Discussion
Woman who never stopped updating her lost dog's chip reunites with him after 11 years
ViktorRay: These microchips are amazing technology.I highly highly encourage all your pet lovers to obtain one for your little homie.You never know when you’ll need it.
arjie: I wear one of these chips on my wristwatch since the 125 kHz RFID lets me open doors and use the elevator in my building without needing to pull out my keys. It’s entirely passive so I’m guessing that the chip in question carries an ID that is read by a reader and points to an ID on some pet identification database. So she was “updating the chip” less and “keeping the database up to date” more.Ubiquitous microchips are really quite amazing.
EGreg: Can someone here explain what she was updating? If her dog wasn't nearby, what does it mean to "update his chip"?
gnabgib: It's an RFID, it just emits a unique token, which an online system links to records... she's updating the linked record.
sjsdaiuasgdia: Updating her contact information with the database the chip was registered with
thelastgallon: > her beloved pit bull, Forty-Cal, had been missing for 11 years.> He's super docile and friendly. Always has been.Are pit bulls known for being docile?
thewoodsman: Honestly, all the ones I've known have been super sweet dogs. I can never quite bring myself to fully trust them, but frankly I never fully trust any dog.
Baeocystin: Her contact information.
zoklet-enjoyer: I've had one in my hand for 12 years. It has my contact card on it.
randerson: I'm not even sure which of many questions to ask first..- Are you a furry?- Do you tend to wander off and forget who you are?- Who would think to scan a human for a chip?- Is this a common thing to do and I just don't know it?- Did you put the chip there or did someone else?- Or was it some kind of freak accident?
nickthegreek: 21 years in my right hand. Sadly, they weren't writable back then, so it is just a static number.
xoxxala: “It’s not the dog, it’s the owner.”There is a self-selecting bias with pit bulls. People who buy and raise pit bulls often want a “mean” “tough” dog, so that’s what they get. You get a loving sweet pit bull if you raise them in a loving sweet way. Dogs are like children; they are very observant and pick up on even the tiniest of cues.Although, like people, some dogs (of all different breeds) are born more aggressive. It’s mostly nurture, and part nature.
_doctor_love: Microchipping dogs makes a lot of sense. What are the privacy concerns though? If someone wants to hunt a person down, I imagine the microchips in the dogs would make a great tracking device.
xoxxala: They are very short range RFID tags that contain no personal information, just an ID number. They don’t make good tracking devices.Some owners do use GPS trackers or AirTag like devices.
conductr: My dog wears an AirTag in her collar. The collar was designed for it and has a waterproof case for the AirTag.
tom_: Not typically - but when it's called Forty Cal, maybe? That's what, one bell pepper?
zoklet-enjoyer: Hahaha definitely not a furry. I had some magnets implanted and was looking into other subtle body mods and thought an NFC chip would be fun. I bought the magnets and the chip from dangerousthings.comI went to a piercing shop to get it done by a guy who does silicone implants and other less common body modifications.It's not common. The only other people I've met with chips are the guy who implanted it and my girlfriend at the time.I have considered getting a newer model implanted and using that to badge in at work and home, but I'd likely have to travel halfway across the country to get it done.
emmelaich: I remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Oxer getting one in 2008. Quite the pioneer.
Rebelgecko: * they're definitely disproportionately common in the furry community but not really a "furry thing"I think most people use them as a backup work badge or controlling other RFID readers (car key, smart lock, etc). Or as a party trickIt's not particularly common but I've met other people.Some people selfinject but it's probably more common to go to like a tattoo parlor or body mod shop
bombcar: Bright side! you'll never be John Doe - unidentified serial killer victim #3if they bother scanning the bodies
zoklet-enjoyer: I used to have a pitbull/boxer mix and she was the sweetest dog. She had the longest tongue and would do big yawns and I'd just stick my hand in her mouth and grab her tongue and she'd shake her head and look confused. It was pretty funny. Most dogs are nice if they live in good homes.
zoklet-enjoyer: You must have been one of the first to do it!
albatross79: That's just what the owners tend to say after the dog has ripped some child apart. It's the "I didn't know it was loaded" defense.
arjie: Haha, mine is meant to fit in the webbing between thumb and index finger, but I just have a little 3d-printed attachment that holds it to my watch. Didn't have the balls to go the whole way.
duskwuff: > I imagine the microchips in the dogs would make a great tracking device.They don't. The range of a typical chip reader is a few inches - reading one requires handling the dog (and can be tricky if the chip's migrated from its expected position). It's not something that can be done covertly, or from a distance.
doodlebugging: Or maybe it's short for Forty Caliber. Pretty big difference.
rimunroe: You can inject these things pretty easily. They're about the size of a grain of rice, and pretty popular in some circles.
netsharc: Popular in Sweden, apparently: https://geeksaroundglobe.com/6000-swedes-implant-chips-in-sk...And when they used it as a digital identifier to check for the Covid-vaccination status, of course all the wormbrained screamed that "Covid certificate mandate leads to Swedish government microchipping its citizens!'.
OptionOfT: 24 EU countries have mandatory dog micro-chipping.In Belgium there is a centralized database in which the data is maintained.When I moved to the USA I thought it was very weird that it wasn't done automatically, and that there are many databases out there.In fact, one went bust a while ago: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/microchip-company-cl...Now what? Gotta pay to have 18 digits and an address inserted in a database?I thought it was very weird in the USA
netsharc: Stupid people who don't understand how things work and then convey them imprecisely... Even with a job as a "journalist"...
randycupertino: It may vary by company but a lot of the time the chip company acts as a neutral intermediary. For example we adopted a homeless cat, and the vet found a chip on her, gave us the chip company info. The chip company wouldn't give us the owner's information but contacted them on our behalf and said we'd found her. They replied to the chip company who told us they moved away and we could have her. We love her so much!
olalonde: I wonder how the dog survived for 11 years... Surely he wasn't a stray that entire time?
zzzeek: was the dog a stray for 11 years? or just owned by someone? I'm not following what actually happened
tom_: Hm, that's a good point. I totally did not think of that as a possibility. But what are the chances? I mean, it's just a cute little pit bull we're talking about here! It's not as if it's even a big dog, like a golden retriever, or a nice friendly alsatian.
macintux: I took a few pit mixes out of the local humane society last summer for "Doggy Day Out", basically an opportunity for dogs who need new homes to get exposure to the community and get away from the kennel for a few hours, and they were universally friendly, sweet dogs.There's some selection bias, obviously, but their reputation is definitely overblown.
hinkley: The dumbest thing I’ve done in the last ten years was stick my hands in the mouth of a “docile and friendly” pitty to extract a screaming puppy.Only afterward did I realized I almost destroyed my livelihood.My partner Google stalked the owner and discovered that he’d been force to surrender another pit bull two years earlier.
dmix: They are banned in Ontario, Canada for a good reason and banned in UK for the same reasons.The only time my dog was ever randomly attacked was a pitbull and you quickly learn talking to other dog owners how common this is. Nothing clears out a dog park like a pit bull showing up.
