Thanks everyone, I'm just really worried about Kirin. It's one of those things that you don't know what to believe cause the owners have yet to tell their side of the story. I mean if she ran away, why won't they just tell me that she ran away? Why stay quiet and ignor emails, phone calls, text messages, FB messages? I dunno it's just really frustrating.
@shishiinu Aren't Kirin's owners Julie's sister and bother-in-law? Does Julie know what might have happened? Or maybe I'm just thinking of another person...
I suspect that she did end up in a shelter back in December and was made available.
I vaguely remember seeing a photo of a white "Jindo" in a Riverside area shelter back in December, whose head was more bear-like than a Jindo (ie. more stop). I think she was pulled by an Akita rescue.
I haven't been able to locate a copy of the old shelter listing though so I couldn't confirm it.
The same goes with locating the rescue-pull posting. The trail was just too cold by the time everybody was informed that Kirin was missing.
Based on the lack of communication from Kirin's owner, I'm going to hang onto the hope that she got adopted by a better family who knows how to keep her contained.
1. The shelter didn't scan her. A lot of intact Jindos don't come with chips and they might have figured she was one of those.
2. The shelter did scan her but missed the chip. Chips have died before. I know one dog that has 3 because of this.
3. The contact info associated with the chip was wrong. Though rare, sometimes the info is not hand-entered correctly into a database.
Also, if the owner chipped and register the dog rather than the breeder, the owner might not put the breeder's contact info as a secondary contact.
Lastly, the worst case scenario is the 4th:
4. The shelter did scan her and contact the owners, but the owners did not respond back that they will be picking her up. Either the legal hold time expired or the owner said they weren't going to reclaim her.
I have had 2 Shibas with dead chips, both were avid. They migrated into their elbows (a real problem with Avid chips imo), and so I rechipped them with HomeAgain. You can call anytime to update information.
Whenever you go in for a vet visit, you should ask for them to check to see if the chip is still working. They'll also be able to tell if the chip migrated to a weird spot that might be missed by a shelter scanner. Note that if you have a ISO chip (ie. international, European, Japanese) , not all scanners will be able to find or read the numbers off of it.
For updating the chip info, you should be registering the number with your animal control, the source of your chip (AVID, Home Again, etc), and then maybe a national database.
I'm not the expert at what's the best national database but I think the AKC CAR has a database that you can utilize.
Cdenney- Brad and Jen use Home Again chips- you can go to homeagain.com or call (i think) 1800homeagain... if you have her chip # (on her yellow tag) you can update that info. Note that you dont have to buy the "membership" ( I got sucked into that) to have your contact info recorded with the registry- membership provides extra features, but its not like the chip is useless if you dont.
Prompted by this thread, I just updated Matsu's photo, weight and rabies vax info and made sure my secondary contact is Juno and Matsu's breeder.
Thanks Ann for the update. With the amount of time that has passed since I was told of her "disappearance", this may well be the case. I'm hoping she's safe with someone.
extra features- you can print an ID card for your dog with the info you enter, you can print a lost dog poster, the best xtra feature is (I think) that they will automagically send out lost dog notices to area vets and other pet owners who have opted -in on lost dog notifications in their area. Rather than you doingit all manually. I think Id do it manually anyway, but it does give you some time to calm down and think I suppose in the event of an actual emergency.
We also use homeagain and (knock on wood) so far have not had one migrate or go inactive. Also, we do the one time reg. fee and don't renew for the extra features. Everything stays current without the annual fee and you can still go in and update pictures and information all the important stuff whenever you need to - I figure that if the unfortunate were to happen and we were in crisis I would call them and get the upgraded package and get flyers etc out as quickly as possible.
Note that if you have a ISO chip (ie. international, European, Japanese) , not all scanners will be able to find or read the numbers off of it.
This is also the case with some brands of chips. When I got my boys chipped during their neuters, the vet used a less popular brand called ResQ. Even though the vet's scanners could read it just fine, we found that that wasn't quite the case at the shelter. We took the boys with us to the shelter when we were getting them licensed, and I requested that they get scanned. The shelter attendant brought out the scanner that is commonly used, which was also a fancy expensive one, and it didn't pick up anything. The attendant came back with another scanner, that she said was cheaper and not used too often, and it was ale to pick up the chips. Needless to say, even though these chips aren't dead we still got the boys re-chipped with Home Again just in case. Also, Tetsu's ResQ chip has traveled and can be felt between his shoulder blade and elbow, so I wouldn't recommend anyone getting that brand.
@cdenney - I think we do the yearly and it's one fee for both dogs, but I'd have to check. For us it's a small fee (it's the cost of two drinks, or one if you're in NY) and one less thing to have to worry about if the worst happens, since they'll get it done quickly. I keep the dogs' info in a file on a flash drive but like the convenience of the little card since I keep it in my wallet. I think your mileage may vary on the utility of it so it comes down to preference.
What I (and probably others) should do is to keep the relevant info (chip number, license number, vet number etc.) in a note somewhere on my smartphone (assuming one has one).
It's easy to have the vet scan to see if the chip is still active/in the proper location. It doesn't usually go dead or migrate so don't get too paranoid. Just make sure your registration is updated with your breeder's info too. If they can't reach the first person good vets or shelters will call all the numbers listed. If you have a partner I'd recommend listing their number too.
Mika has HomeAgain but Koda has Petlink. I personally like Petlink better. The website login for HomeAgain sometimes does t work which means that I have to call and get it reset. It's a pain in the butt. And one time they deactivated it during the transfer from the Anderson's to me.
Thanks Ann for the update. With the amount of time that has passed since I was told of her "disappearance", this may well be the case. I'm hoping she's safe with someone.
Gen, I'm so sorry. I can't really imagine how awful this must feel for you.
I hope she's safe somewhere, too.
I just had a thought though--would it be worth it to try to contact some local Akita rescues and send photos, to see if they have puller her? I don't know what to do if they had placed her already--I guess I'd kind of want her to stay in a good home if she's found one--but it certainly might be some piece of mind, at least, if we found out one had pulled her.
Because of the numerous scenarios and possibilities I'm now going to press the owners as much as I can to tell the truth. I have a strong feeling there is more to this story then What is being told so before I waste a lot of people's time and efforts, the owners need to come clean.
I truly appreciate everyone's help and I apologize if all the hard work on part of the community and friends was a waste of time due to the owners untold intent. I'm still waiting for the owners to respond to my questions and now that they have acknowledged my email, it would be quit foolish on their part not to respond.
Soon as I get some solid info I will let you all know.
What I think is one of the best features of membership is if the dog is found more than 500 miles away from home, HomeAgain will cover the travel/shipping expenses to get it back. Since I travel across country for shows, etc, and that one time Gojira tried to escape in the mountains of Colorado... I feel much better at least knowing that I won't have a financial issue recovering my dog.
Also, I put my info on my puppies chips before I sent them to their homes. If the new owners forget or don't bother to change the chip, then I will find out if the dog is found. And if I am in a situation where I think the owner was negligent or otherwise violated my contract and that resulted in the dog ending up in a shelter (heaven forbid)... Well, I'll be able to get them out and sent to me.
@poeticdragon - good to know about travel/shipping expenses. Our breeder does that as well. In fact we're contractually obligated to keep them as a secondary contact, which is good (someone who fell out of contact abandoned one of their dogs several states away and they were able to pick him up).
@shishiinu - Gen, I like many others, are saddened to hear this. I'm wishing you the best in locating her.
@violet_in_seville I should do that. I will update my contracts for future litters. Could you send me the wording in the contract you signed I could use as an example?
Our breeder also puts her info on the chip before the dog leaves her and requires us to always keep her as a second contact. When we first went to visit Zim, our breeder actually had one of her dogs that had been dumped in a shelter. Her name came up on the chip, so they called her and she went and got her dog.
Comments
I vaguely remember seeing a photo of a white "Jindo" in a Riverside area shelter back in December, whose head was more bear-like than a Jindo (ie. more stop). I think she was pulled by an Akita rescue.
I haven't been able to locate a copy of the old shelter listing though so I couldn't confirm it.
The same goes with locating the rescue-pull posting. The trail was just too cold by the time everybody was informed that Kirin was missing.
Based on the lack of communication from Kirin's owner, I'm going to hang onto the hope that she got adopted by a better family who knows how to keep her contained.
1. The shelter didn't scan her. A lot of intact Jindos don't come with chips and they might have figured she was one of those.
2. The shelter did scan her but missed the chip. Chips have died before. I know one dog that has 3 because of this.
3. The contact info associated with the chip was wrong. Though rare, sometimes the info is not hand-entered correctly into a database.
Also, if the owner chipped and register the dog rather than the breeder, the owner might not put the breeder's contact info as a secondary contact.
Lastly, the worst case scenario is the 4th:
4. The shelter did scan her and contact the owners, but the owners did not respond back that they will be picking her up. Either the legal hold time expired or the owner said they weren't going to reclaim her.
For updating the chip info, you should be registering the number with your animal control, the source of your chip (AVID, Home Again, etc), and then maybe a national database.
I'm not the expert at what's the best national database but I think the AKC CAR has a database that you can utilize.
Prompted by this thread, I just updated Matsu's photo, weight and rabies vax info and made sure my secondary contact is Juno and Matsu's breeder.
What I (and probably others) should do is to keep the relevant info (chip number, license number, vet number etc.) in a note somewhere on my smartphone (assuming one has one).
It's easy to have the vet scan to see if the chip is still active/in the proper location. It doesn't usually go dead or migrate so don't get too paranoid. Just make sure your registration is updated with your breeder's info too. If they can't reach the first person good vets or shelters will call all the numbers listed. If you have a partner I'd recommend listing their number too.
Petlink is free and I've never had an issue.
I hope she's safe somewhere, too.
I just had a thought though--would it be worth it to try to contact some local Akita rescues and send photos, to see if they have puller her? I don't know what to do if they had placed her already--I guess I'd kind of want her to stay in a good home if she's found one--but it certainly might be some piece of mind, at least, if we found out one had pulled her.
I truly appreciate everyone's help and I apologize if all the hard work on part of the community and friends was a waste of time due to the owners untold intent. I'm still waiting for the owners to respond to my questions and now that they have acknowledged my email, it would be quit foolish on their part not to respond.
Soon as I get some solid info I will let you all know.
Also, I put my info on my puppies chips before I sent them to their homes. If the new owners forget or don't bother to change the chip, then I will find out if the dog is found. And if I am in a situation where I think the owner was negligent or otherwise violated my contract and that resulted in the dog ending up in a shelter (heaven forbid)... Well, I'll be able to get them out and sent to me.
@shishiinu - Gen, I like many others, are saddened to hear this. I'm wishing you the best in locating her.