The Story of Max!
 

The Story of Max

Max got out in late November. It happened the day his owner was leaving. The back door wasn't latched, and he made a run for it

His owner isn't very good with the computer and didn't know what to do. He had to leave, however his petsitter DID know to Contact Lost Pets of The Villages.

We posted and sent an email to the radio station as well as call Community Watch. Remember, Community Watch could lose their job for working with us. (we had another dog that the dispatcher was afraid to tell me they had a call on the dog that we had.) We posted in the Lost Pets of The Villages, it was posted in PawBoost craigslist and TOTV, as well as many groups in FaceBook.

Here's the deal. Max is chipped. The owner didn't change the phone number to her new number. Remember I told you they aren't good with the computer.

I sent a picture of Max to Herschel at Animal Control and a few days later, Officer Tuttle called me to tell me they had had Max. This is VERY good. They were paying attention to my emails and working to make a match. Thank you, Officer Tuttle,!!!!

Lucky for Max Sumter County didn’t kill him. SPCA Florida came in and saved him. Not lucky for Max, he could have bee adopted and there would have been NOTHING anyone could do. The hold period for the owner (who was out of town) was over. Officer Tuttle got on the phone and verified that Max was still there and give the pet sitter all the information so we could go get Max.

But now, we still have a problem. The owner is gone and as we know Sumter will not allow anyone except the owner to pick up the dog. Bob Rinke, the Pet Sitter called SPCA Florida and they worked it out that we could go get Max! YAY!

Max is home… A few pounds lighter with some issues from stress. But that happens when a dog is in a kennel for three weeks.

Here is our issue. If The Villages (Richard Baier) didn’t have the NEW rule about calling us to find the owner instead of the pound, Max would have been home the same day!

How do I know that? Max got out once before. Lost Pets of The Villages was called. Then as now, the phone number didn’t match. However, we did a background search and found the mother of the owner who contacted the pet sitter and we had Max home the next morning after picking him up the night before.

What could have happened? He could have been killed after the five days at Sumter. He could have been adopted out at SPCA Florida to never see his home again. All because the County and The Villages don’t want us to get the dogs home and instead want them to go to the pound.

What is it going to take to save our dogs? How many will we lose? Will we know? How many people will be looking for their dogs for years when they could be home? Why should our dogs be stressed in a pound?

I don't believe the pound made any money on Max. SPCA Florida in Lakeland didn't make any money on Max. They both spent money on him. I'm glad he's alive, but this didn't have to happen. It won't be the last time! Not with employees being afraid of being fired if they help save a dog.

Max could be anyone’s dog. Sometimes chips aren’t read. People forget to register and/or they don’t update them. Max could be your dog or even mine.

Consider how wonderful it would be if Animal Control, The Villages, the Humane Society, and Lost Pets of The Villages could work together.

Thank you, Officer Tuttle!

Angie Fox
Lost Pets of The Villages
815-370-9115

It is impossible for me to come up with a reason that TV won’t cooperate with you. Something is terribly wrong! Did Richard Baier have any discussion with anyone prior to making the rule that Community Watch cannot work with you and help the residents of TV?

He tried to do this when Janet was in charge and was not able to.

He is in charge and said it’s a liability issue.

I think there is more of a liability if something happens to our pets and they had options to save them.

And... no, there was no warning they were going to do this. Residents went to a meeting to complain.

He won’t listen. He wouldn’t listen the first time. Janet saved us.

Janet is gone.

Liability how? Because of the status of Lost Pets of the Villages as a group of concerned pet lovers?

How does a pet owner update the chip information? Can my current Vet update prior to our final move?

It would be helpful if someone would help that owner update Max's chip information, especially since this has happened twice. Max was lucky twice. Let's hope there won't be a third time.

Any one of us with chip readers can help you with that. We can scan for a number and assist you in getting the chip updated.

Kathy Bork and Lynn Moore are always doing chip checks.

This is a good place you can register it for free!

Free Pet Microchip Registry - Register

I have scanned Max, given Bob the information and told him how to do this. Yes. I will be there to assist if needed. Thank you,

I believe you need to call your chip company to update.

That may be the best option for Max's owner since he/she is not used to computers. I'm sure they would help.

Perhaps the owner does not know which chip company to call. Would reading the chip provide the company name? If not, whoever put the chip in (breeder or vet) would know.

You can register a chip free

Google free chip registration.


When we scan, it gives us all the places a pet has been registered. We call the last one first.

When we read a chip, we go to Microchip Lookup. It will give us the last place that a person registered the chip. It doesn't matter where the chip was purchased. We will call that number.

If you know your pets chip number, you can register it at any free microchip site.

The only exception is for AVID as they label the chips in the chip reader and many people will not think to look farther then AVID.