When you’re moving house, there’s a thousand and one things to think about – but don’t forget your dog! Updating their microchip is so important, especially if they decide to try to get back to their old home
How my friend helped a stranger’s lost dog
My friend Louise answered a knock on the door.
When she opened it, there was a stranger standing on the doorstep with a small terrier on a twine lead.
“Is this yours?” he asked.
The man had seen the dog wandering in the road in front of Louise’s house and was worried it would be knocked over and hurt, so he’d stopped his car, had found some twine for a lead and was now trying to find the dog’s home.
Louise wasn’t sure who the dog belonged to, but assumed it must be fairly local as the dog was clearly well looked after. The man needed to continued his journey, so Louise took the dog from him.
She decided to call the dog Derek – she had to call him something and he looked like a Derek to her. She gave Derek some water then phoned the dog warden. She as taken aback to hear that it could be a few days before the dog warden could come out, but in fact the dog warden arrived within a few hours.
Asking the dog warden for help
The dog warden checked Derek and found he had a microchip with his owner’s name and address, which was around 20 miles away.
The warden took Derek and drove all the way to the address, only to find that the owners had moved from that house several months ago. Luckily the new residents had a forwarding address, which turned out to be only two streets away from where Derek had been found.
All’s well that ends well
The story has a happy ending. Derek, real name Leo, was safely reunited with his owners who had let him out in the garden and had only just realised he was missing.
When telling me this story, Louise asked if owners were supposed to change the address linked to their dogs microchip when they moved. I assured her they were and she said “they need to be reminded then.”
So take this blog as a reminder that when you move house, please remember to change the address linked to your dog’s microchip!
Of course, always keeping an eye on your dog and making sure your garden is escape proof is also important, as is training your dog to come back when called – which we teach in our Perfect Pet classes and specific Reliable Recall masterclasses coming soon!
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
