Woman who never stopped updating her lost dog's chip reunites with him after 11y

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/11-year-dog-reunion-9.7140780

by gnabgib • 4 months ago

223 158 4 months ago

cbc.ca

ViktorRay• 4 months ago

These microchips are amazing technology.

I highly highly encourage all you pet lovers to obtain one for your little homie.

You never know when you’ll need it.

OptionOfT• 4 months ago

24 EU countries have mandatory dog micro-chipping.

In Belgium there is a centralized database in which the data is maintained.

When I moved to the USA I thought it was very weird that it wasn't done automatically, and that there are many databases out there.

In fact, one went bust a while ago: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/microchip-company-cl...

Now what? Gotta pay to have 18 digits and an address inserted in a database?

I thought it was very weird in the USA

3eb7988a1663• 4 months ago

That is upsetting for what could almost certainly be run from a SQLite database on a garbage-tier host. Presumably 99.9% of all animals are registered one time and never again queried. Could be near zero operational burden, but of course, capitalism.

sojournerc2• 4 months ago

Coloradan with all chipped pets for decades. Not sure where you're coming from. Our friend was reunited with a cat with a chip that was lost for a 6 months. Shitting on the US is great for karma these days

kelnos3• 4 months ago

Like many things in the US, there's no centralized authority that mandates this sort of thing. Some states have laws around this some don't. For those that don't, some counties or cities might have laws around this. Belgium of course has a stronger central government, small land area, and a small population, so I'm not surprised that something like that would be done country-wide.

The shelter in my city chips every animal before anyone can adopt them. It's honestly bonkers to me why anyone who has a pet wouldn't chip them. It's cheap (especially when considering the cost of a regular vet visit), and can save you from lots of heartbreak later on.

gonzalohm3• 4 months ago

Yeah, I moved to the US and I also thought it was weird. Same with vaccination stuff for dogs. You need to carry paperwork if you want to cross the Canada border. It's a throwback to the last century I guess.

aa-jv• 4 months ago

I had moved into a new place, and it had a little garden, which attracted stray city cats. A kitten found my garden and adopted it, just moving in and living there. I invited her inside, fed her, took her to the vet, made sure she was okay. She had no chip, was definitely a stray.

So I adopted her, got her chipped per the law, and she grew into a fine cat who loved her place with me - she was great.

One time she got out, and I got the call. But it wasn't to get her back, it was to come get her corpse from under the car that had flattened her some distance from our home.

In many ways, I wish I'd not gotten the chip, that was a really traumatic event which I'd probably have avoided, at least not knowing what had happened.

arjie2• 4 months ago

I wear one of these chips on my wristwatch since the 125 kHz RFID lets me open doors and use the elevator in my building without needing to pull out my keys. It’s entirely passive so I’m guessing that the chip in question carries an ID that is read by a reader and points to an ID on some pet identification database. So she was “updating the chip” less and “keeping the database up to date” more.

Ubiquitous microchips are really quite amazing.

zoklet-enjoyer5• 4 months ago

I've had one in my hand for 12 years. It has my contact card on it.

randerson• 4 months ago

I'm not even sure which of many questions to ask first..

- Are you a furry?

- Do you tend to wander off and forget who you are?

- Who would think to scan a human for a chip?

- Is this a common thing to do and I just don't know it?

- Did you put the chip there or did someone else?

- Or was it some kind of freak accident?

nickthegreek2• 4 months ago

21 years in my right hand. Sadly, they weren't writable back then, so it is just a static number.

emmelaich• 4 months ago

I remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Oxer getting one in 2008. Quite the pioneer.

arjie2• 4 months ago

Haha, mine is meant to fit in the webbing between thumb and index finger, but I just have a little 3d-printed attachment that holds it to my watch. Didn't have the balls to go the whole way.

thebruce87m• 4 months ago

What would happen if you needed an MRI?

mcpherrinm• 4 months ago

Yes, it's just a number referenced in one of a few databases.

The 15-digit pet microchip is the international standard (see ISO 11784:1996 and ISO 11785:1996)

https://www.aaha.org/for-veterinary-professionals/microchip-...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_11784_and_ISO_11785

ThePowerOfFuet• 4 months ago

the international standard

Except the United States, because of course.

ISO is 134 kHz, US has both 125 and 128 kHz.

throwaway290• 4 months ago

Thanks it was super confusing until this.

TuringNYC• 4 months ago

Thanks for the heartwarming story, loved it! Quite a nice change from all the depressing news otherwise.

EGreg• 4 months ago

Can someone here explain what she was updating? If her dog wasn't nearby, what does it mean to "update his chip"?

Baeocystin• 4 months ago

Her contact information.

sjsdaiuasgdia• 4 months ago

Updating her contact information with the database the chip was registered with

gnabgib• 4 months ago

It's an RFID, it just emits a unique token, which an online system links to records... she's updating the linked record.

netsharc2• 4 months ago

Stupid people who don't understand how things work and then convey them imprecisely... Even with a job as a "journalist"...

thelastgallon• 4 months ago

her beloved pit bull, Forty-Cal, had been missing for 11 years.
He's super docile and friendly. Always has been.

Are pit bulls known for being docile?

thewoodsman• 4 months ago

Honestly, all the ones I've known have been super sweet dogs. I can never quite bring myself to fully trust them, but frankly I never fully trust any dog.

sloped• 4 months ago

This is the way.

xoxxala2• 4 months ago

“It’s not the dog, it’s the owner.”

There is a self-selecting bias with pit bulls. People who buy and raise pit bulls often want a “mean” “tough” dog, so that’s what they get. You get a loving sweet pit bull if you raise them in a loving sweet way. Dogs are like children; they are very observant and pick up on even the tiniest of cues.

Although, like people, some dogs (of all different breeds) are born more aggressive. That can usually be corrected with training. It’s mostly nurture, and part nature.

tom_2• 4 months ago

Not typically - but when it's called Forty Cal, maybe? That's what, one bell pepper?

doodlebugging• 4 months ago

Or maybe it's short for Forty Caliber. Pretty big difference.

zer00eyz• 4 months ago

Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT) Philly sent her some pics of the pooch in question.

100 percent this dog is named after a bullet.

Because thats how Philly rolls.

In case you dont know:

HitchBOT got murdered in Philly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HitchBOT

Bill Burr's Philly set: https://www.reddit.com/r/cowboys/comments/1il5msw/in_honor_o...

Don't get me wrong Philly is great, but Philly is... something.

markdown4• 4 months ago

What if it's called Mr. Worldwide?

zoklet-enjoyer5• 4 months ago

I used to have a pitbull/boxer mix and she was the sweetest dog. She had the longest tongue and would do big yawns and I'd just stick my hand in her mouth and grab her tongue and she'd shake her head and look confused. It was pretty funny. Most dogs are nice if they live in good homes.

albatross79• 4 months ago

That's just what the owners tend to say after the dog has ripped some child apart. It's the "I didn't know it was loaded" defense.

hinkley• 4 months ago

The dumbest thing I’ve done in the last ten years was stick my hands in the mouth of a “docile and friendly” pitty to extract a screaming puppy.

Only afterward did I realized I almost destroyed my livelihood.

My partner Google stalked the owner and discovered that he’d been force to surrender another pit bull two years earlier.

BoorishBears• 4 months ago

Harder to pull off after naming it 'Forty-Cal' though, no?

macintux2• 4 months ago

I took a few pit mixes out of the local humane society last summer for "Doggy Day Out", basically an opportunity for dogs who need new homes to get exposure to the community and get away from the kennel for a few hours, and they were universally friendly, sweet dogs.

There's some selection bias, obviously, but their reputation is definitely overblown.

dmix2• 4 months ago

They are banned in Ontario, Canada for a good reason and banned in UK for the same reasons.

The only time my dog was ever randomly attacked was a pitbull and you quickly learn talking to other dog owners how common this is. Nothing clears out a dog park like a pit bull showing up.

piva002• 4 months ago

They are very sweet dogs, until they're not.

I was at a friend's place with some others from school, we were about 14-15 years old, his family had this seemingly sweet pitbull, always wanting to be pet, super playful but kind. That day it attacked one of our classmates, out of the blue, we were sitting on the backyard, the dog playing with some rope toys, brought it to us sitting, this guy picked up the toy to throw it and before he could even started the motion this pitbull jumped on his face and started attacking.

It was so jarring, unexpected, and brutal that I got traumatised for life from pitbulls, I don't like to be close to them, don't like when I'm biking and there's one without a muzzle being walked around, and I don't want to pet one as much as it can look super friendly and calm. Seeing how fast it could turn into a murder machine even when growing up in a loving family that never trained it to be a guard/attack dog, and probably never treated the dog badly, made me very anti-pitbulls.

Most dog attacks in the country I grew up in are from pitbulls, including a few kids killed every year, the statistics don't lie. The breed requires people who aren't assholes so it doesn't become dangerous, I don't trust owners to do that, even more when it's a breed for "macho" guys to show off at the same time.

vjvjvjvjghv• 4 months ago

They are actually super sweet dogs in most cases. But once they get going, they are super strong and don’t give up. With most dogs you can separate them when they bite but a pit bull won’t let go.

Years ago we fostered a lot of different dogs and the pit bulls were some of the nicest. But you have to pay attention to their strength. For example playing tug-o-war may end up in a shoulder injury because the pit bull will pull really hard.

Another problem is that a lot of idiots like pit bulls and make them aggressive.

IAmBroom5• 4 months ago

100% this.

The breed is great. They're just dogs; far less bitey statistically than many other breeds. The owners it attracts are the worst.

And the breed is super strong. When encouraged to be hyper-territorial and aggressive, the results are super-bad. A chihuahua bite should be followed with a doctor's visit; a pitty bite generally requires stitches.

newguy10002• 4 months ago

99% of dog related deaths are caused by them

bsder3• 4 months ago

Are pit bulls known for being docile?

Not really. Even "old school" working catch dogs in this breed may require a break stick to get the dog to release game. In addition, the dogs are strong.

And that's really the crux of the problem.

Dogs will be dogs. They can be the nicest animal on the planet, but at some point a dog will bite you--maybe you did something stupid, maybe the dog accidentally got underfoot and got kicked, maybe the dog is just sick, maybe something agitated the dog, whatever. A bite will happen. The problem with pit bulls is that when they bite the damage is much more problematic than with other breeds.

And this is the real issue. Because of their strength, pit bulls (and a small number of other breeds) account for a disproportionate amount of deaths and hospitalizations relative to other breeds.

It also doesn't help that these types of dogs are disproportionately owned by jackasses.

dgan• 4 months ago

You talking like a bite must happen. No it's not. Source: myself, we ve had a dozen of dogs. Among them : rotweiler, new foundlands, montagne de pyrénées, terrier, and dozens of chihuahua and spitzs

fractallyte2• 4 months ago

My dog bit me accidentally while playing, a few times. Every time, he apologized. (That is: he stopped playing, made a characteristic sound, and licked me to make sure I was OK.)

aucisson_masque10• 4 months ago

Wanna try a rotweiler ?

All dogs can be dangerous, even small ones can bite a finger out of your hand.

Either kill all the dogs or get people who own them to be responsible.

imtringued2• 4 months ago

Pit bulls are more likely to bite and when they do, they hold the bite much longer than basically any other dog breed and they often require outside intervention to stop the second bite.

Once the dog has demonstrated itself to be dangerous, there is not much you can do other than euthanasia. The worst thing you can do is bring it to a shelter and let an unsuspecting family take the dangerous dog in. A lot of trouble would be saved by choosing a similar looking dog breed that isn't as aggressive or dangerous.

phyzome• 4 months ago

Ingenuous question. You know they have a bad reputation.

The main problem with pit bulls, AIUI, is that they can be aggressive towards other dogs. Also, assholes buy them (due to their reputation) and then encourage aggressive behavior.

I've met some pit bulls owned by nice people and the dogs were super friendly and especially very tolerant of children.

dbg31415• 4 months ago

Nothing stopping them from being great with kids. All dogs can be great with kids.

Pit bulls have a long history as family dogs -- they're loyal, affectionate, and incredibly gentle with kids. The whole 'nanny dog' reputation exists for a reason.

An example... https://www.luccishouse.org/post/misunderstood-angels-the-hi...

My pit mix was actually a therapy dog for autistic children through a program at a local hospital in Austin. The kids would read to her while she cuddled up next to them, putting her paw on them gently when they were nervous or frustrated. The program was designed to help the kids build confidence by providing a social interaction where they wouldn't feel judged. And she was great at it. It was the highlight of her week getting to go to the therapy center.

I've had a lot of dogs in my life, and I've never had one more sweet or gentle than she was.

But look, any dog can be awful or wonderful. That comes down to the owner, the environment, and the individual animal way more than the breed -- and honestly, the whole concept of 'breeds' is a bit silly to begin with. But I get that people need to classify things. It's just dumb.

So, stop being a dog racist. (=

tanjtanjtanj2• 4 months ago

The reason they have the “nanny dog reputation” is because a breeder made it up in the 1970s and then it caught on through shares and likes through Facebook in the late 2010s.

There is no historical basis for the contents of what was basically a chain letter.

aucisson_masque10• 4 months ago

Some dogs races are known to attract people who have social and or mental issues.

Not all pit bulls are dangerous, in the right hands they are some of the nicest dogs I have seen, but yeah.

Personally I don't judge dogs anymore by their races but by their owner, I found it to be much more accurate.

And on a sidenote, this owner really doesn't inspire me much. When she say it was disheartening to loose this dog because she paid for it with her own money... That's the kind of things I hear from the low life with pits.

fennecbutt2• 4 months ago

So we can breed dogs for size, for behaviours like retrieving or guarding, but magically we can't breed for aggression like pit bulls have?

Lmao.

AngryData• 4 months ago

They are pretty friendly and loving overall, their problem comes in that when they do lose their cool they lose it completely and go 100% on kill mode without clear and obvious warning beforehand. And when you combine that with people poorly taking care of them or training them to be aggressive bad things happen.

I wouldn't have them around young kids because of that, if they accidentally hurt the dog like pulling on its ear wrong it isn't likely going to warn them, it will take it until the moment it decides it is too much and then possibly go for a full force bite on what seems like a reaction which can be deadly for a child. They also can be extremely protective, so if the dog perceives kids playing as a fight it might attack one of them thinking it is protecting another from harm.

Now don't get me wrong, it still isn't super common and I would have no problem owning one myself, provided there are no kids younger than teens. But it isn't a dog for someone to buy and then get annoyed at and ignore or not train well or get frustrated and hit them which can make them aggressive. People who take good care of their dogs will have a great dog, people who don't take good care of their dogs is risking a small chance of creating a time bomb.

eudamoniac• 4 months ago

For dog bites that result in hospitalization, pitbulls are the culprit more often than every other breed combined.

_doctor_love• 4 months ago

Microchipping dogs makes a lot of sense. What are the privacy concerns though? If someone wants to hunt a person down, I imagine the microchips in the dogs would make a great tracking device.

xoxxala2• 4 months ago

They are very short range RFID tags that contain no personal information, just an ID number. They don’t make good tracking devices.

Some owners do use GPS trackers or AirTag like devices.

conductr• 4 months ago

My dog wears an AirTag in her collar. The collar was designed for it and has a waterproof case for the AirTag.

duskwuff• 4 months ago

I imagine the microchips in the dogs would make a great tracking device.

They don't. The range of a typical chip reader is a few inches - reading one requires handling the dog (and can be tricky if the chip's migrated from its expected position). It's not something that can be done covertly, or from a distance.

randycupertino• 4 months ago

It may vary by company but a lot of the time the chip company acts as a neutral intermediary. For example we adopted a homeless cat, and the vet found a chip on her, gave us the chip company info. The chip company wouldn't give us the owner's information but contacted them on our behalf and said we'd found her. They replied to the chip company who told us they moved away and we could have her. We love her so much!

imp0cat2• 4 months ago

Yes, the data can help uncover Russian spies. There is a fascinating yt document about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjo0iLssbI8 ( How I caught an Illegal Russian Spy )

zzzeek• 4 months ago

was the dog a stray for 11 years? or just owned by someone? I'm not following what actually happened

cloudbonsai• 4 months ago

I listened to the podcast linked in the article, and my understanding of the timeline is:

- The owner originally had two dogs. Both disappeared from her backyard one day. One dog returned home. The other vanished without a trace.

- Eleven years later, a random girl found the missing dog outside. She befriended the dog and brought him home. She talked with her parents and contacted ACCT Philly, who in turn found the original owner through a microchip.

Does this make sense? To me, this story managed to be a rare mix of heartwarming, insightful and frustrating.

kombookcha• 4 months ago

Eleven years seems like a very long time to be a Philly street dog - kinda makes you wonder if it wasn't adopted by somebody in the interrim before ending up with the girl somehow.

jollyllama• 4 months ago

Welcome to Philly.

olalonde• 4 months ago

I wonder how the dog survived for 11 years... Surely he wasn't a stray that entire time?

lofaszvanitt• 4 months ago

Aliens abducted the dog. And now they gave it back.

kelnos3• 4 months ago

The article mentions that the woman suspected the dog was stolen. So perhaps he did live with someone for many years, and was either found after running away, or... something.

sillysaurusx6• 4 months ago

I don't think it's legally required for vets to check chips whenever new "owners" take them in for a visit. I've been holding out hope for reuniting with my missing cat Salt, but wherever he is, he's happily in someone else's living room. And I doubt the microchip will bring him back anytime soon.

Sadly cat snatching is a real thing that's happened to me possibly twice. The first time was confirmed beyond a doubt; I had to bust out my cat from her back porch at 2am or so when I was roaming the neighborhood looking for him. The only reason I was even in the vicinity was that it was the last spot the GPS tracker reported before he went missing.

"Keep your pets indoors, then!" Yeah, yeah. The risks come with the territory. But my boy Pepper is still with me after a couple years, and I'm hoping a tag with "I have a happy home" followed by my number will keep would-be "do-gooders" away. (A lot of these crazy folks that snatch pets think they're doing the pet a favor by taking them.)

Miss you Salt.

Anyway, the point is, if vets were legally required to actually check the chips when they're brought in for appiontments, they'd quickly notice the discrepancy. They're the only entity in the world in a position to do something about it. But what vet is gonna try to take "your" pet away from you when you take them in just because of mismatched chips? Nobody, because pets are property, and that would be theft according to the law.

akerl_2• 4 months ago

The risks come with the territory

To be clear here, the “territory” here is letting your pet free roam off of your property and expecting everybody else to be cool with that?

Daneel_2• 4 months ago

Exactly. Please keep cats indoors - they kill all the local wildlife.

I have a cat and it stays indoors exclusively.

sillysaurusx6• 4 months ago

Yes. Believe it or not, that's fine for cats. "Everybody else" is by far the biggest risk. Not cars, not animals.

It's always so frustrating when you've been doing something for 15 years, speak from experience, and then someone comes along and says "Well, that's bad!" Sure. Meanwhile, my cat comes home happy and healthy each night, unless "everybody else" decides to steal him in the guise of doing him a favor.

Verified microchips during vet appointments would cancel out this exploit.

russdill• 4 months ago

Vets already have enough to deal with you'd be more likely to end up with undesirable outcomes vs what you want. People would not take the animal to the vet. People would try to destroy the chip by whatever method they happen to read in facebook. People would try to maliciously make changes to the database. Etc etc

sillysaurusx6• 4 months ago

I'm not so sure. The people who snatch cats off the street think that they're doing the cat a favor. They assume the original owners won't even notice, let alone care if the cat goes missing. And they justify it with "Well, they shouldn't have let them out anyway."

The brutal reality is that pounds are overflowing with lost animals. Statistics are on your side that if you snatch any given cat that you see, you'll likely be doing it a favor. But cats with collars are a different story. If people see that they're owned, they should keep their hands off. Unfortunately that doesn't stop some fanatics.

aucisson_masque10• 4 months ago

end up with undesirable outcomes

I say it would make some people think before stealing an animal.

Others, dumber, would get caught.

But almost no one is going to get a knife to get this chip our of the animal because you'll get bitten and you have no idea where to look.

tha_hnrain• 4 months ago

I don't mean to sound snarky, but I wonder if people would feel the same joy if they found their lost children after a long time, or if the joy would be muddled quickly due to complicated relationships :'( . We are a very peculiar species.

mlrtime3• 4 months ago

You don't have kids do you?

Let me put it this way: Your life is forever ruined if you "lose" a child. I would never stop looking.

Arguably it is MUCH worse to not know what happened (no closure).

IAmBroom5• 4 months ago

I'm not entirely sure we're of the same species.

jeffrallen• 4 months ago

I received an email about a lost dog 10 years after I adopted her and then gave her to another family. They got her back!

Databases work!

aucisson_masque10• 4 months ago

I had other animals in the house, as well, that were family pets, but Forty was my dog," she said. "I paid for him with my own money at 16 years old."

... I don't if it's an American thing but it's not something I'd say. The dog is an animal, it feels like it's compared to a car that she paid with HER OWN MONEY and then was stolen..

Tell me you loved him, it was the one you loved the most, stuffs like that but 'i paid for it with my own money'... She might as well has bought an iphone.

mlrtime3• 4 months ago

A dog is personal property (possession) under the law. What is your point?

aucisson_masque10• 4 months ago

If you didn’t get my point the first time, I’m afraid you won’t get it.

Still, let’s give it a try.

I’m human, I do love my dog. I don’t consider it to be a table that has a 100€ price tag attached to it.

If someone stole my table, I’d be pretty pissed of because he stole me money.

If someone steal my dog, I’m pretty pissed off because I do LOVE it.

when I find my dog back, I’d be happy, not because I found back my 100€ worth of dog but because it’s a living being that I missed emotionally.

Hopefully you get the difference. I know some people who consider their animals like raw meat, 2€ a day worth of food + chained 24/24 to a tree = home guardian. I personally find that lunatic in 2026.

Think it’s a cultural thing. When I see how globally Americans treat their dog, and you’re right to point out it’s a property according to law, because that’s how they treat them. It’s like the dog is a table or a chair, and if you’re not happy with it you abandon it like you would throw away a broken chair.

Markoff2• 4 months ago

"She brought him into the house with her parents and they made him some hotdogs."

Is it common in US to feed dogs with hotdogs?

squishy47• 4 months ago

As long as they're not panting, I think it's generally not cannibalism.

gonzalohm3• 4 months ago

It's common to give snacks to your pet. In the US and anywhere

boomboomsubban• 4 months ago

If you found a dog on the street then you probably don't have any actual dog food. A hot dog seems like one of the best options in an average fridge.

Markoff2• 4 months ago

sausage I can understand, hotdog as sausage in bun is beyond my understanding

alkyon• 4 months ago

Reminds me of this superb part of the Odyssey where Odysseus is reunited with his dog, Argos, after 20 years of absence. Odysseus was in disguise, but it's only him that could pass the test and recognize the returning king, after which he died.

https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.t...

Woman who never stopped updating her lost dog's chip reunites with him after 11y

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