Found and found: Baby the dog (alternate title: please consider microchipping your pet)

This is Baby, a chow/golden retriever mix and one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met.

For about 19 hours yesterday and today, she was in our care.

Ed took our dogs for a walk about 7:45 yesterday evening. The dog followed Ed up onto the porch. She didn’t have a tag or collar. She was clearly well cared for and well loved. She was also SO STINKING SWEET!

We’ve seen the occasional dog “about” that we’ve let find its way home. But last night’s low was to be in the mid-20s with wind. Today’s high wasn’t to be more than about 35, also with wind. This wasn’t a good situation for this dog, who we estimated to be about 40 pounds.

We also knew we couldn’t keep her inside, not knowing for sure if she’s healthy and with Fox’s fear issues, which play out by nipping/biting. Long story a bit shorter, we set her up in the garage in a crate (which became harder and harder to get her in). We put up a few “found dog” signs in the neighborhood, hoping someone would call.

This morning, we set out to three different vets, hoping they could find a microchip. (Animal control, which was great, said last night that she had one, but that it was encrypted and needed a special reader.) None of the vets found a chip, and we declared her chipless. And the POOR dog, who clearly hated every part of the whole “being in the car” thing, put up well with all of the “in and out” of it, not to mention the ride, ride, ride.

Last night, completely overwhelmed by the thought of finding this dog’s home — a feeling that never abated, Ed and I’d gotten some advice from Samantha Fogg, Toby’s trainer, and we were on our way to take “found dog” posters to local vets (to be followed by more signs and knocking on doors) when we got a call about 2 p.m. from Baby’s owner. She lives less than a two-minute walk from here. They’re not sure how she got out of the yard (where she has adequate shelter, etc.). They’d been driving all over the neighborhood looking for her and were heading home when they found the sign we’d put up last night.

Her owners were delighted to see her, and it was clear she was glad to be going home. I think she had an o.k. time with us, though, considering the circumstances. :)

Everything worked out well, and for that we’re delighted. But, we realized how important it is to make sure a dog is microchipped (ours are) and that their chip’s contact information is current (Toby’s isn’t, nor is the information for my cats’ chips.) Microchipping isn’t expensive (the most I found online was $50ish, but most are much less). When I had the chips put in years ago, I thought whatever I paid was well worth it, and I think it’s even more worth it now. So if your pets aren’t microchipped, please consider doing so. (End of public service announcement.)

And one other funny/cool bit: I mentioned to the owners that Twitter and Facebook would be glad to hear that we’d found the dog’s humans (thanks to EVERYONE for your advice and moral support). When Ed and I came home from taking down the “found dog” signs a few minutes later, Baby’s owner had found me via Twitter’s search function and left me another nice note. Ah, the power of Twitter. :)

Now a photo of Baby from last night, just because she’s so cute:

We were glad to meet you, Baby, and we’re glad you’re safe at home now.

Tagged as: microchip