From 6th APRIL 2016, it is a requirement BY LAW that your dog is microchipped from 8 weeks old.

Please remember that from 6th APRIL 2016, it is a requirement BY LAW that your dog is microchipped from 8 weeks old.

Not only is it the law, but if your dog goes missing, if found, it can be scanned and quickly returned to you, without the stress of the dog ending up in kennels, and the cost you will incur in retrieving them.

You will also be FINED £500 for having an unchipped dog. Please remember to update these details if you move house, or change telephone numbers. By law your dog must also be wearing a collar and tag with up to date contact information.

So next time you go to the vets, please just ask them to scan the chip and confirm it is registered, and you can check that the details held with the chip company are correct, as sometimes these chips can migrate or fail. Much better to find this out now and have the chance to rectify it.

Freshfields Animal Rescue will microchip your dog free of charge.. Please ask at your local Dog Rescue Centre or Vets for more information.

'PAWS FOR THOUGHT ' "MISSING DOGS ANGELS" : You suddenly realise your Dog is Missing !!... Nothing fills a Dog owner with more dread.. They were there one minute and now they have gone. In recent years, all one could do was to put up a few posters with your phone number, and ask around the neighbourhood.

These days it is so different, it really is another world. There are people all around the country who tirelessly monitor facebook lost dog sites, searching for lost missing and stolen dogs. Trying to cross post missing pets with found pets, sharing dog profiles far and wide, and posting onto sites up and down the country.

Scouse pets 2 is one of many of these most successful local facebook sites, with dedicated admin and members searching online day and night. They are ready to go out at a moments notice, to scan a stray or found dog for a microchip and get them home.

These people have family commitments and jobs, yet they still find the time to remain passionate with their cause, in reuniting missing dogs with their rightful owners.. They will literally drop everything at any time of day or night, and set off miles away to coordinate searches on the ground at their own expense.. With only the knowledge that they are making a massive difference for a devastated family, whose beloved pet is missing.

They have been known to set up barbacues, cooking sausages to make food smells to entice the dog to the area, or leaving scent trails with their owners clothing, or rags soaked with the owners urine (yuk)!.. amongst many other dog capturing tactics.

I have had the priviledge of working alongside some of these people in recent months..Their dedication and drive is outstanding. They really are the unsung heroes of the missing dog world.

Dogs are no longer just pets, they have become a very much loved and cherished member of the family. Sometimes treated as fur babies, and if their pet goes missing the owners are devastated, and turn to these lost and found sites in their search to get them home.

So if you see a post online about a lost or missing pet, please share it, as it could make the difference in getting this pet home to their waiting family. Please support these people in any way you can.. be it online, or helping with their searches on the ground..You never know when you might need their help. These people really are "Missing Dogs Angels".