I do agree about having the chipping done as proof that the pet is yours though. That is one of the main reasons we got our Sphynx chipped. They are an expensive breed so the chances of someone trying to steal her to resell her might be a little higher than her getting outside and running off.
Living in the country we have never kept our dogs penned up or tied up when we let them go outside to use the potty. We just let them out in the yard for awhile and then called them back in later. My mom had a Shih Tzu years ago that we let out one morning before work and when it was time for her to leave he refused to come back in the house. It was not uncommon in good weather for us just to go ahead and leave them outside while we were gone during the day. Anyway his best buddy was a Jack Russell who lived about half a mile down the road. They were always playing together. During the day a bad storm rolled unexpectedly in and I think he was next door at the time it hit and he got disoriented and couldn't find his way home. We made lost dog posters and asked the mail lady to put one in each mailbox on the road. We got a call a couple of days later from a teenager saying they found our dog. My mom and I went to pick her up and when we got there the teen we had talked to wasn't there, only the parents. They denied having ever seen our dog. We could hear him barking in the house though. We called the sheriffs department and they came out and the people let them go outside after some convincing and sure enough they had our dog in the house. They had taken the collar and tags off and said it was their dog. Thankfully we did have a copy of the lost dog poster and they called our vet who confirmed that dog pictured was ours. <-----This is the event that has made me microchip all of my pets, tattoo all of my livestock, have pictures on hand of all of our animals with clear shots of any unique features and even tattoo our dogs before microchipping became popular.
Living in the country we have never kept our dogs penned up or tied up when we let them go outside to use the potty. We just let them out in the yard for awhile and then called them back in later. My mom had a Shih Tzu years ago that we let out one morning before work and when it was time for her to leave he refused to come back in the house. It was not uncommon in good weather for us just to go ahead and leave them outside while we were gone during the day. Anyway his best buddy was a Jack Russell who lived about half a mile down the road. They were always playing together. During the day a bad storm rolled unexpectedly in and I think he was next door at the time it hit and he got disoriented and couldn't find his way home. We made lost dog posters and asked the mail lady to put one in each mailbox on the road. We got a call a couple of days later from a teenager saying they found our dog. My mom and I went to pick her up and when we got there the teen we had talked to wasn't there, only the parents. They denied having ever seen our dog. We could hear him barking in the house though. We called the sheriffs department and they came out and the people let them go outside after some convincing and sure enough they had our dog in the house. They had taken the collar and tags off and said it was their dog. Thankfully we did have a copy of the lost dog poster and they called our vet who confirmed that dog pictured was ours. <-----This is the event that has made me microchip all of my pets, tattoo all of my livestock, have pictures on hand of all of our animals with clear shots of any unique features and even tattoo our dogs before microchipping became popular.
