Wondering About People Checking Ownership

[Whippetsmum]

Purely hypothetical, don't know why I'm even curious, but I am.

I'm wondering what happens when dogs get surrendered to rescues or pounds. Are their microchips scanned and ownership details verified?

What happens if the ownership details don't match?

e.g. hypothetically, someone finds a dog, keeps it a while and then surrenders it, or "gives it away" and it ends up in a facility. Would the original owner get contacted?

[Alyosha]

In pounds and shelters yes, it should be although it's pretty easy to change chip details.

I know of one instance where a dog had been stolen three years previously, and was surrendered due to health issues the current "owners" couldn't afford. Chip was still in original owner's name fortunately. Said dog was duly returned to his very pleased original owner, much to the chagrin of the other owners who thought they could buy him back after vetwork had been done...

[karly101]

Since the person surrendering signs a form that they are the owner I'm not sure how much checking they really do on every single animal. I think there are some tell tale signs such as the person surrendering saying the animal is not microchipped and it is and from what I remember they usually investigate cases like that. We had a couple come in at RSPCA where I remember they did contact breeders on microchips and they were rehomed that way.

[Dame Aussie]

I know where I worked we checked religiously and often found discrepancies. Nothing would happen to the animal till we had established the correct owner and contacted them.

People who surrender animals lie through their teeth.

[megan_]

It would also depend on what state you're in. For example, i believe that in WA there is no mandatory chipping, so this isn't always routinely checked as some pounds/shelters don't have the scanners. If there is no chip it would be very hard to tell that the dog had been stolen.

[Guest Ams]

I had a dog come into my care through several sets of hands. All adamantly stated they had reported the dog to the relevant authorities, yet checks indicated they had not. The owners were delighted when I tracked them down via the RSPCA lost/found database. No one had actually even tried to find them and the dog was located in the same street he lives in. He was not chipped. He had been "missing" ie with the finder for several weeks.

[Dame Aussie]

We had situations where dogs had been found interstate and then brought over and when we called the original owners they were beside themselves and had the dog shipped back over, we also had people who said they found a stray and when we checked the chip it was THEIR dog....

Edited February 28, 2012 by Aussie3

[~Anne~]

I took in surrenders regularly. The surrender form asked if they were the owner of the dog. I asked for existing microchip paperwork if they had it.

However I did not own a scanner. After the dog was surrendered, it was taken tot he vet for a health check as a matter on normal procedure regardless of apprent perfect health. The dog was scanned at this check. Most often this did not pull up any discrepencies as Vets do not normally check for them.

When I transferred the chip into my rescue was when I discovered if the chip details were under someone else's name.

I did have 2 dogs that came in, were with me for several months and then re-homed. When they were surrendered I thought I had transferred the chip to my name. I followed normal procedures and sent the forms off to Council. Then when the dogs were re-homed I trasnferred the chips once again and sent the forms off to Council. At this point in time, my local Council were obviously way behind in data entry and so the fact that the dogs were listed as stolen wasn't picked up until several months after they had been re-homed.

When I received the call from Council advising me I was horrified.

Anyway, it was sorted out. The person who had surrendered them was an ex of the person who had listed them as stolen. It was a 'break-up' dispute that occurred several years prior. I spoke to him and he was happy to sign the dogs over to me, so the paoperwork in the order it was submitted (ie transferred to me and then the new owners) could be processed.

I had another where the dog, now 8 years old, had been purchased as a puppy. The owner surrendered the dog to me beleiving it was chipped into his name. It turned out the breeder had never transferred the chip and she then declared the dogs was hers ans she wanted her back when I contacted her to ask her to sign the chip over. Understandably I said no, and I had the real owner send me all his Vet records and the recipt of purchase which luckily he still had. This evidence, plus a stat dec, was all that was needed to transfer the chip to me.

Chips are not fool proof. Most things can be sorted out though.

[Leema]

On a similar but different note;

If a dog comes into care of a shelter or pound, and is chipped, is the shelter/pound legally obligated to contact the chipped owner? (If so, which states?)

If the dog comes into a shelter/pound as a stray, is chipped, the owner is not able to be contacted, then how does transfer of ownership take place without the original owner's signature? Do they have a registered letter sent to them?

[~Anne~]

On a similar but different note;

If a dog comes into care of a shelter or pound, and is chipped, is the shelter/pound legally obligated to contact the chipped owner? (If so, which states?)

If the dog comes into a shelter/pound as a stray, is chipped, the owner is not able to be contacted, then how does transfer of ownership take place without the original owner's signature? Do they have a registered letter sent to them?

In NSW, yes, the pound must try to make contact with the chipped owner. This includes sending letters, emails and telephoning.

If they are unable to contact the owner, the dog is considered to be abandoned and or unclaimed and after 14 days, the pound has authority to sell or dispose of the dog and alter the database to show the new details.

I am not sure about other states.

[Dame Aussie]

On a similar but different note;

If a dog comes into care of a shelter or pound, and is chipped, is the shelter/pound legally obligated to contact the chipped owner? (If so, which states?)

If the dog comes into a shelter/pound as a stray, is chipped, the owner is not able to be contacted, then how does transfer of ownership take place without the original owner's signature? Do they have a registered letter sent to them?

I was working in VIC and we had to contact the chipped owner.

And yes, if we were unable to contact the registered owner we would send a registered letter.