Please please please keep collars and tags on them at all times! I'm amazed at how many people only put collars on for walks, or leave loose chain collars on that will easily slide over the dog's head. Dogs need visible ID!



Something you might consider in the future:

Mine has both a microchip and always wears a collar and tags. She hasn't gotten out of our yard in years until this past week, when we lost a board in the corner of the fence. One of her tags has her AVID number (the ID number programmed into her chip) and the AVID phone number on it so even if whoever finds her doesn't have a chip reader, they can call AVID, who will call us (so we don't have to have our own phone number out in public).

Mom got a call from AVID at 8:00 Tuesday morning saying that someone down the block had found our dog. It turns out it was an elderly woman who couldn't have taken the dog to a vet herself but could call AVID anyway because of the tag.



The other advantage to a microchip is that if someone finds your dog and wants to keep it, they won't know she has a chip unless they get her scanned. We had two clients fighting over a dog once (a boxer, as a matter of fact) so we whipped out the microchip scanner an, lo and behold, the chip was still registered to the original owner. The second "owner" had found the dog and taken the collar off.