Microchips have been around a very long time now yet there are still people that don't know what they are or have a misunderstanding of how they work.

In the old days you would put an ID tag on your dogs collar and hope that it wouldn't get lost.  But many times they fall off after years of wear or could be caught if the pet is stuck in a tight spot.  So now there is no way to ID the pet.  But there is.  If you place a small computer chip the sixe of a grain of rice under the dogs skin it carries the same information as those old tags do, but will never fall off.  On this little computer chip it will have your information, information about the pet, and an emergency contact in case you can't be reached.

Ok so you have the microchip placed under your dogs skin, there are two reasons that pets with microchips  can't find their way home.  First it has been 5 years, you moved and never updated your contacts.  You had your old numbers on the form and an emergency contact who you are no longer friends with.  Remember to keep your records up to date.  Make sure to do this at lest yearly.  The second reason that pets don't find their way home is lack of education or scanning when a pet comes into a vet or shelter.  Contact your local shelters and vets to see if they have a universal microchip reader that is in working order.  If it is not, shelters that are a 501(c) can get one free.  Then the next step is to ask that all persons in the shelter are trained in how to scan for the microchip.  there may be times that if they run the back of the dog it isn't found so they need to scan the complete dog as they can migrate if the chip was placed in a puppy and not seated properly.