TexasCHLforum.com

jason812 wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:26 am

E.Marquez, I never thought about the stolen dog scenario.

All good, thanks

I had never considered it either until I got involved with Central Texas Lost and Found Pets. Before that, when I saw a dog on the road, I assumed dumped, or escaped/lost.
But like anything else, the more you deal with something, the more you learn.

If folks are looking for a new fur friend, https://www.facebook.com/pg/CTLAFPadopt/ perhaps one of our members has what your looking for

jason812 wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:02 pm

This is hypothetical but could have been real. What if you find a microchipped dog and don't or won't return it to it's owner? About a month ago, a weiner/terrior little wire haired cross showed up at my in-laws. We live next door and there are no neighbors for the little guy to run away from so we figured he was dumped. He has been in no hurry to leave, bounces back and forth between our houses, is protective of the kids and is a pretty good dog. After a month of nobody looking for him, my wife took him to the vet to get shots and a check up. She reported back that he wasn't chipped so I guess we get to keep him. I told her I wouldn't have given him back any way.

My 10 year old mutt was a similar situation. My mom found her in the middle of the road, covered in fleas, eyes matted shut, and we figured a couple of weeks old at most. I happened to be there as it was July 4th and told my mom when she was washing the dog, that she was wasting her time cause it was going to die. A few weeks after my mom had her, the people where she came from showed up and asked for her back, my mom told them to get lost. She has scar tissue on her eye which causes one to glow a different color at night but other than that has no lasting issues from her earlier life. I took her about 3 months after my mom found her and can't believe that was 10 years ago.

Sorry for tangent, but back to the question, what if you think the dog was abused or dumped and don't want to give it back? I know the owner probably wouldn't want it back or it wouldn't have been dumped in the first place. Also, I think I may already figure this out, but if somebody were going to chip an animal, they are probably the kind that wouldn't dump it in the middle of nowhere. I understand if the animal ran away or got out but where we live, the likelihood of that happening is slim.

Not a Lawyer, dont play one on TV... I only know what I think I know...

My understanding from speaking to a TX ADA, several TX LEO's city & sheriff plus Animal Control officers in several TX city's..

In TX, Domestic animals are property.
If you have a persons property, and they can prove it, your obligated to return it.
Our group policy and that of every shelter in TX I know of, government or privet is to hold found "property" for a minimum of 72 hours while aggressively seeking owners.
After the hold we offer them for adoption.

Several times a month we have a found animal that research leads to a former owner who no longer wants them.
We have had found animals that were obviously not cared for..BUT, and this is a really big BUT... The found animal many not have been abused by the "Owner", it may have been stolen then dumped or escaped we see it every month.
It may have escaped and was taken by a "helping" [person but transported out of its home area , later escaped again, given away or dumped. We ask that our members 35,000 and growing) NEVER assume the animal they found was neglected or hurt by the rightful owner.

Thursday we scanned a dog here in Kempner who was found at large... While I was running the chip number, a prosper drove by and said the dog belonged to the home on the corner, they called him and he came to pick up the dog....No sooner then we handed the dog over i finally hunted down the registered owner.... in Huston, so 4 hours by car away. The dog disappeared from their yard in June ... Turns out it wandered across the street, older couple took it in, It was claimed the dog was \chip checked.... perhaps it was, perhaps not...some scanners are better then others, some scanner operators are better then others... but in 10 sec we found the chip .

The couples kids came for a visits and took the dog home that same day to Kempener where he got loose and we scanned.

The rightful owners wanted their dog back,,,we gently persuaded the current holder to return him...it was not easy or fun and I was a bit concerned it was going to get ugly ..but in the end, the possessor pf the dig had a big heart and turned it over that night to some very happy owners that drove straight though the night to come get him.
It very well could have been a call to the sheriff to mitigate and then if no solution found, the rightful owners would have had to taken legal recourse

If we feel the animal should not go back to the rightful owners, it would be tenured over to local animal control officers with all my research.... so someone with a legal right to detain and or confiscate the animal and adopt it out could do so.

2 dogs and a cat chipped today...Whos next?

Im ok with you running me out of chips, we roll 100% of the fee into more chips...NO ONE in our groups of volunteers is paid, 100% goes back to the lost and found animals.
We are not yet a 501c charitable org...but that is in the works...and if not this group, we will build our own and it WILL be 501c
The only Admin fee that will ever come out of donations is the direct out of pocket cost of setting up the 501c and tax filing at end of year. No one will profit....not one penny. It all goes back into helping lost animals get home.

RottenApple wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 26, 2018 2:55 pm

Question regarding chipping pets....

We found a dog once that had escaped from his owners. We took him to a local vet who scanned him, found he was chipped, but then told us that he "wasn't in their database". We took him to 2 other vets and had the same experience. Is this normal? Do vets maintain their own chip database and not communicate the info to other vets?

Incidentally, the owner was eventually found when she was wandering the neighborhood calling out for him. He heard her and went nuts in the backyard. So at least the family was reunited.

Chips are registered at the manufactures registry typically, but can be registered in any of the data bases. , most of the registers support and send data to a registry search engine maintained by American Animal Hospital Association .

So, no, Vets do not operate or maintain the pets microchip data the chip manufacture typically does as when you buy the chip, after I implant it, we register it for you (NOT ALL IMPLANTERS DO THAT< Most animal shelters do not when you get your pup out of doggy prison

so when we scan a found dog, find a chip, I run it though 5 search engines that cover all of the major US and EU suppliers ...If you registered your chip with darn near any registrant, i'll find it

Kempner, Killeen, Lampasas, Copperas Cove, Fort Hood locals if you have a dog or cat that is in need of a Microchip, both my wife and I were checked out this weekend and are now approved & available to microchip Central Texas Lost and Found member's pets....for just $10-12 cash.(depending on size chip needed)
That's $5 to 25 dollars cheaper then other facilities are offering.
Not a CTLAFP member?...well you are just a click away
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CTLAFP/?ref=bookmarks
Upper right hand side and use the "Add Member" function.

Your pet has a much better chance of getting home.
We get many chipped pets with current contact info home in hours after being found.

If you have any questions on getting your pet chipped, or that chip info updated feel free to message me.

Erik