Me and Evans saved a dog last night.

[Deeps]

I have hesitated to post because I don't want to deflate your high spirits at all, but I want to relate a story.

A few months before my cat died I went away for the weekend. The first night my cat never came home and my roommate scoured the neighborhood. The next night still nothing, and by the third night my roommate was convinced he had gone off to die somewhere as he was very old and not well. He wasn't looking forward to telling me at all and he looked everywhere. I came back and we accepted that my little guy was gone, but on my girlfriend's suggestion I called the humane society. The next day they called. They had him and he was slated for demolition because of his advanced age. I picked him up and paid the $70 fee and got him to his medicine as soon as I could. He was picked up about 80 feet from my house; someone saw him, realised he looked unwell and called the humane society people.

So my cat was out on his regular rounds and ended up in a cage for four days resulting in much concern, many tears, and a $70 bill. It was a struggle to balance my appreciation for someone's concern with my frustration caused by totally unneccesary stress.

Let me close by saying I believe you did the right thing, and I assume my situation doesn't apply here, and especially, big huge props to you for caring.

I just want to caution people to try and be as aware as possible at what they're doing before they call the pound.

I'd never pick up a cat. Dogs, on the finding their way home and being able to fend for themselves front are the inferior species. They seem to have little clue about what walking into traffic does to your lifespan and when they do get irreverseably lost I am pretty convinced that there aren't many dogs that know how to catch food.

I see what you're saying but I don't think it applies when we're talking dogs. a few exceptions exist I'm sure but dogs generally just aren't good at figuring out where they are. Too domesticated or something.

Deeps

[phishtaper]

dogs generally just aren't good at figuring out where they are

neither are phishheads ...

[bradm]

A few exceptions exist I'm sure but dogs generally just aren't good at figuring out where they are. Too domesticated or something.

I suspect it has a lot to do with dogs, which are descended from wolves, being pack animals. Consider that you can take a dog for a walk, but generally can't with a cat; this is because, to a dog, its owner is really just the "leader of the pack", and it'll follow the leader pretty much wherever.

As an example, a friend of mine used to have a dog, Barney, which was half black lab / half Newfoundland (yeah, Barney was huge). One day, my Dad looked out our front window and saw him walking along the street, alone, trailing a leash. Thinking something wrong, my Dad went out into the street, said, "Come here, Barney," and patted his leg. Barney stopped, looked back at him, but didn't move. My Dad then said, "C'mon, boy, let's go home," and started back towards my buddy's house. Barney then adopted an, "Oh, OK!" posture and followed him the block or so to my buddy's place. It turned out he had been hitched up to a clothesline in the back yard, had got loose, and just wandered off; there was nobody home.

The interesting thing is that, as far as I know, my Dad had never spent much (if any) time with Barney, but because he had taken the position/attitude of Leader Of The Pack, Barney's "pack" nature kicked in and he happily followed him home.

(Cats, on the other hand, are descended from "lone hunter" animals, with the exception of species like lions.)

Aloha,

Brad

[mattm]

Good job guys. I agree with the microchiping, it's painless (well, none of my animals exhibited any sort of pain). There's a story I read, I think I got the link from here but I can't find it. Nevertheless, the story was about a dog from like ontario that got found on the east coast or in europe or something (yeah, yeah, vague but so's my memory, hehe) so I don't think it's a bad idea.

Consider that you can take a dog for a walk, but generally can't with a cat;

Hehe, my cats back home love to go for walks. If they're outside and you take the dog, they'll trot along beside you no matter how far you go. I always wondered why, since cat's are mostly solitary creatures. I wonder if they have some sort of identity crisis when living with dogs and adopt some of the pack mentality. Or I have some strange cats, who knows but it's neat. They don't like horses.

Edited November 23, 2006 by Guest

[\/\/illy]

You should have kept it; they make an excellent stew.

[Birdy]

nice work deeps!

i'm pretty old-fashioned and would rather a dog-collar with an id tag to the microchip option.

microchips scare the shit out of me. so... unnatural! and maybe putting them in our pets is only a mad scientists research step away before the old needle comes our way... bye bye freedom and according to some dooms day tv show i watched somewhere along the line, hello end of the world! yeeeeeeeiiiiikes.

[StoneMtn]

I microchip all my cats.

So far, I have had two returned to me over the years because of it. One was taken by a woman who purposely changed my cat's collar and put on a new tag, and would have kept my cat, had the microchip not been found.

I also returned a cat to its owner due to the microchip.

I am an absolute supporter of the idea.

[mattm]

also, the microchip isn't really active, it's passive or inert meaning it does absolutely nothing until the scanner is passed over it. This means that it's not actually dangerous to the animal unless the vet screws up and somehow puts in a dirty one causing an infection. The chip itself being inserted is pretty much the equivalent of putting a large plastic grain of rice into the animal.

I think they're great. If they had a power source and continuously broadcast a signal, I might think differently.

Even if these were implanted in humans, a scanner would have to be passed within inches of it to be able to actually detect the thing and extract info from it, it couldn't actually constantly monitor where someone is. Now, are "they" developing something like that that is active and that broadcasts a location and info? Who knows but that would be scary.

[ollie]

Again I ask, how comfortable would you be with a microchip implanted under your skin?

[mattm]

I wouldn't care personally, not if it was that kind since they'd have to be within inches to scan me and by that time I'm already caught doing whatever I did that was wrong and since there's nothing coming from it and it contains no power, it's no big deal. All it has is an identification number and since I carry around my wallet full of numbers and things that can be scanned to get all sorts of info about me, it's not that big of a deal.

Also, I'm not an animal, they don't have a clue and it could save their life.

[phishtaper]

Moneypenny, have Q send me the microchip. And please unbutton your blouse.

yesssss, jaaaaames

[ollie]

Also, I'm not an animal, they don't have a clue and it could save their life.

A microchip could help save missing children. Implant everyone at birth!

[Birdy]

Now, are "they" developing something like that that is active and that broadcasts a location and info? Who knows but that would be scary.

definitely scary matt, and only a step away!

imagine what the department of homeland security could do with something like the microchip! oohhh the possibilities of keeping people safe... of knowing where each and every citizen is at at exact moments, of what they are doing, who they are talking with... man! we all bitch about what they can track us doing on our computers, but letting them inject us with a friggin' MICROCHIP! noooo thanks! technology isn't kind to man in his intended natural state.

i'm a full believer in the old saying 'give a man an inch, he takes a mile'. i'd rather not even go down that road.

while i think it's nice and good that your pets may have a shot at returning home, should they get lost, i'd rather not even take the gamble here.

[mattm]

Now' date=' are "they" developing something like that that is active and that broadcasts a location and info? Who knows but that would be scary. [/quote']

definitely scary matt, and only a step away!

...

Funny thing is, I was really just describing a cell phone. Most people have them, they broadcast info constantly (into my brain without my permission I might add) and who knows what they actually broadcast.

[Birdy]

this has the potential to go extremely 'conspiracy theory' here!

[StoneMtn]

If I had some sort of mental disorder that caused me to leave my home and get lost regularly, I would welcome a microchip such as those in my animals.

As far as microchipping children, that is a specious argument. People are expected to exercise a much higher degree of diligence in taking care of children than pets. Pets are often allowed out on their own, or escape. If that happens with young children, the parents are considered negligent. Further, whereas children will eventually get to be old enough to know their own address and communicate it, cats won't. Finally, there are civil liberty arguments favouring not microchipping children, which are entirely inapplicable to animals.

[RayRay]

Yeah Deeps and Evans, you guys are now my favorite puppy-saving couple!

[mattm]

I wonder what the parents of a missing child would say if they'd had the chance to put a locating device into the child and thus gotten the child back (rather than the usual raped and killed, sorry if that's harsh).

By the way, I'm not for or against, don't really care, just had the thought.

I'd also like to apologize deeply to sarah and deeps for my part in the hijacking of this thread and potential negativity to what should be an incredibly positive story.

Edited November 23, 2006 by Guest

[ollie]

If I had some sort of mental disorder that caused me to leave my home and get lost regularly, I would welcome a microchip such as those in my animals.

If you had a mental disorder the last thing you'd want is a microchip implanted under your skin.

[ollie]

As far as microchipping children, that is a specious argument. People are expected to exercise a much higher degree of diligence in taking care of children than pets. Pets are often allowed out on their own, or escape. If that happens with young children, the parents are considered negligent. Further, whereas children will eventually get to be old enough to know their own address and communicate it, cats won't. Finally, there are civil liberty arguments favouring not microchipping children, which are entirely inapplicable to animals.

Ok, but what if your kid is abducted. Then wouldn't you wish your child was microchipped?

[bradm]

As far as microchipping children' date=' that is a specious argument. People are expected to exercise a much higher degree of diligence in taking care of children than pets. Pets are often allowed out on their own, or escape. If that happens with young children, the parents are considered negligent. Further, whereas children will eventually get to be old enough to know their own address and communicate it, cats won't. Finally, there are civil liberty arguments favouring not microchipping children, which are entirely inapplicable to animals.

[/quote']

Ok, but what if your kid is abducted. Then wouldn't you wish your child was microchipped?

Not really. Remember, the microchips (as used in pets) are passive devices, and can't be used to locate children (or pets). When a stray is found, the chip can be used to identify the pet (or child), and that identity can then be used to get in contact with the owner/parent.

The problem with children isn't finding the parents of found (stray) children, it's locating children who have vanished. (There's also the same problem with pets, too.)

If you're talking about a technology that can be used to locate somebody, that's a whole other problem. If it broadcasts continuously (as a cell phone does), it'll need to be recharged, and would be so big and obvious (and un-implantable) that anyone could easily just remove it. If it is to be "turned on" (from a central location) once it's realized the child is missing, it means the child/device will have to be within range of the central location (you then have the problem of locating the child before the battery wears down).

Aloha,

Brad

[ollie]

Stupid TV.

[bradm]

Stupid TV.

Yeah, often it doesn't explain (the differences between) problems and situations properly.

The thing is, the technology to locate lost stuff exists now: GM's OnStar uses a combination of cellular phone and GPS technologies to, among other things, easily determine the location of a car.

There are a couple of problems with making that work for (small) people, though: it takes power (in particular, the cell phone part has to be on, to answer the call; how long does your cell phone battery last even when you're not making calls?), and more than just a microchip (more like a deck of cards or pack of cigarettes in volume).

It'll probably be possible to squeeze that down to, say, a wristwatch in a couple of years, but even then, all an abductor would have to do is remove the watch, and the locator goes away.

Aloha,

Brad

[StoneMtn]

If you had a mental disorder the last thing you'd want is a microchip implanted under your skin.

I disagree. Not all mental illnesses manifest themselves with similar symptoms, and...

If I had some sort of mental disorder that caused me to leave my home and get lost regularly, I would welcome a microchip such as those in my animals.

[mattm]

my dog chases squirrels and shit all over the place. I bet if he was hungry enough he'd catch one and eat it. Actually, he did catch one one day, picked it up and then put it down and gave it a nudge. At first it wouldn't move but after a few nudges it ran and he continued the chase. Oh, and he didn't hurt the thing in the least when he picked it up, very gentle, just the tips of the teeth and in the scruff of the neck. It was damn cute (although the squirrel was probably shitting bricks since it stopped in what I assume to be a form of paralysis brought on by fear).

The moral of the story is that he could have eaten it if he had to.