhere; had a mobile phone that with coverage in all areas of the country; had the phone numbers of the NDTR and Petlog stored .... No, reading the details directly means animals can be returned home so much more quickly.

If found dogs don't have an address on the tag then they're likely (as once advised by our dog warden!) to be released again to find their own way home.

>That is very true, and if anyone wants to deliberately find out your dog's name, they only have to shadow you in the park

I wonder just how many dogs would answer to 'OI!' :)

> When told its the law

My dog trainer made a huge point that you wouldnt pass the class if you didnt have a correct dog tag. As well as a microchip my dog has a tag with my name,address,postcode,home and mobile numbers. This is on his harness. I hope that if we were seperated and somebody found him it would be very easy to contact me to reunite us. I cant understand why any dog owner wouldnt put as much info as possible on the tag. It would be my worst fear to lose my dog but to then have to endure the waiting while databases were checked or microchiop scanners were found would be horrific .

> hope the guy has the sense to phone the police.

As the Police no longer have responsibility for lost and stray dogs, it is purely the Local Authorities issue, he may well not contact the Police.

>It would be my worst fear to lose my dog but to then have to endure the waiting while databases were checked or microchiop scanners were found would be horrific .

And if your dog went missing out of 'office hours' it wouldn't be dealt with until the next working day. If the adress is on the tag then the finder can bring it home immediately, even if you're out searching. There's usually somewhere to leave it; with a neighbour, tied up in the garden or even in a shed.

> As well as a microchip my dog has a tag with my name,address,postcode,home and mobile numbers. This is on his harness.

I am pretty sure the law states that ID tag HAS to be on a collar. Not sure how rigorously enforced this is and being on a harness would be good enough for me, but I'm sure the law says otherwise....

It does state the tag has to be on a collar - I vaguely remember this being questioned elsewhere and there was a reference to the definition of 'collar' in some other bit of legislation as describing a harness as well somehow (a bit like using the term 'head collar' I suppose).

Unfortunately my swiss cheese recollection is the best I can do :-P But I figure that as long as my dogs have a tag (well, many) on their 'person' whenever they are out in public, that's fine - and being on the back ring of their harnesses I figure it's also easier to read.

I will not put collars on my lively dogs - River nearly killed herself a few years back getting caught in undergrowth by hers (and it was a snug fit), at least 4 of my dogs will go exploring on every walk so I am just not happy doing it.

I think you could call a dog anything - as long as it is in the right tone of voice - not easy to get a stray dog to come to you anyway.  When I have seen the odd dog out and about I have never managed to entice it close enough to catch it - even with a treat.  At the same event where my dog slipped a collar and bolted (found her standing trembling by the boot of my car) a springer bolted and couldn't be found anywhere.  As I was leaving the event I caught site of it in the field opposite.  I turned the car around up the road and after informing the steward on the gate went with my spare lead to catch the dog.  It kept running further and further from me - so I went back - happily to find the owners had been radioed by the steward and could track the dog.

There are flat tags that fit over a collar - have seen them on the internet.  They are advised for agility dogs.  I am not happy putting an address on the collar - if I lost my dog it would be away from home.  It is highly unlikely with this particular dog for her to go further than where she is known if she somehow got lost.  Who is going to enforce this law anyway?  The authorities haven't even got the man power to prosecute folks for fouling, litter dropping etc.  They can catch one woman on her front doorstep who threw away a cigarette stub though!  They should be up the town on a Friday/ Saturday night and catch the folks who drop all their take away cartons, smash their bottles and glasses as they go home.  Perhaps my dog wouldn't be hoovering up rubbish and picking her way through broken glass on the pavement then.  Whoops off on another issue there.

My teenage son, ever the techie has put a QR code on the disc, at present it is only stuck on by cellotape but can still be read by a smart phone.  A QR code is a square black and white shape that is all dots and dashes, you see them on adverts.  He used a QR generator on internet, and on the code it gives 2 mobile numbers, house number, vets number, that the dog is neutered & chipped, insured and in the event of an accident to take to vet immediately and all costs will be met.  It's a lot of info for such a small space.  We are going to buy the QR codes in waterproof sticker form from a company called MOO they sell books of stickers in your own disign for about £7.  I think there are 90 in the book and can be stuck on any surface, cheap enough to replace when they wear off.  So many phones have code readers on them now.

So if I found Multitask's dog, I would have to find someone with a 'smart' phone?
Do you have an extra tag stating this because I honestly would have no idea what a square of dots and dashes was meant to be.

>So if I found Multitask's dog, I would have to find someone with a 'smart' phone?

You'd just have to let it go again, and hope for the best.

I'd know what it was but don't have a smart phone, so it would still be a trip to the cop shop.

You'd just have to let it go again, and hope for the best.

LOL, there is a conventional tag there too, and the QR code is taped to another tag. My son informs me that anyone younger than me knows what they are and every iphone, blackberry, Android phone will read it! 

> You'd just have to let it go again, and hope for the best.

If the dog has no tag and it is after 3pm and before 9am then I have done the same. 

When I have found a dog with a tag then I have simply walked it home.  If owner not there then knocked up a neighbour.

With perhaps puppies at home, and also having a houseful of my own I am not keen to take a strange dog to my own home, which would be the only other option out of hours.

I have done so in the past in dog warden hours, and waited outside for the dog warden to arrive.

Having the telephone number isn't enough, as often ti is out of date or no answer, and address at least gives you somewhere to take the dog, even if you have to wait until Someone comes home, or ask a neighbour to hang onto the dog.

> My son informs me that anyone younger than me knows what they are and every iphone, blackberry, Android phone will read it! 

I have never ever used or seen any of those or know anything about them, I use a standard dual band phone and text only mobile, which is hard enough for someone with my lack of visual acuity..

>I'd know what it was but don't have a smart phone, so it would still be a trip to the cop shop.

In England you'd be sent away because the police don't deal with strays any more.

When I lived in Cornwall I found a lab in the middle of a beach road where cars raced down at night with no regard to wildlife or in this case a lovely dog. No tag on the collar. I called the police and they were very good, the policewoman was a gsd owner and very caring. I gave a description and a rough age of the dog and said that I was willing to keep the dog until morning. I had 6 dogs of my own and had there been problems I would have made the dog comfortable in the garage, but my gang accepted the strange dog with no problems. I fed the dog at the same time as mine and it settled down with them.
The next morning the police had been contacted by the owner and asked permission to give my address. The owner turned up and had a real go at me for feeding his dog and said that if I had left it out for the night it would have eventually found it's way home when it got hungry. I explained that it was wandering a dangerous road without a collar tag and could have easily been hit, but he said it had never been hit before and re the tag I should mind my own business.
I saw the dog another time wandering the same road and as much as it hurt I left it out there, however I did report the owner to the police because his dog could cause an accident.

You just can't help some people.

I would have given the dog to the dog warden and let him pay to get him/her back, ungrateful so-and-so!

> every iphone, blackberry, Android phone will read it

Mine's an android but how would it read it??? 

> I had 6 dogs of my own and had there been problems I would have made the dog comfortable in the garage, but my gang accepted the strange dog with no problems.

I had that several times until the one time the dog I picked up absolutely freaked and started to have a go at my girls, and I had nowhere to put her (no garage), and at the time I had let someone borrow my only crate.