Good or Bad - UK will require ALL dogs to be chipped by 2016

[Lauri & The Gang]

All dogs in England to be microchipped by 2016 | Life and style | The Guardian

The United Kingdom will require ALL dogs to be microchipped by 2016. If the owner sells or gives away the dog they must register the details of the new owner with the system.

Good or Bad??

Bad:

• Incidence of cancer at chip site in dog and laboratory animals (chipmenot.com-homepage)
• Chips malfunctioning
• Chips not being recognized between vendors
• Could it make people LESS responsible for their dogs - "Oh, he's chipped - he'll get brought home" ???
• Owners cutting chips out themselves to avoid problems with the law ???
• How to enforce - send cops around to all homes to scan dogs?? Stop people with dogs in public to scan them?? Force vets to scan dogs before treating??

Good:

• Permanent (although not perfect) identification for a dog
• Gets the dog in to see a vet at least once

[onedogman]

I like the fewer mandates in life as possible. Sounds to big brotherish. I live in the middle of nowhere, so I don't expect to get my dog chipped or tattooed. I really haven't looked into any of that, but assumed it was simply to find lost pets & prevent thefts. Must be missing something.

[Jax08]

I think the UK has a different perspective on animals so what would work fine there might not be so fine here.

My understanding is the incidence of cancer is very small and really not proven yet.

[Syaoransbear]

I don't really think this is a good idea. I think people might choose a more lethal option for getting rid of their pets instead of just deserting them somewhere.

[Nigel]

Originally Posted by Syaoransbear

I don't really think this is a good idea. I think people might choose a more lethal option for getting rid of their pets instead of just deserting them somewhere.

Kind of what I was thinking. Also some may be tempted to "remove" the chip themselves before releasing.

[Syaoransbear]

And wow, the fine is £500(roughly $750 US/Canadian dollars)! That's outrageous. What if the chip simply fell out?

And in another part of the article it says:

"The Blue Cross warned, however, that there should preventive rules concerning potentially dangerous dogs, allowing authorities to act after signs of "antisocial behaviour" but before any attack."

To me, that sounds like a dog can be shot just for barking.

[Liesje]

I chip all my pets, but, I'd say no way to this!

[Gwenhwyfair]

In red:

Not an issue in the UK or Eurozone as they standardized chips/readers some years ago.

It is still an issue in the U.S. (though starting to get better) and therefore a legitimate concern.

Originally Posted by Lauri & The Gang

All dogs in England to be microchipped by 2016 | Life and style | The Guardian

The United Kingdom will require ALL dogs to be microchipped by 2016. If the owner sells or gives away the dog they must register the details of the new owner with the system.

Good or Bad??

Bad:

• Incidence of cancer at chip site in dog and laboratory animals (chipmenot.com-homepage)
• Chips malfunctioning
• Chips not being recognized between vendors
• Could it make people LESS responsible for their dogs - "Oh, he's chipped - he'll get brought home" ???
• Owners cutting chips out themselves to avoid problems with the law ???
• How to enforce - send cops around to all homes to scan dogs?? Stop people with dogs in public to scan them?? Force vets to scan dogs before treating??

Good:

• Permanent (although not perfect) identification for a dog
• Gets the dog in to see a vet at least once

[Tom888]

Originally Posted by Syaoransbear

And wow, the fine is £500(roughly $750 US/Canadian dollars)! That's outrageous. What if the chip simply fell out?

And in another part of the article it says:

"The Blue Cross warned, however, that there should preventive rules concerning potentially dangerous dogs, allowing authorities to act after signs of "antisocial behaviour" but before any attack."

To me, that sounds like a dog can be shot just for barking.

This part actually made me read the whole article. It's typical UK PC zero tolerance policy...

Sticking a fork into your eye might be very dangerous: no problem, let's ban all the forks! Sticking a finger there has the same effects? Well, eyesight is pretty important, let's just cut all those fingers!!! ...yes, sometimes policies feel this irrational.

There is a lot of things that work really well in this country, otherwise I most likely wouldn't be here, but the fact that the state treats me/people living here like 4 years old is annoying on so many levels...

[onyx'girl]

And they say the US has too much gov't interference.
IF a chip would make a breeder responsible for what they produce(so what they produce isn't ending up dumped), or keep a dog safer from euth'ing, I'd be for it, but there is no way a microchip is a magical invention.
We really don't need more laws or regulations. We need to educate people on responsible ownership(beginning when they decide to choose a breeder/who and who not to support)