I had a stray dog brought in today - a gorgeous young black/tan cocker spaniel bitch. She wasn't wearing a collar, so I scanned her and 'ping!' a microchip number came up. :-) It wasn't one on our database, so I rang Petlog to get the owner's details ... near Milton Keynes (about 50 miles or so)! That seemed very odd, but I assumed the owners have moved and not updated their details so I rang the mobile number. Yes, they have a black/tan cocker spaniel bitch, and no she hasn't been straying because they're looking at her right now.

My best guess is that a litter was chipped (it was a private chipper, not a vet) the wrong paperwork was given out. The owner of the Milton Keynes spaniel must go and get the chip checked, and luckily the finders of this one are happy to look after her (or I'd have had another dog!). It's very strange that nobody's contacted us to ask if she's been found. If only she'd had a collar and tag with her address she'd be home by now.

Ooooo, send her straight to me!! I've always wanted a B&T.(but don't tell OH)
On a serious note, what a terrible story.  Poor little thing.  This happened to my oldie recently.  She went over the brow of the hill and we had turned on the path and when she came back down, she went the opposite way from us.  It was dusk and she paniced(not as much as me!).  She is not microchipped or wears a collar as she never strays but after that, I went into town and got tags made for all of mine.  They now all wear their collars all the time with the tags on.  The owners must be worried sick.

No, you can't have her! I've bagsied her if the finders can't keep her and we can't find her owners!

I've managed to track down her breeder, so hopefully she'll be able to give me some information.

My best guess is that a litter was chipped (it was a private chipper, not a vet) the wrong paperwork was given out.

I can imagine Black and Tan pups could be very easy to confuse. I never trust myself 100 % with Malinois pups even so always scan the puppy when it's collected, to prove to the new owner it's the right pup.

I've discovered that the chipper was the breeder; I'm waiting for a reply from her to try to help locate the pup's owners.

Oh that's careless then as the breeder is bound to have owned a scanner. Good detective work though, hopefully all will be well.

Hope this little one is reunited soon then so at least even if slightly long winded, the micro chip has helped :)

A tag with an address would have been so much quicker.

Phew! We can stand down - she's been reunited with her owners, the breeder's stopped hyperventilating, and hopefully the chip details for both dogs can be sorted out.

A happy ending! :-)

> A tag with an address would have been so much quicker.

Very true. Mine never leave the house without one but are chipped anyway just in case they ever lose their collar.

> Mine never leave the house without one but are chipped anyway just in case they ever lose their collar.

Mine too...Address/phone number on one side and "I am Microchipped" on the reverse....(right where some unwise people put the dogs name :( )

To be sure, to be sure :)

i also put spayed (if theyve been done)and microchipped on the the tags  just incase some jacka** has  the idea of stealing them or keeping them should they get lost to use for breeding , which is getting quite common now , i do the same with my cats too

Mine have"microchipped "and "neutered"on,as well,and although I dont have the dogs name on,my friend does on his dogs tags.When I told him Its unwise to put the dogs name on ,his reply was ,well if theyre close enough to read the tag,theyve got the dog anyway.Couldnt think of a reply!

>his reply was ,well if theyre close enough to read the tag,theyve got the dog anyway.

That's exactly right!

Also, there are friendly, go-to-anyone-type dogs who will go what ever name they are called and the aloof ones who won't go even if their name is called. It is personal choice. Mine have my surname, full address (I want them back if they get lost, none if this nonsense about keeping my address secret) both home and mobile phone numbers. Their microchip tag is separate and irrelevant: a found dog, taken to a vet or DW, will always be scanned automatically.

Glad it worked out!

I don't put dogs' names on their ID discs, not sure if you could be failed GC tests for doing so but it's definitely a KC recommendation in relation to the GC tests to NOT do so, and I find it helps a lot to get a bunch of discs with my surname, address and phone number on, that way the discs are not specific to any one dog. Discs get lost at times so it's handy to always have spares at home.

i also put spayed (if theyve been done)

I put this too, even if they haven't :-D I also have vasectomised on my boys ID tags!!!!! Yeah, ok, this depends on intelligence of prospective thieves (hope to god never happens) ... but no point me puting neutered 'cause anyone close enough could feel their bits (also depends on intelligence of prospective thieves, I guess :-O ). I know a few sheep farmers who vasectomise male sheep (in fact I've helped at such a procedure :-O :-O I thought I was just going along to help load the ram in and out the vehicle - got much more than I bargained for, but have to say, it was a fascinating procedure ... I know what to do!!) in order to keep the girly sheep in order & not straying!

Legally, has anyone pointed it out, not read all posts we are all supposed to have dogs wearing ID tags out of house, giving owners's name and full address. I give my surname, house name & postcode with telephone numbers - this falls short of the legal requirement, it is that you give FULL address. However, I feel loathe to put my full address on - as I am sure many police folk would agree with.

> I give my surname, house name & postcode with telephone numbers - this falls short of the legal requirement, it is that you give FULL address.

Unfortunately, if you take your dog through KC Good Cit including Puppy Foundation, that would be an instant Fail! Still, I guess you could have one tag with the legal requirement and only put it on the collar when going to classes and tests.

Oh no!!! All 6 of my doggies have passed their KC Good Citizen Gold!! INCLUDING my 10 month old pup!! Thank goodness for examiners with the most amazing common sense! :-)

Actually, just to put the record straight, my pup passed her Gold Good Citizen Award at 9 months!!

And I only have one tag!!!!! Thank goodness for examiners with common sense, as per our local police force :-D

*shrugs* Some clubs are obviously more lenient than others!! The two I went to both weren't!
Did Puppy Foundation, and trained for Bronze and Silver with one club - then after a 4 month break took & passed the tests at another school (both on the same day). Trained for Gold but didn't do the test, as at 12 months old he was starting to get a bit iffy with other dogs.

Glad this dog has been reunited.

Its worth bearing in mind though that sometimes, dogs go AWOL with collars and tags and return minus one or both - a couple of times years ago, I have had dogs do a bunk and come back hours later - one went wearing his collar, tag and lead, came back minus the tag and the lead but wearing the collar still (methinks someone took those off him, he also had his front claws shredded to the quick, I reckon scrabbling trying to escape!) - another time one came back minus the collar, and I know it fitted securely and couldn't have just slipped off.

Tags do tend to come off very easily, particularly as many are supplied with a poor quality split ring, so its worth checking those and making sure they have small, heavy duty split rings. The bigger weaker ones, its just too easy for something to get caught in the ring and pull it open, and off flies the tag.

Agree,g rets,my friend abd I found a stray dog at ten pm ish one night,on our way home,little dog did have a tag on,but just postcode ,their phone number,and the microchip base number(cant think of the proper name for it!).My friend phoned the house number,but there was no reply,we asked some people on the road where we found her,what their postcode was,but it wasnt the same,and they didnt know the dogs postcode.In daytime we couldve asked at the post office to find out,or I suppose we couldve gone home and googled it,but it was late,we were tired and had our dogs in the car,how nice it wouldve been to just trot along to the dogs home and hand her over!In the end,my friend rang the microchip number-which was a call to america,as after a certain time,all calls are redirected over there(eeek!)no doubt costing a fortune.But at least we found the address eventually,and handed the little dog back to her owner,who was out on the street looking for her

>Mine have my surname, full address (I want them back if they get lost, none if this nonsense about keeping my address secret) both home and mobile phone numbers.

Likewise.

When I'm trying to trace a stray dog's owner I sometimes feel that the amount of information on a dog's ID tag is a measure of how badly the owners want it returned to them.

As well as my home and mobile I have my vet's number on the tag. I also have my surname and full postal address.

I find the best tags are the flat one's, not the dangly type. Most agility people have these as they are the only type allowed on a collar when competing. (http://www.indigocollartags.com/)

> I sometimes feel that the amount of information on a dog's ID tag is a measure of how badly the owners want it returned to them.

???? :) Strange - so because I have a little less information on mine it means I don't want my dog back as much as you ?? Hmmm

I found three stray dogs at different times but all within a month (two years ago now). None had collars so I had three trips to the vet in the car (not far but not the point) to see if they were chipped. All three were - but how much quicker, easier and less stressful for the dogs if they'd had collars with an address and/or telephone number on. Interestingly, one of the dogs was making his fourth journey there to be identified. The owners were lucky that such a great little collie hadn't been picked up and kept............unless that's what they were hoping !. Only one of the three owners rang me to say thank you. Not found any since - but I did find an iPhone today !. Rang the home number on it and it's just been collected............the lady seemed far more grateful than any of the dog owners !.

i also put spayed (if theyve been done)

I put this too, even if they haven't :-D I also have vasectomised on my boys ID tags!!!!!

Really don't think this make the slightest bit of difference these days as most dogs are not stolen for breeding, they are stolen for a ransom. A 15 year old neutered mongrel will then be as valuable as a year old entire pedigree, as long as the owner wants it back badly enough.

It might not make a difference, but it just might! That's my thinking :-D

I live in an area where we have travellers passing through at a certain time of year. Amazing how many things get 'lifted', including dogs. Sadly my breed is a popular one for them and they are taken for breeding :-( So it's a case of any info that might just deter anyone bothering ... if they happened to get out for some reason.

I always used to have two tags on my dogs as many a time they have come out of thick undergrowth minus the tag from their collars so then put two on each dog in the hope that at least one of them would still be attached to their collars.

I compete in agility and dogs are not allowed to have anything dangling from their collars whilst running and this includes name tags. With nearly all the shows being at least 2 hours or more away from home I used to worry that if anything spooked them whilst competing they could run off and have no visible ID on them at all - and although they are microchipped that means of identification isn't always picked up. I now use the collars which have my details embroidered on them - no dangly bits at all - and they have some ID on them in case of a mishap.

As the number of characters that can be put on them is limited I have my house number, post code and my mobile phone number on the collars but there isn't room for anything else to go on there. Their collars don't have as much information on them as I would like them to have but that doesn't mean I don't care about them and don't want them back if they get lost. In fact I think it shows just how much I do want them - I could run them with no collar on at all or just use a collar that doesn't have a name tag attached but then nobody would know who they belonged to nor how to get them back to me if the worst happened and they went missing at a show.

My dogs all have tags but they only have my name, mobile phone number, house number and postcode written  on them because I can't fit anything else on!!! My dogs are small breed so their tags, obviously, are not huge. They are all microchipped so I would hope to have them back home once they had been scanned. Losing them would be my worse nightmare, I really feel for anyone who has gone through that.
jane

Having such a short-legged breed, the "dangly" tags always end up in the dirt, get filthy and then make their white chests grey/brown (the noise annoys me too!). I have the flat tags that slide on the collars instead, Indigo Collar Tags make them so you can put them on any collar regardless of how they fastened.
Stops the little buggers from losing them in the bushes as well :)

One of my Papillons would catch the ID disc in his mouth and chew it until it was unreadable, so I got him an Indigo collar tag and it's been brilliant. :)

When I'm trying to trace a stray dog's owner I sometimes feel that the amount of information on a dog's ID tag is a measure of how badly the owners want it returned to them.

Although I wouldn't say that the lack of information indicated an owner didn't want their dog back I do agree that lotys of info shows how easily the owner wants to be contacted. That's what went through my head when I ordered our tags, they have multiple phone numbers, full address, and a promise of a reward!

Following on from my post yesterday and the iPhone I found. He lady came round tonight with a box of chocs and a card to say thank you. I wasn't expecting it at all but what a wonderful gesture. So different to the dog owners !. Bizarre !.

Ooooops - that should be 'the lady' not 'he lady' ........ which is something completely different !!.