Pup's microchip no help in finding owner

10-year-old Ashlee with her family's pet boxer, 5-month-old Pepper, who spent a night at the pound. Picture / Paul Estcourt

A West Auckland woman says the new dog microchipping system introduced to keep track of dogs was no use when she lost her boxer puppy.

Sarah Ricketts had the 5-month-old pup, Pepper, microchipped at 3 months old, paying around $100 to her local vet to insert the chip. She even made sure the chip number was noted on the registration form when she registered the dog with Waitakere City Council two months later. "I even highlighted the number," Mrs Ricketts said. "She's like our baby. I wanted to make sure they knew she was microchipped, I wanted to make sure I would get her back."

So when she and her husband returned home a week ago to find the dog gone, they knew their contact details were stored in the chip just under the dog's skin.

They spent the afternoon frantically searching around their Glen Eden home after ringing Waitakere City Council to notify the council the dog was lost.

Unknown to the family, a woman motorist had picked up the dog and taken it to Henderson pound. When the council faxed the pound, the pound rang Mrs Ricketts to tell her it had the dog. But it was thanks to the fax, not the chip, that the dog was returned to the family.

"A number came up on the chip but none of my details - they hadn't been entered," Mrs Ricketts said.

She was also angry the puppy had to spend a night at the pound because when the family arrived at 4.32pm to collect her they were told it closed at 4.30pm.

Waitakere City Council spokesman Benedict Collins said the council had a different computer system to others in Auckland. It was not compatible with the National Dog Database. All dogs in Waitakere City had to be entered into the new system, microchipped or not, and there was a backlog of about 5000 dogs, which would take another two weeks to catch up.