It’s heart-breaking to lose a pet dog. Here are some pointers to keep your fur baby safe.
Recently, I fostered a nine-month-old German Shepherd for two days. The poor dog was lost and had been running in a panicked state on Poonamallee High Road, a busy thoroughfare in Chennai. Fortunately, it was a holiday and there wasn’t too much traffic, hence the dog didn’t get knocked down. A kind Samaritan rescued the dog and took him to my cousin’s house. Since she had cats in her home, I brought the dog back and kept him with me. We clicked pictures of him and posted it on social media, asking people to share the post. Animal activist groups also helped us by posting it on their sites. Luckily for this dog, whose name we later discovered was Pluto, his worried owner stumbled across a post on someone’s Facebook page, contacted an animal activist through whom he contacted me, and the furry baby was restored to his owner.
Personally, I was very lucky a few years back when my dog Peppy got lost. After three days of combing the streets and bucket loads of tears and recrimination, I suddenly got the idea of calling Blue Cross. They had a dog answering Peppy’s description, and when I went there, I was delighted to be reunited with her!
Sadly, most tales of lost dogs don’t have such happy endings. Often, they get knocked down by a passing vehicle as most home-reared dogs have no road sense. Many pedigreed pups or dogs are taken in by an individual or person who decides to claim him for his own. And with mongrels, very often, no one bothers to rescue them. They keep running and eventually get lost. The owners are left stricken, with a sense of hopelessness and anxiety wondering whether their dog is alive or dead.
Many people subscribe to the myth that a dog can find its way home. Well, some dogs can, but most cannot. Most of these dogs have been brought up in a house or apartment and are taken out only within the confines of the neighbourhood, and that too on a leash. They lose their natural instincts. If they’ve just wandered off nearby, chances are that they will come home. However, if they run out because of fire crackers, in all likelihood the dogs are already in a panicked state. So they run recklessly in a panic. Each area has groups of stray dogs. These dogs are extremely territorial and will chase away any new dog. So the dog is chased from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, and he loses his bearings and is not able to find his way home.
So what can you do to ensure your dog doesn’t get lost? Firstly, if you live in an independent house, make sure the gates are always shut. Instruct family members, staff and vendors. If you live in an apartment, keep the front door closed at all times. Always walk your dog with a leash, especially when there are fireworks. When they are scared, they bolt, and often do not listen to the owner.
Get a name tag for your dog with your mobile number and her name engraved on it. Attach the tag to her collar. This way, if she does run away, people can contact you thanks to the tag. Nevertheless, a metal tag in itself is not a fool proof method of ensuring a dog’s safety. In many cases, dogs have escaped by slipping out of their collars.
The next option is microchipping your dog. This is very popular abroad and has helped restore several lost dogs to their owners. However, microchipping is still impractical in India because of the lack of scanners and a database. In due course of time, microchips will take off. Hopefully, in the future, all animal organisations will have scanners. Finding a lost dog (which is microchipped) will be effective only when many people and organisations have scanners.
Surprisingly, many dog owners are unaware that the Chennai Corporation issues licences for dogs. Licenses are available at (hold your breath!) the Basin Bridge Lethal Chamber or Corporation dispensaries, and all you need is a certificate from your veterinary doctor that the dog has been given his anti-rabies shot. The license, which is a metal tag, is ridiculously affordable and has to be renewed every year. Once the dog is issued a license, the owner’s name and address details and the dog’s name and details are entered into a database. The Corporation regularly catches dogs; this includes stray dogs for the ABC programme and often lost pet dogs too. There have been instances where owners have found their lost dogs at a Corporation centre.
Ultimately, it is up to you, the owner, to take care of your dog and ensure that she doesn’t get lost. A little care and, of course, a name tag, license or microchip will be a double insurance.