How would you find your dog if it was lost and not micro chipped

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

A friend of mine called last night all cried up and upset her (4 month old) Golden broke through their E -fence and is not micro chipped yet. He was scheduled to be neutered in a few days and micro chipped. I told her to alert all Vets, Dog Shelters, Rescues, Newspapers, Police, posted signs anywhere we could, are we forgetting anywhere?

Update: Just got back from Lisa's and no word on her pup as of yet, she is upset and panicking...she is also going to let her daughter know what happened tonight, from the sounds of it she was trying not to involve her.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Also forgot to add...he was wearing the E collar so his Rabies tag and License were on his flat collar....

[Adina P]

My dogs are always wearing their collars (99% of the time) and our contact info is on their collars. Only Rosco is micro-chipped...if someone were to find him collar-less, they'd have to actually know about microchips and take him to a vet or shelter for scanning. Otherwise it would be useless. That's the only thing about microchips that is not a whole lot different than a collar for me. So if they were lost within town, it would be no more helpful than a collar. If they ended up with a vet or our shelter I'd find them easily. But I can see where it would be extremely useful if they wandered out of town or we were traveling. But again their collars are always on if/when we are out of town. So it's not much different. It's that remotely possible scenario where they'd leave our house somehow and wander far far out of town that is the tricky part.

[Joy Williams]

I'm not sure where she lives, but if its a small town, call the radio stations. When I lived on the Outer Banks, they would announce on some stations about lost or found pets. Since it is a resort area, and a lot of folks bring their pets on vacation, the radio stations are one of the first things they think about. When my deaf kitty wandered off, I stuffed mailboxes with his picture and contact info and also put some flyers up in the grocery stores, coffee shops, some of the gift shops that have bulletin boards. He was gone for 2 weeks, but someone saw one of the flyers at the grocery store and called me so I got him back safe & sound. Filthy and very matted, but boy were we glad to see each other!!

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

glad it worked out for your kitty..so far no word on Lisa's dog...we will probably go back searching tonight again...radio stations here charge you for any advertisments, and it's not a large city like Philly but still city area where he is lost from.

[Maria & Sammy]

The possibility of loosing Sammy is terrifing and of course have the information collar and the chip. But what if someone decides to keep him? Then neither the collar or chip would be of any use. I wonder if anyone has experience with identification tatoos? Something like they use on livestock??? Or, is there anything like a GPS tracking chip available?? Within the last year I've heard of 2 cases of stolen dogs.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

I know you can have your dog tatooed and than you would get a permanent license and register the tatoo number is how our city use to handle it, use to be the old way to find a lost dog, but he isn't even chipped yet or neutered. This was to be done this week. As Adina pointed out the chip's are only as good if the person with your dog takes it to a Vet or Rescue, Shelter and they can scan the dog. If someone wants to keep the dog, your point blank screwed. This little guy has an identifying factor that we have not mentioned to anyone so we will know for sure if its him.

[Adina P]

A GPS tracking chip is what I'd want...that's a sure way to find a dog. The other options all depend on someone wanting to find his owners.

[TrevorDoodle]

When my pup got chipped- I asked the vet if they scan dogs when they come in for a checkup or whatever. They said NO. So if someone wanted to maliciously keep your dog - you would be out of luck. You would also be at the mercy of whoever worked at the pound to check for a chip.
They do have GPS collars you can buy and they are not too expensive.

[Maria & Sammy]

Are these GPS collars available at the major pet supply stores? I have never seen one.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

GPS's are a great idea...but...when someone removes it and ditches it...it's as good as the micro chip, and it does not prove that your dog was in that area...only the collar was..they could have removed it and ditched it else where....

[TrevorDoodle]

Certain GPS collars will alert(txt message/call or something) you when your dog leaves its designated area. So you know right when it goes missing. Of course it is not fool proof but if it works like advertised you would have a better chance on getting your dog back with the GPS than not. If someone is going maliciously take your dog then you dont have much chance to find the dog to begin with. However, if it just wondered off, you would at least know the route it had been and a starting point on where to look.

[F, Calla & Luca]

you all got me thinking about implantable GPS chips. From what I briefly searched through they are not quite "ready for prime time". what a crazy world we live in. Far to many things to worry about. wouldn't it be nice to assume that if someone found your dog that person would try to return it.