On 6/25/2014 colliegirls said: Absolutely, and we do. However the ID tag is immediate and the owner can be called then and there, a person has to go to a vet or pet store to scan the chip and find the owner.
While I agree an ID tag is immediate, I can share my experiences of this. Over many decades I have found dogs in many different areas and there was no doubt in my mind they were lost.
If they were friendly enough to stay put or come to me I always looked to see if they had any ID tags on them. While some had collars on them there was no way to identify them. My only choices then were to take them home with me or take them to our State Humane Society which is in our city.
Out of the many I picked up there were maybe at most 10% that were identifiable with tags or a chip. Depending on how long they have been lost and where they were lost, external ID tags can and do come off of them. I would like to believe that most that have owners and have a collar also might of at one time had their ID tags on it. However my experiences tell me that the majority of them do not and I have no idea why in these cases.
Now that a pet owner can have a microchip installed relatively cheap I see no reason not to do this to all of their furry family members. Sure it may not be immediate, but the chances of finding their homes is much greater with a chip than with only external ID only.
While both are good options one will not get lost and the other could.
hckynut(john)