Page 8

8 Saber Tails Spring 2016

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

Are You Prepared?

Natural Disasters Should Serve As A Reminder to Microchip Your Dog - by Tiffany Cannon

shelters that may

or may not do the

same). In the case of

a natural disaster, the

county shelters are

looking to imme-

diately reunite any

dogs possible with

their owners. Obvi-

ously, it’s best for the

dog and owner, but

also solves a crisis for

the shelter – when a

disaster strikes, they

are positively out of

space. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE microchip your dogs

and cats.

here are several common arguments I hear against

microchipping. In my opinion, none of them are valid

enough to warrant not completing this easy procedure.

#1 - Microchips are painful to insert. No doubt! I won’t

deny that the insertion of a microchip causes your dog

or cat some pain just like getting a shot or having a

bloodtest. But that pain is very temporary. I have had

puppies scream when the vet places the chip and I have

had many puppies wag their tails through the entire

process. Either way, no puppy has continued to cry once

presented with a treat following the insertion. Not one!

Do be careful over the next few days. Do not to grab

your puppy by the scruff of the neck or pat roughly down

their shoulders to avoid aggravating an area that is most

likely bruised or a bit sore.

#2 - My vet doesn’t want to insert the microchip until

the puppy is older and being spayed or neutered. Stun-

ningly, I hear this from more and more puppy owners

who call after they have been to the vet. If your vet won’t

place the microchip…find one that will. Most breeders

will insist that you not spay or neuter until the puppy is

at least 6 months old or older, but they can certainly get

out and run away before that time and need permanent

identification. Many kennel clubs offer microchip inser-

tion at dog shows and any vet is capable of doing this

procedure cheaply and easily. (Some breeders/owners

he day after Christmas is usually a day for cleaning up

boxes and wrapping paper, playing with new gifts,

watching football, eating leftovers and visiting with fam-

ily. However, December 26th turned out to be a very dif-

ferent day for several North Texas communities in 2015.

Unseasonably high temperatures collided with a North-

ern winter storm making its way South producing high

winds, torrential rain, hail and several tornados just east

of Dallas. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed, entire

neighborhoods suffered damages. All major television

channels were showing footage of the destruction. But a

different phenomenon was happening on social media.

osts to Facebook started popping up everywhere

with pictures of pets, mostly dogs, found wandering

through the streets, hiding out in the cold and picked

up by good Samaritans. Most were obviously pets that

came running toward the first friendly face they found.

Many were wearing collars, some with name tags at-

tached, and a few were even found running with leashes

attached to collars and harnesses. Simultaneously,

frantic posts from worried pet owners were popping up

with pictures and identifying information about their

four-legged family members who had gone missing. Lo-

cal animal shelters were quickly overrun, doubling their

capacity by housing multiple animals in the same runs

whenever possible. Local boarding kennels, already at

capacity due to the holidays, took in overflow dogs and

local area veterinarians with spare room housed even

more. Within a few days, there were so many displaced

animals that shelters from 100 miles away and farther

were called in to pick up overflow and drive them to fa-

cilities in their towns just so these pets could have shelter

and food.

hat struck me as

a more subtle

tragedy was how few of

these dogs were micro-

chipped. Immediately

on intake, every city/

county shelter wands

an intake dog for a

microchip (I say city/

county because there

are a number of private