Please Microchip your pet, You never know when you might need it. And to all the vets out there, I'm sure you always do, but please, always scan for chips!
When most normal folk adopt or rescue an animal, they do so with the intent to love and care for the critter, whether it be cat or dog, for the life of the animal. At least that's my presumption. But depending on the human, one's idea of how to care and contain an animal seem to vary widely.
I've seen how people keep their dogs and it ranges widely from letting their animals roam freely about the neighborhood like those "leash free" pee runs, to actually having fenced-in yards.
But even the yard controls seem to vary from home to home. Some yards are immaculate and well maintained and secure while others stay together via sheer will of momentum, barring any stiff winds or hard pushes with a little wet dog nose.
Regardless of how you feel about your own pet's security or inability to escape your oversight, it happens folks. Period.
There are nearly 14,000 animal shelters in the U.S., and almost 4 million companion canines enter those shelters each year, with just over a million dogs killed (code for euthanize) each year.
On average, of the dogs that come into a shelter, only 26% are returned to their owners, 35% get adopted out and the rest get killed if no one adopts them out or takes them into an already over-run rescue system.
To be honest most "got out" stories can end with a happy ending, but there are still many that don't.
