Since our puppies are old enough to be microchipped, I thought I would discuss about microchips. All of our puppies are all microchipped. Originally I use to think all microchips were created equal. All our dogs, and cats have been microchipped by AVID. Recently though I found out that they may not be the best option.

When we got Tina from Europe, we could not find her microchip. We scanned her all over. We were given a number, but thought maybe she was just mistakenly given a number, but not the microchip. Only until recently did I find out about ISO microchips. Pretty much anywhere in the world other than the United States they use a ISO microchip. Our scanners didn’t detect them, until I bought a new one recently. Avid is encrypted differently, and is generally a 9 digit number. Most ISO microchips are 15 numbers.

So why does any of this really matter? I had planned to continue with AVID for our microchips. However I discovered that if someone wanted to go internationally with their dog they are required to have an ISO microchip. I found it unnecessary to microchip with AVID to only give them a second chip. AVID started created Euro ISO chips, but they are hard to get ahold of. I researched other chips and found that many of them charge a yearly fee for you to use their database. That’s just a marketing scheme to make more money. AKC Reunite started their own microchips. They are ISO microchips. They only charge a one time fee, and there is no need for a second microchip. Normally I try to stay away from AKC extras. I know, a breeder who doesn’t necessarily like AKC? AKC in many ways just cares about making a profit, and they generally charge money for every little useless service you can think of. However, this microchip is really useful and hopefully will reunite many people with their best friends.

Off topic, our puppies got to go into a small pool today. We thought you might like to take a peak at a photo of a few of them in the water.