Microchip pet now or wait until spaying is done?

I pet-chipped a girlfriend once. She had a tendency to wander. She balked at the electric collar, though.

Speaking from the world of no dogs (well not since 1974), I'd say get the microchip. Safety and peace of mind. Not sure how things are in your area but there have been numerous dog-nappings in the NYC area. A dog is left alone outside a store, with a leash and attached to something, they are taken and then the heartless thief tries to sell them.

Tags are always good to have, but, the added security of the chip helps if the dog runs off (excitement or confusion in a new location) and is found by a nefarious person who wants the dog for their own.

Wishing you the best on this and a good weather weekend

I hope you're talking about a canine girlfriend!

If so, did it hurt her? I don't want to freak my pup out -- she's come a tremendous way since we got her and I want to maintain that trust level.

Thank heavens we haven't experienced any dog nappings in our area! She's just a little mutt so I don't think anyone would steal her but it would be totally heart breaking if they did. She's an excellent dog; truly a joy.

It is the excitement or confusion that worries me. At home, she doesn't run off at all but a new location, even with her pack, could be different.

I'm with you on your thoughts.

And thank you for the nice wishes! We have amazing weather here. I'm feeling sad for the people in Colorado right now.

My sister always had her dogs microchip. It wasn't done under anesthesia. I would say no, it wasn't painful.

I ended up getting it done last Friday so she'd have it in before we went to the beach. It didn't hurt her at all.

It turned out to be an over-cautious idea -- she didn't stray more than a few feet from my other dog, who never strays more than a few feet from us. Better safe than sorry!

That is good to hear! I agree better safe than sorry.

Now that it's a done deed, I'll chime in and say not to bother. If she were lost, you would be very lucky to have someone make a call if your phone # is on the collar. Chances of someone packing up an unattached dog and taking her to a vet to begin the process of tracking down the family are somewhere between fat chance and slim chance.

roger I came across a dog while I was driving. It was a pom and the poor dog looked scared. I stopped and it did have a collar with a phone #. I called that phone # and the owners were frantic because the dog was gone.
As I was talking to them, the dog disappeared. Then I realized the dog climbed in my car and was asleep in the passenger side. I was still on the phone with the owners and they gave me their address. So I drove to their house and reunited the dog with their owners.

About the microchip, when the pound gets a dog they scan for it and then they contact the owner. Otherwise, the put the dog down.

Sandpaw - tags, the people at a party in venice called me, an eye opening party. I left in several kinds of relief, not understanding. They liked the dog, of course.

Sandpaw - the guys at the Venice fire station called me, they clearly liked Sandpaw, and it was mother's day, so there was a huge spread of goodies.

This was back when we inhabited an old Eagles Lodge and the back yardage was not secure. We had enough trouble paying for the door stuff.

Sandpaw show up in the first place, brought by my gallery partner's boyfriend, found on the defunct railroad tracks.

Oh, and the time with a call from the surf shop near the merry go round on the sm pier.

Sandpaw was a roamer puppy, thus being on the railroad tracks.

We lost him one last time. I hope those people loved him.

This was early seventies - were chips there then?

adds -

http://able2know.org/topic/135039-19#post-4455228
good thread, my opinion

I'm a believer in microchipping dogs. It isn't expensive and it's a nice safeguard.

I've taken three found dogs in for scanning. Two had chips and returning the dog was easy. The last one didn't have a chip and it spent several days at my house while I tracked down the owners.

Plus, my dog Diamond loses every single dadgummed tag you attach to his collar. I don't know how he does it.

LOVE that. Thanks.

My puppy was already micro-chipped when I got him, and I think that's an important safeguard for all dogs.



You might consider getting Diamond a personalized collar. I have one like this on my puppy. You can also attach tags to it if you want to. But at least the collar can have his name and your phone number on it just in case the tags get lost.

I used to use really tough thingies (sort of S shaped, you had to use a strong pliers to get them open enough to attach to the tag and a ring (also strong) to then attach to the collar ring. Oh, I learned to splurge on the stainless steel tags. This worked for me, but maybe Diamond is superduper strong himself.

I hate those S attachment thingies. They are impossible to get on and off if you have to change or replace the dog's collar and need to move the tags.

I've never had a dog lose their tags. But I have had leather collars get worn out and split apart--the collar falls off, but the tags stay attached to it. .

My puppy is still growing so his collar size changes. I don't want to put on tags I can't easily get off the collar. And he just got his rabies tag, and it looks so huge on him, I'm not going to put it on him for awhile.

I saw this when I was on the checkout line at Petco this week and bought it because it seemed like a good solution to the problem of moving tags from one collar to another, or to a harness, easily--I only paid $2.99.
http://www.naturalk9supplies.com/Dog-Collars/tagnabbit-quick-release-pet-tag-ring.aspx

Today I read reviews for it on Amazon and they were awful. Apparently it falls apart too easily. I'm sorry I ripped open the packaging, because otherwise I'd return it.

A similar idea is this one which got much better reviews on Amazon. I might give this one a try
http://www.amazon.com/Rubit-Switch-Medium-1-07-Inch-Diameter/dp/B005ST8528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379460873&sr=8-1&keywords=rubit+dog+tag+clip

At the moment, I'm very happy with the personalized collar--I don't really need tags with that. I also bought a matching leash that is personalized with his name and phone number that I've used when we've gone to the Vet, and it will be handy when he finally goes to a groomer because it won't get mixed up with any other dog's leash there.

Maybe I should get that "S" thing for Diamond. I've never had a dog lose so many tags. I've even tried reinforcing the spiral wire thingy so they don't come off but somehow he gets them off anyway.

Kona wears an adjustable puppy training collar -- it should be good for another few months. She's growing like crazy! She's put on 7 pounds since we got her less than a month ago, which is great since she was so underweight. She looks so much better and I think she's feeling much better too.

Those are pretty cool!

I don't worry about losing Diamond though. He never ever gets far from us. He's wonderful off leash. Kona has a good mentor.