It's law to have your dog microchipped, but databases run themselves, right?

It's law to have your dog microchipped, but databases run themselves, right?

So, on 6th April it became law that all dogs in the UK must carry a microchip, recording a number that links to a database record that identifies the dog's current keeper.

The idea being that this would help lost dogs get back to their owners faster, thus reducing the cost of kennelling, rehoming, and euthanasing dogs*, and also reduce the number of poor sad weeping people sharing photos of their beloved lost Trixie on facebook. Good idea, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Apparently what could go wrong is Petlog, the UK's biggest microchip database service, run by the Kennel Club. They weren't ready for all the people who, spurred by the legislation, decided they wanted to check what was on the chip record and amend it. So now if you, like me, have a dog whose chip is registered with Petlog, not only is it very difficult to find out what's on the record or change it - but if the dog does go missing, chances are the poor busy council dogwarden who finds your dog won't be able to check it either.

More info here : http://www.dogworld.co.uk/product.php/156736/

To be fair, a lot of dog rescues have created problems for themselves by insisting that all the dogs they microchipped should be recorded with their own contact details, and then not checking the record afterwards. But you would really think that Petlot would have expected this, given that they had years to prepare for it.

* Sorry kids. Rex didn't run away to a farm. Nobody wanted him and he got the needle. :-(