PET CARE: HIGH-TECH DOGGIES

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By Newsweek Editors

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Anxious owners may feel reassured once they've had a tiny identifying microchip implanted between their pets' shoulder blades. But the system has flaws. Last April, workers at Virginia's Stafford County Animal Control, unaware that a 134.2-kilohertz chip was now on the market, scanned a lost pit bull with a device capable of detecting only 125-kilohertz chips and missed the newer one embedded under its skin. The dog was euthanized.

As manufacturers tussle over legal issues, animal-welfare groups are lobbying for compatibility. "We don't care which system is adopted, we just want standardization," says John Snyder of the Humane Society of the United States and spokesperson for the Coalition for Reuniting Pets and Families. In the meantime, owners should keep a collar and tags on pets, check with local shelters to find out which chips their scanners can read, and update contact information with the company's registry when they move. And microchips can still work miracles. Just ask Felix Lora, whose 6-month-old puppy, Tiny, was stolen from his backyard in New Jersey, and returned to him four years later when Animal Care & Control of New York City scanned the Rottweiler's chip. The dog's new ID problem? His name: Tiny now weighs 75 pounds.

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