what info to put on pet id tag

[monarch64]

Date: 5/10/2010 4:16:22 PM
Author: fleur-de-lis
Just last month I came across a loose dog running in the street while I was walking my dog. Thankfully it had a collar and tag, and the tag had address and phone number. The house was about 200 yards away. I brought the dog to the address and met a very surprised housewife who answered the door; a quick tour revealed that the new pool guy hadn''t closed the gate when he left. This experience was nearly identical to one I had about a year ago as well.

Without the address, I as rescuer would have suddenly had a host of problems on my hands: do I call animal control and wait for a few hours for them to arrive, as well as running the risk that the dog isn''t microchipped and will be put to sleep? Do I bring him home and try to set up a separate area and run the risk of my dog catching something from the possible stray overnight and in the time the local vet''s office opens in the morning? What do I do then if there isn''t a chip? Will my next few days involve making and posting found dog signs within a 5 mile radius? But since there was an address, the dog was safe at home within minutes.

Ergo, that''s the type of experience which convinced me to put phone and address on my own dog''s collar.

FDL--I''m in total agreeance with you. I do NOT want people keeping my dog until they can maybe get her to a vet to check for a microchip. I want her back ASAP otherwise I fear someone wouldn''t possibly have her put to sleep but that they will keep her! And...what if she was hurt or something and the finders thought I was a bad owner ? Someone posted a story on here awhile ago about finding a bleeding dog by their house and a ton of people responded saying the owner shouldn''t be allowed to even have the dog. I WANT someone knocking on my door and bringing my dog home. If they decide to use my address for nefarious purposes, so be it. At least I will have my dog back and peace of mind that she isn''t dead or living with someone else who isn''t treating her well.

 

[asscherisme]

Date: 5/10/2010 4:32:43 PM
Author: monarch64

Date: 5/10/2010 4:16:22 PM
Author: fleur-de-lis
Just last month I came across a loose dog running in the street while I was walking my dog. Thankfully it had a collar and tag, and the tag had address and phone number. The house was about 200 yards away. I brought the dog to the address and met a very surprised housewife who answered the door; a quick tour revealed that the new pool guy hadn''t closed the gate when he left. This experience was nearly identical to one I had about a year ago as well.

Without the address, I as rescuer would have suddenly had a host of problems on my hands: do I call animal control and wait for a few hours for them to arrive, as well as running the risk that the dog isn''t microchipped and will be put to sleep? Do I bring him home and try to set up a separate area and run the risk of my dog catching something from the possible stray overnight and in the time the local vet''s office opens in the morning? What do I do then if there isn''t a chip? Will my next few days involve making and posting found dog signs within a 5 mile radius? But since there was an address, the dog was safe at home within minutes.

Ergo, that''s the type of experience which convinced me to put phone and address on my own dog''s collar.

FDL--I''m in total agreeance with you. I do NOT want people keeping my dog until they can maybe get her to a vet to check for a microchip. I want her back ASAP otherwise I fear someone wouldn''t possibly have her put to sleep but that they will keep her! And...what if she was hurt or something and the finders thought I was a bad owner ? Someone posted a story on here awhile ago about finding a bleeding dog by their house and a ton of people responded saying the owner shouldn''t be allowed to even have the dog. I WANT someone knocking on my door and bringing my dog home. If they decide to use my address for nefarious purposes, so be it. At least I will have my dog back and peace of mind that she isn''t dead or living with someone else who isn''t treating her well.

The 2 quoted posts above have made me think address is a good thing because if she escapes my yard I want her home asap.

I live in a safe close knit neighborhood and reading the above posts and weighing everyone elses input makes me realize microchipping is a good idea but its also a last resort and tag first way to get dog home.

Now I''m wondering if I should leave the name off the tag? I really like the idea of having the dog name on the tag but I can see why not to.

Hmmm

Anyway now I''m thinking:

(undecided on dog name)
streed address
home address
town
cell number, home number

and on the back I would put:

I''m microchipped
$ reward if found



What do you all think?

 

[Diamond*Dana]

On our dog''s tag:
Her name
Our address
My cell phone

 

[asscherisme]

Rethinking reward if found because if she escapes and my neighbor brings her back that could be awkward.

Of course in a perfect world I will never need the tag.

Thanks for all the responses. I''ll mull it over for a week or so and then order one.

 

[soocool]

Just wanted to say that I didn''t microchip my dog until he was neutered. Around 4-6 months before they reach puberty (this can vary with breeds). This way they don''t feel anything while they''re under for the surgery.

Also, in my neighborhood everyone knows every dog in the neighborhood so if any get loose we know who they belong to. My concern arises if I go away and leave my dog with my sister in a unfamiliar neighborhood. If I am away then my info on the tag doesn''t help. Since my dog spends a lot of time at my sister''s I got an addiitional tag made with her info as well.

 

[ladyciel]

I just wanted to agree with those who say you SHOULD include your address. A couple years ago I ran into a lost dog on the sidewalk. He was friendly as can be and started to follow me whichever way I went. My attempts to tell him to go home were fruitless (I've had neighbors in the past whose dogs knew this command, so I give it a shot). His tag had both a phone number and an address. I tried walking him home, since the address was just around the corner, but there was no answer at the door. I tried calling the number, and, lo' and behold, I could hear the phone ringing inside the empty house.

I walked around to the side of the house and discovered the fence gate to the backyard open a few inches. I checked to make sure the yard was otherwise fenced in and then all I could do was let the dog back into the yard and close the gate behind him. I figured leaving him in his yard was certainly a better solution than calling animal control. I left a message on their answering machine to let them know what had happened. Hopefully they got him back safely in the end.

ETA: I don't know WHAT I would have done if I didn't have the address to work with. It certainly would have put me in an awkward position, since my landlady would absolutely flip if we brought a dog into the apartment. If there wasn't a fenced in yard, at least I could have tried knocking on their neighbor's doors to see if I could find somebody willing to take him until the owners were home.