PREVENTION
Our hearts break for families whose pets go missing and the pets themselves. Our ultimate goal is to always unite pets with their owners, when possible, help us by taking all of the necessary steps to make sure we can return your pet to you!
- Make sure your dog is wearing a properly fitted collar with an Id tag, rabies tag (required by law), and county dog license (also required by law). A properly fitted collar should be tight enough that you can only fit 2 fingers between the collar and the dogs neck. Any looser and the collar may be able to slip over the dogs head or get caught on something causing injury.
- Sometimes collars come off after a dog gets loose. Many veterinarians and animal welfare professionals recommend a microchip implant. Every dog adopted from the ACAPL is microchipped before going home. It’s about the size of a grain of rice and is injected underneath the skin between the shoulder blades. The microchip can be scanned for by any veterinarian, the dog warden and APL staff, and contains an identification number that can be found in a database containing your contact information. A microchip is a useful tool to reunite lost dogs with their families but should only be used as a backup to a collar and tags.
- Make sure the information in the microchip database is up to date with current phone numbers and addresses. Not sure which company to contact to update records. Ask your vet or come to the APL adoption center and we will happily scan your dog and tell you who to contact at no charge. The APL can provide anyone who asks with a microchip implant for $30, even if you didn’t adopt from us. Veterinarians and retail establishments like Tractor Supply also offer microchipping.
Our hearts break for families whose pets go missing and the pets themselves. Our ultimate goal is to always unite pets with their owners, when possible, help us by taking all of the necessary steps to make sure we can return your pet to you!