Doggy love

I love my dogs and if either of them were to go missing, I would be beside myself. I therefore do all that I can to ensure that, should the unthinkable happen, the chances of us being reunited are high. They are both microchipped, logged with Petlog, and both have tags carrying home, office and mobile numbers.



We get a lot of lost dogs brought into the office on the Common and it frustrates me no end when these dogs don't have any ID on them at all. Apart from the fact that it is illegal for your dog not to have a name tag with contact details on it (and a fine of possibly up to £5,000 can be imposed) I find it completely irresponsible. Fortunately most of these dogs are reunited with their owners fairly quickly but it would save so much time and heartache if the owners had a mobile number on their dog's tag so that we could get hold of them quickly rather than them spending hours wandering the Common when their pooch is tucked up nicely in our kennel. What is even more frustrating is when the dogs do have a mobile number on the tag but you can't get hold of the owners. They finally turn up and say "Oh, my mobile is at home". Forgive me, but what bloody use is it there?



The other thing that really peeves me is when the dog that has been off wandering is still entire. They are more inclined to wander when they entire and when I suggest to the owner bemoaning the fact that their dog is always wandering off, that they might consider getting him neutered, I'm met with horrofied looks "but I couldn't do that to my dog". Why not? If you don't plan to breed (and breed responsibly) what is the point of keeping your dog entire? You are putting them more at risk from prostate cancer which means they end up being neutered anyway, just at a much older age when they can't cope so well with the anaesthtic and are at even more risk. Grrrr......



Today, though, was one of the sad days. We had been receiving reports of a greyhound seen wandering the Common all morning and someone was finally able to catch him and bring him in. No tag of course. Now Greyhounds are very close to my heart and I immediately contacted the dog wardens and Battersea plus all the lost dog organisations to see if he had been reported missing. No, he hadn't. The owner still hadn't turned up by lunchtime so I brought him home with me. He was obviously cared for, had plenty of weight on him, his teeth were good and nails neatly trimmed and he settled in at home quite happily. The dog warden came to collect him to take him off to Battersea where he was scanned and he wasn't even micro-chipped. So there he remains whilst Battersea try to trace the history of his ownership through his racing tattoos. Heaven knows his history, all we know is that he was registered to race but doesn't appear to have raced. Possibly yet another cast-off and throw-away dog from the racing industry.



But if a dog can be so well-cared for, how can his owners be so careless as to not even have so much as a tag on him?? It makes me spit, it really does.