Is the Dogs Trust Chip Van visiting your neighbourhood?

The Dogs Trust Chip Van is on tour. No hot dogs or french fries from this van however - its campaigning for a change in the law.

The distinctive chip van is travelling all around the country, explaining to MPs and other politicians about the importance of microchipping. Dogs Trust wants the microchip to become a legal requirement in the way a collar and tag is.

Why is the Chip Van Tour important? Why do we want to see microchipping made compulsory?

• To improve the number of straying dogs that are returned to their owners.
• If there are fewer stray dogs as a result of being microchipped Dogs Trust will take fewer ‘8 day’ dogs from local authorities and can in turn rehome and make room for more dogs abandoned for different reasons.
• Welfare issues: cruelty, fighting, dog fouling - if a particular dog can be identified to their owner then the owner can be tracked down and dealt with.
• To support the draft DEFRA Regulation requiring all Greyhounds to be microchipped as part of the identification process.
• Dog breeding debate- the integrity of all the genetic tests that are done is completely valueless unless the animal can be identified. It is an essential part of integrity for the whole dog breeding debate.
• Microchipping is part of being a responsible owner.
• Allow the tracing of puppies to irresponsible breeders such as puppy farms.

The Chip Van Tour website will let you follow the progress of the van around the country, seeing who is supporting us and reading the blog to see what's happening.

Please note: The Chip Van is not on tour microchipping dogs! You can find out more about the process of microchipping process on the Dogs Trust website, including details of our low-cost microchipping.

Microchipping: the Kennel Club urges the public to update their Petlog information

The UK Kennel Club's Petlog is the largest reunification scheme in the country, and it supports the details of 3.5 million pet owners, with 40,000 joining a month.

Having handled over 89,000 calls in 2007, the service is responsible for helping thousands of owners be reunited with their lost or stolen dogs. Unfortunately, some of these reunions are made far more difficult by the fact that pet owners move house and forget to update their details. Sometimes a dog changes hands and the new owners also fail to

It is vitally important that there is always a current, working telephone number at which you can be contacted on Petlog's database. It could be the difference between getting your dog back or having him processed as a stray by the Local Authority. When apparent strays are not claimed within the week, the LA has the choice of handing them on to a rehoming charity but some are ultimately humanely euthanised.

Microchipping can help prevent a lot of heartbreak and an unncessarily lengthy stay in the kennels for your dog. Since a microchip is embedded in the skin, it cannot fall or be taken off like the statutory collar and tag.

All dogs that pass through Dogs Trust's care are microchipped. It costs around £20-30 at a vets, but some of our Rehoming Centres offer the service at a reduced price. Just give your local centre a call to find out more.

If you've moved home recently and haven't yet updated your microchip details, you can update your records online. To record a Change of Ownership, just call Petlog on 0870 606 6751 for assistance.

Ricky Gervais in hunt for lost dog

Ricky Gervais is our hero today for stepping in to help a neighbour find their lost dog. The missing pup, a Whippet called Manon, was featured in Gervais' local paper.

Not only has he been scouring parks and gardens looking for the dog, he's also roped in local friends and residents including Jonathan Ross to help speed up the search.

I hope he's able to find Manon and reunite him with his owner, who must be worried sick. Here's hoping he's microchipped, too... (Manon, not Ricky - thanks, Andy!).

Don't forget to visit the Dogs Trust website for more information on what to do if you've lost your dog.

[via The Mirror]

Proof that microchipping pets works: dog reunited with owners within 24 hours!

When a group of students found an adorable Collie cross wandering around Leeds' Hyde Park on her own, they took note of the Dogs Trust collar around her neck and called us. John, the Assistant Manager at Dogs Trust Leeds collected her and, knowing we microchip every dog in our care, scanned her for a microchip.

Amelia, as the dog's name turned out to be, had indeed been adopted from us by a Mrs. Swallow, though in Snetterton, not Leeds! Mrs. Swallow's son had set off to visit his brother in Leeds with Amelia, who escaped from the student house and promptly got lost.

The next morning, when the centre managed to track down Mrs. Swallow, she was already in Leeds frantically searching for the beloved family pet. Thanks to a microchip and the fact that Mrs. Swallow kept the details updated, Amelia was reunited with her overjoyed and relieved family just one day after first going missing.

A great story to celebrate National Microchipping Month, don't you think?

National Microchipping Month: have you microchipped your pet yet?

One in three lost dog reunions happens thanks to microchips.

In a call-to-action marking the beginning of National Microchipping Month (June 1-30), Dogs Trust is urging those owners who have not microchipped their dog to make it their number one priority.

A tiny chip coded with a unique reference number is implanted via injection just under the skin between the shoulder blades. A hand-held scanner held over the area can identify the number which corresponds to a database of owner contact details.

As painless and brief as a normal jab, this procedure now accounts for 32% of dogs being reunited with their owners, a massive rise from 7% in 1999. Microchipping overtook the ID disc in effectiveness five years ago!*

This only represents a proportion of the lost dogs that were returned home, and does not reflect the overall numbers of strays in the UK. According to the last survey the total number has, sadly, increased.

Dogs Trust Chief Executive Clarissa Baldwin comments:

“Of the hundreds of stray dogs that come to our centres, it is heartbreaking to think that many once had loving homes.

“More and more dog owners are aware that microchipping is the most effective and proactive means of ensuring a lost pooch will be returned.

“If you haven’t had your pet microchipped, make this the month to do it. Dogs go missing all the time, for all sorts of reasons, and microchipping is by far the best precaution you can take to ensure your furry friend doesn’t end up on the streets, or even being put to sleep.”

Owners can expect to pay £20-£30 for microchipping at their local vets’ or £10 at our 17 Dogs Trust Rehoming Centres. You can find your nearest Centre by calling us on 020 8837 0006 or visiting www.dogstrust.org.uk.

All dogs adopted from our Centres are microchipped, neutered, vaccinated and health-checked before being released to their new owners.

*Please note that a collar and ID tag are required for dogs out in public under UK law.