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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Just a thought.

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.