Tatoos/Microchips

I just finally read Lorin's message of the 14th under "White Collar" and how there was no permanent ID on her dog that was lost. I do not know much about microchips, whether they can be removed easily by someone or what.

However, I would like to pass along some information on tatoos and why they are necessary sometimes. To the best of my knowledge unless it has changed in recent years, there are not many laws, especially on the federal level and sometimes none on the state level concerning dogs being sold to experimental labs and other types of places. The primary law that is around is that if an experimental lab is caught with an animal that is tatoo'd (?), there are heavy monetary fines/penalties/loss of license. The recommended place for a tatoo used to be on the inside of an ear. However, labs reported that people tried to sell them animals with ears missing. So now it is recommended that the tatoo be put on the inside thigh. Most labs would rather pass up an animal than get shut down.

While Malteses are not the dog of choice for experimentation because of their size (thank goodness) because they could be lost or stolen and possibly end up in a puppy mill as Lorin thinks might have happened -- heaven forbid some type of non-removable permanent ID is advisable.

Maybe someone who has his or her dog microchiped can tell us if it can be removed? Might the removal be easy to do so or what?? If so, I can imagine an unscrupulous pupply mill owner wouldn't think twice about doing so.

As to the experimental labs, the main dogs of choice, (unfortunate that any dogs are a dog of choice) are labs and retrievers. So, if any of you have any friends with larger dogs you might want to mention the importance of getting the dog tatoo'd. The best thing to use is your SS# because it is specific to you, not duplicated and traceable/proveable.

All of my dogs are tatoo'd. When I got my Amanda tatoo'd about 15 years ago I did not know about microchips. It is not as painful as a human tatoo because it does not go as deep, but just to show my kids, Mom got one too, but not my SS#.

I know we all think that they will never get out by themselves, or it will never happen to me, but my motto is it is better to be safe than sorry, and as Lorin, said, the best thing if possible is some kind of permanent identification.
Rebecca

• This is very good advice to pet owners. I have 2 of my dogs micro-chipped. I think the only way they can be removed is surgically. The chip is places between the shoulder blades and injected with a large needle w/saline solution. They also wear an id tag that says they are chipped. Most animal controls, shelters, vets, will scan a dog for chips. Their registration number is nationwide and lasts for the life of the dog. These chips do not float around the dogs body either. One can never be too cautious about protecting their pets.
  PUG