Gun Dog Forum

Both of my dogs are microchipped and were registered with "Home Again." I got an email telling me that it's time to renew. It's $18 per dog per year. Is it necessary for the dog to be registered with the microchip company? How does it work when someone brings my lost dog to a vet and he is scanned?

My dogs have Home Again chips and I asked the same question. I was told by the vet that you don't need to renew in order for the chip scan to work. If you pay the annual fee, they will send out alerts and posters to all the local vets and animal shelters if your pet goes missing. Sounds like a waste of money to me.

My vet told me the same thing.

Home Again WILL notify you when the dog is scanned after being found. They will not send out notification to vets and shelters in the area that your pet is missing. Your dogs are protected for life as long as you keep Home Again notified of your current address and phone numbers----they can't contact you if they don't have the right numbers.

Yeah, I know the chips will still work, I guess I was wondering if there's a national database that vets have access to. The scan just gives them the an alphanumeric or numeric ID. How is that ID then linked to me? I'll call my vet.

Update: Just called the vet. Was basically told the same as above. There is a database that links the ID to the microchip company. The vet then contacts the microchip company to find the owner information. She said it's important to keep your information current with the microchip company. There is no need to pay the annual fee but there are some benefits for doing so.

Whoever finds your dog and scans it, has to get ahold of Home Again and the other micro chip companys & give them the number---Home Again will look it up to see who's dog it is and notify you.

AAHA website has a database that you can enter any number (home again, avid,...) and find owner info. Home Again keeps your info if you don't "renew" but you will be forced to renew in order to update your info if you move in a couple years.

The yearly Membership http://microchip.homeagain.com/benefits ... rship.html
HomeAgain makes microchipping more attractive to pet owners with a broad range of pet protection features that are unique to the industry. Pet owners will also be pleased to know that, once a pet is registered with HomeAgain, their pet's microchip is registered in our database for life.

Make sure pet owners know about all of the value-added services that only come with a HomeAgain membership. For just $17.99 a year, pet owners can enjoy access to these exclusive & valuable benefits:

24/7 on-call support with trained Lost Pet Specialists
A nationwide network of over 450,000 volunteer PetRescuers
A National Pet Recovery Database that assures their contact information remains current
Travel Assistance that covers the cost of flying a lost dog or cat home, up to $500, when found more than 500 miles away
24/7 Emergency Medical Hotline that provides access to a licensed ASPCA veterinarian when pets are sick or injured while traveling or when your clinic is closed

I have never had a Vet scan ANY dog that I have brought in unless I specifically asked.

Not to mention , Don't try to get a dog changed from one owner to another, its almost impossible if the other party is not willing to cooperate. All of my dogs are chipped but Im beginning to think it's useless.