Microchipping Your Dog

One of the biggest fears any dog owner has is their dog getting lost. Many dogs have a bad tendency to follow their nose without using any particular amount of common sense. One good whiff of squirrel, and they’re off and running. What makes this even worse is that most dogs can pretty easily outrun their masters, so once they start running, there’s no good way to catch them.

Even worse, some dogs just like to wander, and if they manage to get outside, they’ll wander off where they might be picked up by someone else or simply get lost. This can happen to even the best trained and well behaved dog, so it’s always been important to have identification on your dog.

Classically, this has always been done by using collars and tags. The problem there, of course, is that tags and collars can come off or be damaged enough that identification isn’t possible. This is compounded by the fact that one of the main ways dogs get loose is by slipping out of their collar, so the time when the identification is least likely to be there is the time when it’s most needed.

This is the reason that so many lost dogs have never been returned to their owners. Either they are picked up by animal control or they’re adopted by another family. This can end good or bad for the dog, but it’s always bad for the people who love a dog that has gotten lost.

Fortunately, science has actually been able to come up with a better solution: microchips. Specifically, microchip implants that go underneath a dog’s skin that have an alphanumeric code on them that allows them to be scanned and for your dog to be identified. It’s a permanent and effective way to make sure that your dog gets back home.

Basically, the microchip is a tiny radio frequency identification device. They don’t have any sort of power source in them and are completely passive. In order to be useful, you need to pass a radio scanner over them, which activates the chip to transmit the information to the vet or animal shelter worker.

Generally speaking, the chips are implanted in the back, between the shoulders. The chips themselves are sealed in a biologically inert glass that keeps any fluids out. The chip is implanted with a needle, and will last pretty much forever without any ill effects on your dog.

One of the things that seems to hold dog owners back from getting the chips put in their pets is the idea that it might harm them or hurt. The truth is that getting the implant is about as painful as getting a vaccination shot. Actually, most dogs don’t even seem to notice they’re getting a shot.

Likewise, there are no adverse health effects to the implant, and it won’t change their behavior in anyway.  If you have a dog, getting them chipped is the smart and responsible way to guarantee their safety.