Pet Safety & Security Tips for Responsible Dog Ownership Month
by Pamela Fusco, Founder of ZuluTails
September is the time when the world gets back to their routines – children go back to school, fall festivities get underway and preparations begin for the upcoming holidays. September is also Responsible Dog Owner’s Month and serves as a reminder to dog lovers everywhere about what being a responsible dog owner entails. It includes caring for the health, safety, and enrichment of your dog (Pet Safety).
The American Kennel Club recommends many ways to help people be responsible dog owners: exercise, regular vet check-ups, training, socialization, safety, and emergency preparedness. These are all important because they all contribute to your dog’s overall well-being.
Lost pets may be one of the most heartbreaking and stressful experiences for a family. The American Humane Association estimates over 10 million dogs and cats are lost in the US each year and tragically, only 15 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats in shelters without ID tags or microchips are reunited with their families. To eliminate losing their pets forever, many pet owners opt to get their pets microchipped in case their pet is lost or run away. However, as technology advances, microchip technology can elicit more risk than benefit.
Such risks associated with the microchip, according to Dogs Naturally Magazine, include tumors, migrating microchips in your pet’s body, and no single national microchip registry database which makes scanning difficult or not possible. Microchips can also be defective, unpredictable, or not be found due to scanner error.
If this occurs, it can make it much more difficult for families to be reunited with their lost pets and puts animals at risk of euthanization due to crowded shelters and “empty” microchip results.
There are other alternatives to microchips for pet safety to include ID tags that have the owner’s contact information on them or GPS trackers. Combining the pros of the microchip and eliminating the associated risks is the latest cybersecurity technology, ZuluTails. ZuluTails has revolutionized the industry creating the first Smart Pet ID that instantly and securely connects you with your pet safety without the use of batteries, charging trackers, or soliciting personal information.
Unlike microchips, ZuluTails offers 24-hour perPETual global on-demand access, granting you the flexibility to update and modify your account information and your pet’s information without having to depend on any third parties or call centers. This eliminates the hassle of changing your pet’s microchip information which can take time to update.
Not only does ZuluTails connect owners with their beloved pet safety, it also does so safely and effectively. When we put up lost pet ads, we give away personal information such as our address, phone number and full name. ZuluTails was developed intentionally to keep the pet owner’s personal information secure while also returning pets to their loved ones quickly.
We have moved beyond the electronic age and now live in the virtual digital realm. We must covet our personal identifiable information (PII). Perpetrators, phishing tactics, and automated exploitations are always lurking, taking advantage of situations when we are distracted and motivated by emotion to care for our loved ones.