HAPPY ENDINGS!!
Over and over, year in and year out, as we field calls from all across the nation, the staff of the National Dog Registry delights in the experience of reuniting missing pets with their grieving owners. We have the deeply satisfying pleasure of saying, "Mrs. Jones, we have located your Shepherd, Duke, at a pound in Centerville. He is healthy, safe, and they are waiting for your call." It’s hard to describe the kinds of reactions people have--some yell with joy, others are amazed and shocked, many cry. The circumstances of each recovery are unique and part of the thousands of heartwarming cases in NDR’s files. Some of these HAPPY ENDINGS are shared below.

MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN!
"It could never happen to me." That’s what I have always thought.... I have always been so conservative, especially where safety and security are concerned, almost to the point of fanaticism, or so I thought. Well, the worst happened to me.

Star, my nine-year old Sheltie, slipped through a gate left open by a service man. She was in a new neighborhood and frightened. At some point, she must have panicked and just started running.

I hand-delivered over 2,000 flyers. I walked so many miles in the first week that I lost eight pounds. I was getting so upset that I usually started weeping when I was talking to people.

Star was lost a few days before Halloween. On Monday, February 13, nearly four months later, I got a call from the National Dog Registry. That evening, the rescuers drove to my house and brought Star home to me.

Star was rescued by ‘some young men who were four-wheeling in the desert, [40 miles southwest of where she had been lost] and found her in a leghold trap, almost dead.’ Star was with the mother of the rescuers for two weeks and nursed back to health. At two weeks, she was given a bath and the tattoo was found.

There are no words to describe my emotions at this point...but the bottom line is, without the registered (National Dog Registry) tattoo, I would never have gotten her back. The whole ordeal has really made a believer out of me. Dog people friends of mine from all over the country are now making sure their dogs are tattooed (and registered with NDR). THE SYSTEM WORKS!!! and MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN, BECAUSE ONE HAPPENED TO ME!!! Brenda Mileski, Henderson NV

NOTE: Brenda was so impressed with the effectiveness and efficiency of our system that she has become an Authorized Agent for NDR.

RESEARCH DOG SAVED BY TATTOO
Unconscious, just moments from the beginning incision, an eight-month old American Staffordshire Terrier lay on the operating table of a mid-western research laboratory. As the researcher shaved the dog’s abdomen (preparing it for surgery from which it would never awaken), tattooed numbers were uncovered on the skin of the dog’s inner thigh! The surgery was instantly aborted.

The doctor performing the research went right to the phone and called a toll-free number he had used several times before. Within minutes, a comprehensive nationwide search began for the owner of the tattooed pet. The number the researcher called was a 24-hour pet identification hotline operated by the National Dog Registry, the oldest and largest missing pet recovery system in the world, which is headquartered in Mesa, AZ.

When the operator at NDR ran a database search for the pet’s ID number with no successful match, she began the arduous task of networking with all other cooperating organizations that might have records on the number. The operator knew that without a registration in a national database (such as NDR’s), the tattoo was virtually worthless as an identification and recovery tool, and the dog on the table at the research laboratory would surely die.

NDR’s operator persisted in her efforts. One of the calls she placed was to the Breeder’s Action Board (BAB) in Michigan, a group that regularly works with NDR. (BAB is a non-profit organization promoting responsible dog ownership and public education.) Believing that the tattoo number might be part of their state pet ID system, BAB’s Betty Melia called the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The Department had the number on file, but had no current information on the owner. Persevering, Betty called the veterinarian listed as the dog’s tattooer and uncovered more recent information.

When she contacted Miron Duncan of Detroit, his shock and amazement confirmed that Roxanne, his AmStaff, had disappeared from his back yard three months earlier. Although he had searched the neighborhood and put up signs, Miron despaired of every seeing Roxanne again. He almost could not believe that she had been found in a research lab hundreds of miles away, in another state.

BAB called NDR with Miron’s name and phone number. NDR notified the doctor at the research lab that the owner had been located. Roxanne was saved! "The research staff was overjoyed to hear from us," said Bette Rapoport, President of the National Dog Registry. "They said, ‘Don’t worry--Roxanne will be well taken care of until you come for her.’"

NDR called Carolyn Brown in Illinois, a pet tattooer who is part of our extensive international network of Authorized Agents. Carolyn agreed to take time off from work, travel to the laboratory to retrieve Roxanne, purchase a shipping crate, and place her safely on a plane home to Detroit.

Even though they had purchased Roxanne legitimately from a USDA-licensed animal dealer, the research lab requested that their name be kept anonymous. The lab contacted the dealer and was told that the dog had been purchased from a Detroit pound three months earlier. NDR’s follow-up investigation showed this to be true.

"Were it not for the absolute cooperation between NDR and BAB, no one would have ever known Roxanne’s fate," said Ms. Rapoport. "The research lab was kind enough to provide her with rabies shots, medications, and health exams, in addition to the necessary certificates to allow her to travel by plane."

On June 29th, near midnight, Roxanne was reunited with her delighted owner in Detroit. NDR continually explores ways to convince pounds that a tattoo search is absolutely necessary on every animal picked up. The one minute required to check for a tattoo can save many pets’ lives.

NDR’s non-profit Rescue Fund paid all the expenses for Roxanne’s return home, since the owner was unemployed and did not have the funds available to claim his pet.

NOTE: Special NDR awards of thanks were presented to Carolyn Brown in recognition of her outstanding help and professionalism and to the research facility staff for their extraordinary efforts and assistance in saving Roxanne’s life.

LOST, AND FOUND!
When Sandra L. let her 18-month-old Collie, Ginger, outdoors one morning, she thought nothing of it: Ginger was a watchdog, trained to stay close to home. But ten minutes later, when she glanced out the window to check, the dog was nowhere to be seen. Running outside, Sandra called and called. Then she got in her van and searched the neighborhood. No luck.

Sandra returned home distraught. Ginger was her dog, really--a birthday present--but her children adored the big collie. She dreaded the thought of telling them.

Then, scarcely an hour later, she got a call from the National Dog Registry (NDR), Ginger had been found! Sandra had had the dog tattooed and then registered with NDR; now that precaution had paid off. Ginger is just one of hundreds of lost or stolen dogs that NDR, the nation’s largest dog registry, finds every month. (Family Circle, July 1990)

"But I don’t own a dog!"
...was the astonished reaction of Norma Webb, when her job supervisor announced that the National Dog Registry had found her dog. In fact, Norma had not owned a dog since her beloved mini-pinscher "Tuner" had tragically disappeared from her daughter’s home nine years earlier while they were attending a funeral. The family had tried in vain to locate Tuner, placing ads and desperately searching the area for months before finally giving up. Heartbroken, Norma would not consider replacing Tuner.

After recovering from the surprise of her supervisor’s announcement, Norma asked for a day off to go to the veterinary hospital, more out of curiosity than anything else. She didn’t believe it could be Tuner after all these years.

Everyone was skeptical. All stood and watched as the reunion took place. Thin and frail, showing all the signs of a hard life, the dog was carried delicately in the doctor’s arms. As soon as Norma saw him she began to cry. "Oh...it’s Tuner!" To everyone’s astonishment, Tuner could not restrain his happiness. He literally jumped into Norma’s arms, ecstatically licking her face. Seeing the aging dog’s boundless joy and exuberance left no doubt that he was indeed Tuner and had at last found the one person he knew loved him. Tuner was home at last.

NOTE: NDR tattooer, Judy Woods, has been award a special Certificate of Appreciation for her efforts on Tuner’s behalf.
Copyright© 2003 National Dog Registry