The only thing more pitiful than a lost dog is the lost dog's owner. The frantic search, long hours by the phone, the "if onlys" that can haunt an owner.

Dogs can easily wander off and become lost, or escape through doors and fences when no one is watching. In these incidences an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thankfully there are ways to ensure that your pet is returned to you. These are:

• Tags
• Tattooing
• Microchipping

Tags

Ensure your dog has an identification tag as well as a Newtownabbey Borough Council dog licence disc. The tag should contain the owner's name, current address and telephone number. Don't put the dog's name on the tag because a dog is likely to stay with a new family if they know what the dog's name is. Tagging should never be used as the sole means of identifying your dog (they can be easily removed, by accident or by design). It is always best to offer a more permanent means of identification such as tattooing or microchipping.

Tattooing

Having your dog tattooed on the inner thigh will help if it is stolen or lost. The procedure takes only a few minutes and is inexpensive. The perfect time to have it done is when your dog is under anaesthetic for some sort of medical procedure. However, the animal does not have to undergo anaesthetic because tattooing is a pain-free procedure. A dog should be fully grown before tattooing to prevent the tattoo from being distorted.

Microchipping

Microchipping is a veterinary procedure in which a computerised capsule, the size of a grain of rise, containing the dog's medical history and owner details, is injected under the dog's skin. The insertion process is a quick and virtually painless procedure. The microchip stays in place for an average 25 years, longer than a dog's lifespan. Once your dog has been microchipped it is provided with a collar tag which alerts others of the need to bring it to the nearest scanning point Newtownabbey Council scans all dogs which are brought into its kennels and would advocate microchipping as an additional means of identification.