A guest blog by Nathan Neil from Purple Deck Media, Inc.
My entire work team, family, and friends will tell you that I love my energetic Basenji, Ms. Gina. Basenji’s are hunting dogs from Africa and like to run as most dogs do. When we first got her, she was microchipped to help if she would ever got lost. This is a great tool, but there are flaws as well.
One Sunday afternoon, I was outside on the patio when I saw a small terrier wandering around. He had a leash on and it was evident that he had managed to slip out of his owner’s hands. Being a dog lover and knowing the wreck I would be if Ms. Gina got out, I went and picked up the very friendly puppy. While veterinarians and other like places have the tools to scan the microchips, most people do not. I called around, but could not find anyone to help me that Sunday afternoon who was available to check the dog’s microchip. I would have to wait until Monday. This story has a happy ending. After going door-to-door for hours, the puppy was returned to the upset little girl, who had lost him.
This got our team and myself thinking. Almost everyone has a smart phone and, if they don’t, they know someone who does. It would be very easy to return the dog if I could scan a tag on the collar and get the contact information of the owner.
With a simple NFC tag, ‘Fido’ will never have to be lost. If veterinarians use these NFC enabled tags, they could also update and add immunization information about the dog in real-time.
We are all looking forward to a world where information is more rapidly accessible – and no dog has to be lost again.