The Easiest Part of Responsible Pet Ownership: Identification

As I continue to venture into my journey of animal welfare and rescue, it has come clear to me that the largest hurdle when dealing with over population in city shelters can be fixed in the simplest way.

This week, by the grace of the universe, two Chihuahua mix pups wandered into my yard and were playing with my pitty. (I swear it's like these animals know I can't just throw them back onto the street. It's physically impossible for me to ignore a stray dog on the street. PHYSICALLY. IMPOSSIBLE. And I'm beginning to think that they know it. I mean these two literally came into my back yard. Walked right in like they were thinking "hey, that sucker lives here, she'll help us for sure!" ... but that's an entirely different post.)

Anyway, these two adorable little bundles of joy aren't necessarily the type of dogs that I would ever own...but I just don't know how NOT to try to help. I couldn't imagine my own doggies running around the neighborhood terrified and no one trying to get them home to me. They'd be SO SCARED. Next thing I know I'm sitting with my two new little friends on the couch with my already two large old friends.

And of course our two new friends don't have ANY identification and on top of that neither of them are spayed/neutered (...another post, but at this point I'm pretty annoyed).

Seriously these are two of my BIGGEST pet peeves of pet ownership.

But the simplest out of the two is IDENTIFICATION! These poor dogs were obviously someone's pets. They were well groomed, healthy, social, and very very cute! The quickest, cheapest, EASIEST way to get lost pets home when they're lost is a tag that you can get with your phone # or address for less than $10 at ANY and EVERY pet store!

These poor pooches were house trained, slept in a crate, well mannered but terrified. They were just looking for some food, water, and love... and they were obviously missing their pet parents.

So I gave them as much love as I could but let's face it, as much as I would love to find everyone's home it's impossible to do so when there is no help. It's one thing to not have a micro-chip (even though it's the BEST invention for pet owners and are so easily obtainable --and just as affordable as an ID tag, I don't understand why anyone WOULDN'T get their pet chipped!...again, I think that may be an entirely different post.)

Something like a 10 dollar tag is an important investment for every dog/cat owner because there are TONS of people out there like me who would be more than willing to take 5 minutes out of their day to make a phone call or take a drive around the block to return your pet to YOU and not have to resort to taking it to a local shelter (I can't horde your dogs in my house and feed them and make sure they're getting love forever, I've got my own girls to worry about and let's be honest: I'm going to get attached to YOUR dog because YOU didn't put a tag on it!).

What a traumatic experience for any animal to lose their home and be stuck in a cold cement box for a few days (unless they wander into my presence then I'll just take them in for as long as I can, but THAT'S the PROBLEM! I shouldn't have to "take them in." I should be "taking them to YOU." ...you know, the owner.)

It's something SO simple that will keep these poor pooches OUT of our already crowded city shelters.

And remember most shelters only hold animals for 3-4 days until they are put up for adoption, and usually only a few weeks (if that) before euthanization.

If you ask me, ten bucks is a small price to pay to make sure that your pet will always be able to make it back home.

I mean SERIOUSLY, TEN DOLLARS people. If you really care you'll take 15 minutes and $10 and go get your pet an ID tag.

$10.

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