Well, no one had a chance to rename Sausage, because he already had a name. Igor’s owners saw his photo on Facebook last night and came to collect him today. And as for his breed, he was, as many of you suggested, a staffy jack Russell cross. No, this does not mean that he is a “dangerous” dog requiring permits, as clearly he does not fall within the morphological parameters. All he needed was a quick visit to the vet for a micro-chip and off he went.
I cannot stress how important identification of your animal is. One of our Facebook followers has just had a very worrying few days, having lost his beloved dog Jackson. We shared his photo and of course were hoping for a happy outcome. Thankfully today Jackson returned, without coming to the SPA. Had he done so, we would have insisted that he be micro-chipped (because I will say it once again, IT IS THE LAW). However the first thing Jackson’s owner did (after making sure his dog was okay, of course), was take him to the vet and get him identified. Far too many people just thank their lucky stars that their dog has returned and hope that they never run off again.
We salute you, Sir.
Okay, now without criticising any other refuges or citing any particular cases, can I make it quite clear that when (or rather if) you collect your own dog from the SPA Carcassonne, you will be obliged to pay only for him or her to be micro-chipped, if he is not already identified. And this is paid directly to the vet, not the SPA. We do not charge any “release fees” for your dog or cat to cover its stay at the SPA. It is very nice when people offer to give a donation and if we have vaccinated your animal we do request that you refund this, but we are usually just happy that dog and owner have been reunited (providing the animal is not mistreated, of course).
Just last month we had the arrival of a young, small dog, whom we named Plumeau. He was reserved almost immediately, but while the new family was awaiting the end of the ten day pound time, his real owners came to reclaim him. They paid the vet to have their dog micro-chipped and that was the end of that. Of course the new family was sad, but that is the whole point of the pound; it gives people time to find their lost dogs.
Recent events at a local refuge have caused some people to state that they will now never adopt as they would always be haunted by visions of sad owners who were not permitted to reclaim their dogs for financial reasons. Each refuge has the right to decide its own policies, but please do not be put off adopting from the SPA Carcassonne. If a dog is for adoption it is because we really cannot find its owner, not because its real owner is unable to pay for the dogs board and lodging.
Igor (aka Sausage) – Reclaimed (I just wanted to show you another picture! Isn’t he great?!)
Jackson was found and his owner had him micro-chipped straight away. THANK YOU!