# Micro Chip Question



## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

A co-worker found a Siberian Husky. He took it to his vet on Saturday to see if it was micro chipped. When the vet scanned it, it did show to have a chip, but it only showed the manufacture of the chip. No other additional information.

Could that mean the chip is registered with a company (or registry) that isn't registered with everyone?


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

It means it was never registered (by the owner), but it should show where the chip originated, that is, who bought it. Usually it'll come back to a Humane Society or a vet clinic. Or you may get lucky and it was purchased by a breeder in which case you could trace who purchased the dog.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Hmmm. I'll have to ask him. He said the only information on it was the manufacture. Could be he (the vet) was confused by the name of the manufacture. I'll see what I can find out. 

Thanks!!!!


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Well, if we chip one of our dogs, or a better example, if we chip a friend's dog, and they do not register the chip into their name, when the dog is scanned, it'll say the dog has a 24petwatch chip, and it (the chip) was purchased by our rescue on such-and-such date. 

That's all the info they'll have so they'll call us and ask if we have a record of what dog got that chip.
We do keep in-house records of all chips now, we used to keep only records of what dogs got adopted out with chips. It made it tough one day when the clinic called about a dog with a chip of ours and that dog did not look at all familiar to me. We finally figured out it was one of my husband's co-workers, and she got her dog back and I learned an important lesson about keeping tabs on the chips we send to even friends who need a chip.

I now either register the chip myself to the owner, and/or keep track of the number here at the very least.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Great idea. I'll ask him about it. He said the dog acts very young and the vet said he was between 1 and 2. So hopefully the records are still fresh on 'someone's' mind.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Call the chip company and they'll have a record of who purchased the batch of chips that chip went out in.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

msvette2u said:


> Call the chip company and they'll have a record of who purchased the batch of chips that chip went out in.


Another great idea! Will do!


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

At the very least you can trace the chip to the purchaser of the batch of chips. 
We get dogs in rescue like this, chipped but the dog owner never registered.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

That's crazy. What is the purpose of the chip then?


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Well we like them so in case the owner cannot be reached at all, or moved/changed phone numbers, etc. the dog _will_ be returned to us.
We've had it happen a few times now. As mentioned, we now register the dog(s) to the new owner(s) upon adoption, and I've started doing it when we give them to friends as well, due to just people overlooking the registration. 

And the registration is the most important part. A chip without reg. is just a number but as mentioned you _can_ trace back to the original purchaser of the chip, which sometimes does help find owners. At least tells you where the dog originated, back to when the chip was implanted anyway.
We've gotten in dogs from puppy mills and some mills or brokers chip which is how we traced them that far.


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## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

To me it is disturbing that the microchip company lists the rescue as owner of all dogs it places. The lifespan of these dogs is 15 years or more but the lifespan of a rescue organization is unknown. Locally, one of the GSD rescues went off the grid for over a year. Major change in personnel, perhaps but I really don't know why. They could not be contacted. Other rescues come and go. So what happens to dogs who get picked up and Avid doesn't have a current phone number for the rescue? 

I understand that the rescue wants to keep its thumb on the dog and owner, but it really should give over complete ownership and responsibility to the adopting family.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Could it be that the owner did not renew the registration with the company that the chip was registered with?


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Marnie said:


> To me it is disturbing that the microchip company lists the rescue as owner of all dogs it places.


Who does that? :thinking:


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

FYI - they contacted a local breed rescue. All's well that ends well.


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## WVGSD (Nov 28, 2006)

One of the rescue groups that I work with registers all of the dogs that it takes in and chips to them - not to the adopting owner. I disagree, but I am not calling the shots. Their feeling is that the dog would be traced through the microchip to the rescue group and that owners move, divorce, give pets away, etc. By having the chip registered to the rescue group, they know that the dog came through the rescue group at one time.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Well that's just it - if the rescue BUYS the chip, the company will contact that rescue should no owner be able to be located - we don't keep our rescue name on the chip, but by default we are are shown as the _purchaser_ of the chip. 
It works just as well that way...not sure if people are aware of the difference though.

How the chip works:
1) We purchase microchip in a "lot" of 25 chips directly from the company, in our case, 24petwatch chips.

2)We register the chip TO the new owner when the dog is adopted. They are responsible for updating their info should they move or get a new phone number. THEIR info is the only info on the chip. 

3) However, OUR info is on there as the organization that bought the chip. If we used vet clinic chips, the vet clinic that purchased the chip is shown as the purchaser, not us. Therefore it's preferable to us, to be shown as the agency/org. purchasing the chip.

4) if the dog is lost and scanned, and the owner's INFO is up to date, then the owner will be contacted.

5) if the owners INFO is not up to date, they'll contact us, as the purchaser of the lot of chips that chip came in. They'll ask if we have a record of who adopted the dog. Yes we do, in house and on the internet database in which we originally registered the chip.

6) IF we have a legal dispute - for instance, we had a family who wanted to rehome a Beagle but we told them they were not allowed to do that and they'd need to bring the dog back here - so they didn't do either. However, they'd violated their agreement in a few different ways, and we suspected they were going to give the dog to someone else, so we put a "flag" on the chip that the pet had been stolen (which is the only way a "flag" will stick) and was not to be registered to anyone else. That is, if the people did give the dog away, and the new owner tried to register, we'd be notified.

Anyway it turned out that the dog got loose one day and someone found him and took him to the vet to scan him. The vet scanned and called and we were notified, whereupon we reclaimed the dog and got him back into rescue and into a new home. 

So to us, it's an advantage to show on there as the purchaser of the chip. We don't need to remain on the chip as owner or co-owner of the dog, because either way, we'll be contacted.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I don't know if all agencies do the same thing, but I do know that the local animal shelter does. The rescue we get our feral barn cats from takes the cats to the Humane Society and has them vetted. They are chipped by the HS. When we adopt the feral cats my information updated on the chip. If the cats get picked up, I'd be notified as well as the HS who in turn notifies the rescue that we got the cat from. Not only do they want to know the cat is back in the system, but they want to know the information regarding the location the cat was found. I suspect to see if it's attempting to return to it's original colony.


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