The New Year’s neck check: Have you done it?
By Gina Spadafori
December 30, 2007
Our editor at Universal Press sighs when the first column of the year comes in. See, that’s the one where I write about our “New Year’s neck check,” making sure collars are fitting well, not worn to the point of breaking, and that the ID on a pet is current.
“Not again,” he sighs. “The New Year’s neck check. Not. Again. What is this? Ten years running?”
So this year, we gave him — and the NYNC — the year off.
But … then I got a note from reader Lisa W.:
Last night I picked up yet another loose dog. It was obviously someone’s pet, and I would have been happy to return the dog home, but the dog had no ID tags.
This is about the 25th dog in the past 5 years I have picked up and brought home because it was not properly tagged. Usually I have to call animal control to pick up the dog from my house. In this case I didn’t, because it was an older greyhound who was well-behaved (although scared and stressed), and I decided to keep the dog at my home for a few days to give the owner a chance to see my flyers. Fortunately the owner spotted my flyer and was reunited with her dog, but only after she spent hours searching for her dog in 30 degree nighttime temperatures.
Can you please, please implore your readers to put ID tags on their dog with: (1) a street address where the dog can be returned; and (2) a cell phone number where someone can ALWAYS be reached? I try to tell everyone I know about this, and so many people respond, “but my dog’s microchipped.” Well, that’s great, but it doesn’t help the Good Samaritan who would like to simply return the dog, instead of having to house it for a night (and the dog usually howls or whimpers, and eliminates all over), make and post flyers, and then wait for animal control to come to the house. As an aside, I also often pick up dogs with ID tags with a home phone number, which isn’t helpful when the owner is either at work all day or is traveling. A few weeks ago I picked up a dog, and the answering machine I got said the owner was in Denver!
Can you please tell your readers to make it easy for someone to help their dog? I will happily help any animal I see. However, it’s frustrating when helping an animal requires hours and hours of work on my part, when a simple $5 tag could have made it a simple 15-minute delay for me.
Yes, Lisa, a neck check would have gotten those pets home. That said, I don’t put an address on my pets’ tags. I put the word “Reward!” followed by as many phone numbers as can fit. My cell first, my home and then the numbers of two friends, so even if I’m out of town someone can get my pet.
Why “Reward”? Because when it comes to getting a pet home, I truly do believe that not everyone is a good Samaritan, and the promise of a reward may move those who aren’t.
Check those necks, everyone.
I lost my cat Christmas day. He had lost his quick release collar and I was trying to find a replacement not Made In China. I still have not found such a collar which is sad. I have been relentless at getting rid of China made items from my house and been proactive in not buying China since the Pet Food Recall awakening. My cat came home 4 days later…after I had walked the streets knocking door to door, making and putting up fliers. And going to the “kill” shelter nearest us. Our Christmas was ruined as neither one of us can put up emotional fronts for people. Today I put a collar on him from Indonesia! I figure even a lead based collar is better than no collar at all. I hate it that I live in a country that is co dependent on imports that may be harmful. If anyone on this blog Knows of a company that is not China for collars I would appreciate the information…also it must be a quick release collar as I do not want my cat to hang.
Comment by Concha Castaneda — December 30, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
You can make your own quick-release collar. Get some elastic at the fabric shop and order those fabric labels you put in kids’ clothes when they go to camp. Put label on elastic, sew together ends and there you go.
One of my friends has been doing this for years.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 30, 2007 @ 6:42 pm
Gina, you just tell your UP editor that we rely on your NYNC reminder! This is an excellent and much-needed public service. Feel free to give him my name and number and I’ll be happy to sing NYNC praises if he contacts me. ;-)
Comment by Lynn — December 30, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
Good idea.
I just did check Scout collar a couple weeks ago and found that his ID tag had been wiped clean by it clanging on his vax tag. Even though it was engraved it wore down that much!
I got him a new tag at the shelter and when I went to put it on I found that his vax tag is now missing!
I think the hole probably wore clean thru and it just busted loose.
As some may know I only got him in April and his new tags were that shot already. Amazing.
That doggie does run, doesnt he?
Dont know if I can replace the vax tag. Ill find out but at least he has his name and my cell # on his neck yet.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — December 30, 2007 @ 8:45 pm
Seems like a lot of people still need reminding. Last summer, during a thunderstorm, my parents’ rescue aussie panicked, dug under the fence, and ran away. (She was not left out during the storm, she heard the thunder from miles away and got out before anyone realized what was happening.) She was collared and tagged (and microchipped). A taxi driver picked her up on the other side of town, read the tags and drove her home. During the same storm, a panicked border collie appeared in my parents’ neighborhood. No tags, no collar, no nothing. They tried to get the dog into their backyard, but she was just too scared. Luckily a neighbor up the street managed to nab her and animal control was called. Two days later she was finally reunited with her owner when her owner called animal control to see if she had turned up there. So… dog with tags was back within hours. Dog without tags was just plain lucky that people cared. My dog got a new collar this Christmas.(Kind of the equivalent of getting socks in your stocking.) Will be ordering a new tag with as many phone numbers as I can fit on it. The old tag has the home phone only. Thanks for the reminder.
Comment by C.L.H. — December 30, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
Last summer a dog showed up at my house on Memorial Day. Luckily his tag had the phone number of the 24 hr vet. Within half hour his owner picked him up. Fortunately he lived 4 houses up across the road. This Christmas Eve my elderly neighbor called that 2 dogs had taken residence on her porch. The male had a halter on. The female pup, a collar. No tags. Had to call animal control. The dogs spent Christmas in the pound but fortunately the owners got them back. I called on Thursday to check then went to the pound to buy my pets’ yearly tags and checked for myself that the dogs were not still there. My own pets have a tag with their name and phone number, the vet’s phone number, animal control number and PetFind number.
Comment by VJ — December 31, 2007 @ 5:46 am
If there’s only a phone number on the tag, just Google the number to find the owner name and address.
I’ve done this in the past, so that if the person doesn’t answer (in one case, they were visiting family in another state), I can knock on the neighbors door and either get a “where they are” phone number or the neighbors will call themseles.
Comment by Dorene — December 31, 2007 @ 6:31 am
I put my cell # on Scout’s tag so I can be reached anywhere any time.
Also, the shelter where I got him puts an ID on his vax tag (which he now lost). When he escaped the yard recently the people used this number and contacted the shelter and it was they who called me with his whereabouts.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — December 31, 2007 @ 7:09 am
I think it’s great to remind people to check those collars and tags! It’s so easy not to notice a frayed spot on a collar, especially on an active pup (or cat) - and if the collar comes off, it doesn’t matter what you put on the tags. :)
Thanks for the reminder, Gina - and Happy New Year to all!
Comment by Laura — December 31, 2007 @ 8:53 am
My vet checks for microchips when found pets are brought in, that would be my first stop if there was no collar tag or other contact info. Calling animal control would be a difficult option.
Comment by Erich Riesenberg — December 31, 2007 @ 9:06 am
Good idea, but … all microchip scanners don’t read all microchips. And what if you find a pet after hours? On weekends?
All my pets are chipped, but you can guarantee they’re also tagged. The tag is what gets a pet home … fast.
Doesn’t have anything to do with animal control: It’s an ID tag, not a rabies tag I’m talking about.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 31, 2007 @ 9:39 am
Ya know, someone had a thought about putting “reward” on the collar. The thought was that it might increase the likelyhood of the dog being stolen.
Just a thought.
Comment by Deanna — December 31, 2007 @ 9:54 am
I invite everyone to look at the website for the shelter Concha is so fond of disparaging.
http://www.cahs-pets.org/
They offer dog training, they S/N every dog before they are placed, they offer phone support after the animal is placed and they do a ton of public outreach and education. They do TNR of feral cats. They have weekend and evening hours. They place more than they take in during the winter months and pull dogs from other shelters to fill their cages. FWIW, they are also responsible for cruelty investigations but rely entirely on private donations. (Not a single tax dollar goes to them.) Yes, they are a kill shelter and far too many dogs and cats are put down there, particularly during high-intake times when they are simply overwhelmed.
What they need is money and volunteers, particularly during the holiday season and summer months.
This is one of the good ones. Concha, I’m really sorry you had a bad experience, but your kitty did come home — and never was in that shelter to begin with. It might be the only shelter in the area that takes cats, but don’t malign them for that and not being open Christmas day. Please consider directing your frustration where it belongs: towards the person or situation that allowed the cat to be loose without identification.
Sheez, it’s hard enough to fight the good fight when we’re all pulling together — we don’t need to draw battle lines where good work is being done.
Comment by Deanna — December 31, 2007 @ 10:13 am
re: Reward … that’s ME!
I have done this for years. The only time I every lost a pet was when I was selling one house and buying another and living at my brother’s in between. My littlest dog got through a hole I hadn’t seen in his fence.
First words out of the caller’s mouth: “I found your dog. There’s a reward?”
$20 later, the dog was home.
Now, would they have called anyway? Maybe. But maybe not.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 31, 2007 @ 10:34 am
I just got new licenses today, so there has been much inspection of collars.
I do wish people didn’t rely so much on microchips as sole identification. The number of clients who walk through the doors of the veterinary clinic where I work who have no knowledge or understanding of microchips, even with the commercials on tv, is amazing. They’d never know to have a dog checked for a chip. Not to mention, that requires a whole lot more time and effort than just reading a tag and calling the phone number.
Comment by katie — December 31, 2007 @ 11:14 am
I believe wholeheartedly in chipping and the ID tags with everyone’s number you can possibly fit on it, and the “REWARD” as well.
This is a good time to mention something about moving. When you move you absolutely must buy a new ID tag ahead of time with the new phone numbers on it. Just before you pack yourself and Fido into the car, put the new tag on. This way if he gets out enroute, the new info is already on the tag.
Comment by Lynn — December 31, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
I think there are a lot of dogs out there named “Reward” ;)
My dog wears a “tag” collar with a reward/phone number tag all the time in case she some how gets out of the house. Then she wears an additional collar when we go for walks or rides that has all her other tags: rabies, adoption group, license, and another ID tag with my number. Thanks for the reminder to add my mom’s phone number to the tags. And doesn’t the fire department remind us to change the batteries in our smoke detectors every year?
Comment by kb — December 31, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
I put phone numbers, my email, and my web url on all the tags. I can always post a BIG REWARD on my home page should a critter go missing. I buy great brass bolt-on tags from Bill Boatman Inc., dirt-cheap. Have tons of ‘em on hand for any temporary residents. They can hang like regular tags. These are stamped, and won’t wear like engraved aluminum. I use extras as luggage tags and gear tags, too.
If you aren’t bolting the tags on, always use a sturdy split ring to attah to the collar. Not only can the S-hooks pop open and lose the tags, a colleague shared the story of a dog who got another dog’s S-hook caught in her EYE — hooked right through the eyelid. This was sufficiently gruesome to leave a lasting impression.
More belt+suspenders. Write your phone number in sharpie marker on the inside of collars. When traveling, make a duct-tape tab on each animal’s collar and write any additional phone numbers on the duct tape with permanent marker.
Tattoos are also still good.
All my guys are tattooed, chipped, and tagged.
Drives me crazy when I pick up a loose dog with an expensive collar and no tags. The last one was running in some waste land near a Pittsburgh city park. Tracked his owner down via the unregistered microchip — it was the puppymill chip, used as a SKU — from chip company to Hunte to the retailer, which fortunately had a record of who had bought the dog, and he fortunately lived in the same place. The young man had a long drive to my house 25 miles away to reclaim his dog. Kid probably paid $500 for a $50 dog, but he couldn’t spring for a $2 tag.
Comment by H. Houlahan — December 31, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Gina, you should link to the Boomerang tag/KeepSafe collar post – those are wonderful, and if someone finds out they need new ID or collars these would be good choices. Puck is chipped, but I consider that my final line of defense. She has Puck/Reward!/my mobile phone # on her collar and both harnesses, and a full set of vet and contact phone numbers on the bag at the end of both leashes. We travel a lot and she has a breakaway collar, so she always wears a harness when we’re out. After reading these comments, my sister and I should have our own and the other’s mobile # on our dog’s tags (they are our business numbers so phones are always with us), because if she or I got run over the phone probably wouldn’t do much good.
Nice to know $20 is an OK reward – if I lost Puck, I would empty my bank account to get her back and I had no idea what might be reasonable. The only (unsolicited) reward I ever got for all the lost dogs I returned to their owners was for hauling a fat old hypothermic dog out of the McKinley Park duck pond at 2 AM in the middle of winter (claws worn down to the nub and bleeding from trying to get out, and I cried all the way home carrying him). His mom brought me a dozen roses!
Comment by Carol PW — December 31, 2007 @ 6:28 pm