[henrylemberger]

Question on updating the microchip for a rescue...

My fiance and I recently adopted an adorable Yorkie mix. When contacting the woman who we rescued him from about gaining access to update his microchip, she has insisted that we give her our info and she will add us as secondary contacts, and remain the primary contact herself.

I would prefer to be the primary contact, and also to be able to update the microchip info ourselves, but when I told her this she insisted that it is standard policy for rescues to keep the microchip in their name.

Can anyone enlighten me on this? We are first time owners, so didn't anticipate this situation. Is this standard policy? Is there any way for us to get access to the microchip ourselves if she wants to keep it in her name?

Thanks!
Henry

 

[CourtC3]

Do you know what organization the microchip is through? You may have gotten a tag or something like that when you adopted your pup. If so, you could always try to contact the organization directly and see what you need to do.

We in were in a similar situation - we adopted Rollie in August of last year, and our rescue organization said the same thing, that they would add us as the secondary contacts. I kept thinking about contacting Home Again directly to see if we could be added as the primary contact, but I kept talking myself out of it and never got around to doing it.

This June, the "premium" service for the microchip had to be renewed (i.e. all of the extras beyond their just keeping your dog in their database). We got a letter with some user information in it along with a notice saying that we needed to renew it. When I logged on, we were listed as the primary contacts and the rescue org. was the secondary contact. We never made this change, so I can only assume that they did it at some point.

Based on this, I get the feeling that our rescue group may have told us at Rollie's adoption that they would stay the primary contacts in case something happened soon after we took him home, or in case we returned him...something like that. Hopefully it will be the same in your case.

 

[henrylemberger]

Thanks for the info. I went through the papers we got from the rescue, and unfortunately there is nothing about the microchip. He does still have a tag with a number on it from the rescue, (since I haven't gotten his new tag yet)...would that have anything to do with the microchip?

I can't imagine that we're going to have to keep in touch with this woman for the life of our dog whenever we change our contact info...

Do you know what organization the microchip is through? You may have gotten a tag or something like that when you adopted your pup. If so, you could always try to contact the organization directly and see what you need to do.

We in were in a similar situation - we adopted Rollie in August of last year, and our rescue organization said the same thing, that they would add us as the secondary contacts. I kept thinking about contacting Home Again directly to see if we could be added as the primary contact, but I kept talking myself out of it and never got around to doing it.

This June, the "premium" service for the microchip had to be renewed (i.e. all of the extras beyond their just keeping your dog in their database). We got a letter with some user information in it along with a notice saying that we needed to renew it. When I logged on, we were listed as the primary contacts and the rescue org. was the secondary contact. We never made this change, so I can only assume that they did it at some point.

Based on this, I get the feeling that our rescue group may have told us at Rollie's adoption that they would stay the primary contacts in case something happened soon after we took him home, or in case we returned him...something like that. Hopefully it will be the same in your case.

 

[CourtC3]

Hmm. I would try calling the number, or you could try calling the rescue group and asking them if there's a company associated with the chip. I don't have the depth of knowledge (since this is my first dog) to know whether all chips are or not.

 

[RedGermanPinscher]

Personally, I would have him scanned at your vet... Chips usually read something like this when scanned, Avid:12345678910... Avid being the microchip company and then 1234..... being the registry number.... using this information you can contact the company and find out proper procedure...

 

[Flaming]

Personally, I would have him scanned at your vet... Chips usually read something like this when scanned, Avid:12345678910... Avid being the microchip company and then 1234..... being the registry number.... using this information you can contact the company and find out proper procedure...

This^

or in the case of my cat, the chip apparently disappeared. The SPCA swears she's chipped but we scanned everywhere and nothing shows, we even done images to make sure it didn't migrate somewhere dangerous.

 

[RedGermanPinscher]

This^

or in the case of my cat, the chip apparently disappeared. The SPCA swears she's chipped but we scanned everywhere and nothing shows, we even done images to make sure it didn't migrate somewhere dangerous.

and if that's the case and no chip is found, you can then have him chipped and can choose to add the rescue or not...

 

[henrylemberger]

Thanks for all the info... Wondering if anyone else has any further info or advice based on our current situation. Here is the latest:

First of all, we are very disappointed in the rescue organization, since in hindsight they appear to be very unprofessional.

Our dog is microchipped as the woman who rescued him insists on adding our info as a secondary contact. However, as much as I insist, she won't give us access to the microchip, or allow a transfer of the microchip to our names. She claims that it is standard among all rescues to keep the microchip in the name of the rescue, and add the adopters as secondary contacts, (she said this was in case the adopters abandon or don't take care of the pup). I have no idea whether that is true or not, but it doesn't sound right.

Another thing is that she never gave us any official paperwork when we adopted our dog. She runs a weekly adoption in our neighborhood, so we figured she was legit, and has good reviews on Yelp. But in hindsight, we realize we should have received some kind of formal documentation, but unfortunately have nothing to prove he is actually ours.

She does boarding, and we boarded him with her when going out of town last week. After picking him up, she showed us that she cut his hair around the tail because it was getting tangled, and starting to irritate his skin. Possibly a legitimate thing to do, but not OK that she didn't call us to ask us if this was OK. Point is, we feel like she still acts like this is her dog.

I asked her if she would be willing to wait a length of time, like 6 months or a year and then transfer the microchip to us once we have proved ourselves to be responsible owners. She said no. I told her, you can't expect us to stay in touch for 15 years, or however long he lives, and let you know every time we change our info. She said, "Actually I do expect you to stay in touch with me. I'm not going anywhere. You'll always be able to get in touch with me."

She is very controlling, and as much as we love our little guy we don't like the fact that we've had to work with this woman, but mainly aren't sure what to do about the microchip situation.

Sorry to bore you with all the details! If anyone has any kind of insight or advice, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Dog Person]

I hate to say it but some rescues are like this; some rescues want ultimate control over their rescued dog. I guess if the dog did get away from you and they were called that would kind of be a negative mark against you; too many negative marks and they want the dog back. I'm kind of on the fence with you being the secondary - not all people are trustworthy even though you might be. If your dog never gets to be scanned because it doesn't escape - no big deal.

 

[Shell]

I'd have the dog chipped again. Put that chip in your name. Register that chip's number with your city or county if they have dog registration where you live. Register the dog in the city/county as required under your name. Put the rabies tag in your name.
If you're really worried about ownership and contact info, have the dog tattoo if the dog has to be sedated for surgery or teeth cleaning or whatever.

The rescue I foster with requires that all dogs be returned to them if the adopter cannot keep them. But all microchip info is given to the adopter and the adopter can set up the data however they please.

go ahead and let her add you as the secondary contact on the initial chip. Obviously that affords you extra protection in the sense of A)extra contact info and B) validating the info on the second chip if both get read.

All that said, if the dog has a collar with current tags, no one is going to bother taking the dog to have a chip read if they can simply call the number on the tags. I love the Boomerang tags which lie flat on the collar-- great engraving, quality metal and the tag isn't dangling to catch on anything and get lost.