This is incredible, well done, I would hang this on my wall!

This is stunningly beautiful, thank you for sharing it! You have real style and it’s obvious how much work has gone into this.

Yep, my husband and I both have medical issues that almost guarantee that we won’t make “old bones”.

We save for our future and are sensible with our money but we don’t do it at the expense of enjoying our lives right now.

We still buy the odd take-away meal and get it delivered. We treat ourselves to a new pair of boots when needed. We balance it so that we have plenty for emergencies and our future but also enjoy our lives right now!

A lot of people can’t do what we do. They have no savings, no pension etc and there are no guarantees we won’t end up that way. So we’re careful but we still enjoy life when we can.

That’s actually a bloody good idea!!!

If each village/town and all the big supermarkets in cities had a designated place that held a microchip scanner, it would be so much quicker and easier to check lost pets for microchips!

No wasting police time calling about lost pets or calling the RSPCA (or your local animal rescue) to collect them. Just take them to the designated spot and get them scanned so you can call the owner and say “Found your pet!”

I’m glad you helped out with all of those dogs. Sucks that you were put in an awkward situation regarding either missing an important party or dealing with the lost dog. I don’t blame you for not wanting to drive them to a vet for a chip scan. Handing them off to somebody that has the time to handle it is just as good!!

In the UK, I’d have been able to call the non-emergency police number and tell them I found a lost dog. When it happened to my friend (she lives opposite a huge woodland space where a lot of people exercise their dogs) she called the non-emergency police line and told them she’d found a dog that had either slipped her collar and run off (so no tags) or had been abandoned in the woods and wandered onto her property.

The police sent an officer out to fetch the dog when she explained that she had no way to bring it to the station (she doesn’t drive). They came out and took the pup, then scanned her for a microchip at the station and got the dog’s name (Tara!) and her owner’s info.

Turns out Tara had indeed slipped her collar while on a walk and bolted into the woods after a squirrel. The poor owner had been frantically searching for hours and was ridiculously happy to get the call from the police saying that she’d been found and turned over to them.

I’ve known other people that have called the RSPCA to report dogs they’ve found and they do the same. Collect the dog and scan for a chip.

Not every dog gets back to their owner (a lot of people don’t remember to update the info on the chip when they change their number or address!) but microchips really are brilliant if used correctly.

You definitely didn’t do anything wrong by not immediately sacrificing your own engagements to get the dog scanned though. You do what is right for you at the time. It’s not your fault the dog got lost so you shouldn’t be expected to move heaven and earth to get them home!! Handing them off to someone else is just as good!

I agree! Both my dogs have a tag on their collar that has their name, my name, my address and my phone number. When we moved house one of the first things I did was order new tags for them with the new address!

In the event that they get lost, whoever finds them would have all the info needed to contact me.

My dogs are still chipped though and have been since we got them, even before it was a legal requirement to chip them! It was one of the first things we had our vet do when we took them to get their annual vaccinations!

A tag can get lost, a microchip is forever!

You’re an awesome person for helping those dogs! Thank you so much for caring!!

I have to ask though, are microchips not common where you are? It’s the law in England that not only does your dog have to have a collar and tag with name, address and a contact number on but they must also be microchipped too.

Both my dogs have a tag on their collar with all the relevant info on it, but even if they somehow lose their tag, they’re still microchipped and we keep their chip info up to date so that if they go missing, any vet/police/etc could scan them and immediately get the info needed to call us!!