I saw a young pit bull puppy eating some pastry in the street while driving to the store one day. I parked, grabbed the puppy, and took her to a safe spot. A tag on her collar had a phone number and address. I forgot my cellphone. Drat! The address was just a couple houses down and I took her home. The owner had no clue she had escaped again since he had captured her and "locked her up" just a few minutes prior to my arrival. He thanked me and I went on my merry way.
Two days later I see the owner driving around looking for his dog; she had escaped again. He asked if I had seen her and I replied no, but would keep an eye out. I asked if the dog had her collar on. He said no. He takes her collar off while she is inside. Microchip I asked? Nope! This was six weeks ago and he has not found her and probably never will.
The moral of this story is, some form of doggie ID should be used if you want to find them when they get loose. Collars, tatoos, chips; whatever it takes. With no ID, there is no way a person can easily return a lost dog unless they just happen to see a flier in their neighborhood.
Zena has a properly adjusted collar with ID tags that only comes off at bathtime. She is also chipped. She has a harness for walks.
Lastly, my doorbell rang the other evening and a trio of teen girls was at my door with a lost Maltese asking if we had lost a dog. They were going door-to-door in an effort to find its owners. So sad because the dog had no collar or any ID at all.
