Bob’s mugshot helped him get home – -he was wearing his CBR tag!

Chips, Tags, Phones

If I had to chose between a microchip and a dog tag, I’d choose the tag. Why?  Because they work immediately. One of CBR’s adopted guys, “Bob”, the Beagle, got lucky today.  When we got a call from Holly Smith, a wonderful veterinarian visiting from Canada, stating she found a beagle with one of our tags on, within 5 minutes we were able to identify the dog and get him home.  I called Holly back immediately and got some basic information (where, when, description) and asked her to take a picture with her phone and text it to me. I told her CBR microchips all dogs so if she could get to a vet and have him scanned, I could find him in our database by the chip#.  Within 5 minutes Bob went from “Lost” to “Found”. Had he not been wearing a tag on his collar, who knows what would have happened?  Microchips are great, but only if you have access to a scanner.  All CBR dogs are registered to US first, so that we are notified of a found dog as well as the adopter. This is a great back up to the tag, but not the best first line of defense.  Tags are a quick and easy low-tech method of dog identification. Every CBR dog goes home with a tag on and in Bob’s case he was still wearing his, thankfully!

We have beagles – – we work with beagles and only beagles. We harp on these things because, well, We Speak Beagle!  They get out. They wander. They get lost.  We need to think proactively so that when this happens (and it will!), there are systems in place to help get them back home.  In speaking with Bob’s owners, they didn’t know he had gotten out of the yard and it’s the first time this happened.  There’s always a first time – – are YOU ready?  Please check your pet’s collar – – is there a tag with accurate information?  If your pet is microchipped, is your information current?  If you’ve moved, contact your microchip company and update your info….but most of all, make sure the tag is readable with current info.

(Note to CBR adopters: Since we register your beagle with the chip company and provide a tag, you should be ok!)

-Beagleslave