Does my dog need a microchip, and how do I register it?

You have picked up a puppy from a breeder or adopted a dog from a rescue, and someone told you "he's chipped" without handing you a single piece of paper. Or your dog is six, has never been near a vet, and you have only just found out that microchipping is compulsory. Or, worst case, he ran off last night and you are wondering whether the chip will bring him home.

The short version: in most of Europe, the UK and Romania included, a dog has to carry a microchip and be registered on a database. The chip only helps if the details on that database are yours and up to date. The steps follow, one at a time.

How to get your dog chipped and registered, step by step

1. Find out whether he is already chipped

Every vet practice has a scanner. Pop into your own vet, ask them to scan your dog and look the number up. It takes a minute and tells you three things: whether there is a chip, whether it is registered and who it is registered to. With rescue dogs the answer is often "chipped, but registered to the rescue" or "registered to the previous owner". Both can be sorted.

2. Getting a chip, if he has none

The chip is the size of a grain of rice, sealed in a glass capsule the body tolerates well. The vet places it under the skin on the left side of the neck (the standard spot in Europe) with a needle a little thicker than a vaccination needle. It takes a few seconds and no anaesthetic is needed. Most dogs react much as they would to a jab: one flinch, then they look round for the bit of cheese. The vet scans straight afterwards to check it reads.

The chip has no battery and no GPS. It transmits nothing. It just sits there, and when someone passes a scanner over it, a 15-digit number comes up. That is all it does, but it does it for the dog's whole life.

3. Registering the number

An unregistered number leads nowhere. Each country has its own rules and databases. In Romania the national register for owned dogs is called RECS and is run by the College of Veterinarians; the vet registers the dog on the spot with your name, address and phone number. In England dogs must be chipped by eight weeks of age and recorded on an approved database. Wherever you live, ask your vet which register is the legal one and get a certificate with the chip number. Take a photo of it and keep it in a separate album on your phone, next to the vaccination record.

Ask to see the details that were entered and read them yourself. One wrong digit in the phone number and the chip is useless, and you only find out on the day someone finds your dog.

4. Transferring a dog who had another owner

A rescue, or a dog bought as an adult, stays registered to the previous keeper until you transfer him. Your vet or the database will tell you what paperwork you need, usually the adoption contract or bill of sale. Good rescues help with this. If you have no paperwork at all, ask your vet what can be done in your case.

5. The tag on his collar

Only someone with a scanner can read the chip, and the neighbour who finds your dog at eleven at night does not have one. A tag on the collar or harness with your phone number gets him home in ten minutes rather than the next day. You can leave his name off; some people prefer that, so a stranger cannot call him by name. Tag and chip work together, and in some countries, the UK among them, the tag is a legal requirement as well.

6. If your dog goes missing

1. Search straight away along your usual routes and around the house. Plenty of dogs come back the way they went.
2. Ring the vet practices in the area and give them the chip number. A found dog often ends up at the nearest practice precisely to be scanned.
3. Tell the local council's dog service or public shelter, and the rescues in your area.
4. Post in local groups with clear photos and your phone number. Keep the chip number out of the post; save it for whoever really has him.
5. Check the database details once more. If you have changed your phone since he was registered, update it now.

And if you are the one who finds a dog, take him to any vet and ask them to scan him. It is usually quick and free.

Microchipping at every age

A puppy should leave the breeder already chipped and registered, with the chip number in his paperwork; in many countries, Romania and the UK included, that is the breeder's legal duty. A puppy offered "without a chip, you can do it yourself" raises questions about the breeder. At your first vet visit, ask for a scan and the transfer into your name. From the first weeks, get him used to being handled on the neck and scruff while he gets something tasty. Scanning, jabs and putting on a harness will be easier for the rest of his life.

Between 6 and 18 months, in adolescence, dogs run off more than at any other age. The world has suddenly got interesting, and the fence that held him at four months does not hold him now. This is the time to check that the tag is on the harness, that the database has today's phone number and that you have recent photos of him, front and side.

For an adopted adult the order is: scan at the first visit, transfer into your name, then the tag. Newly adopted dogs escape more often in the first weeks, before they have bonded with the new home, so the details need to be yours from day one.

In an older dog the chip usually lasts a lifetime, but now and then it migrates under the skin or, rarely, stops reading. Ask for a scan at the annual check-up. An old dog whose hearing and sight are going, or who has started to get confused, can get lost a few steps from home.

Common microchip mistakes

• "He's chipped, so we'll find him." A chip cannot be seen from a distance and does not show where the dog is. It only helps once he reaches someone with a scanner.
• Details not updated. You moved, changed your number, the dog went to another family member. The most common reason a found, chipped dog does not get home is a phone number on the database that no longer answers.
• A chip with no registration. The number exists but leads to nobody. It happens with puppies bought informally and with dogs chipped abroad.
• Registered only on a private database. Some practices and manufacturers run their own or international databases. They can be a useful extra, but what counts legally is the register your country requires.
• No tag. Plenty of people drop the tag "because he's chipped". The tag is what gets the dog home the same evening.
• Not knowing the chip number. The day he goes missing you need it within five minutes, so keep a photo of the certificate on your phone.
• Going abroad without checking. To travel within the European Union a dog needs a chip, a pet passport and a rabies vaccination given after the chip went in. The order matters: a vaccination given before the chip is not recognised at the border.

How long it takes and how you know you are covered

Implanting takes a few seconds and registration a few minutes, at the same visit. The transfer into your name usually happens then too, if you bring the adoption contract or bill of sale.

Go through the list below now and again at every annual check-up. Once every line is ticked, you are covered.

When to see the vet or get help

• The chip does not read, or the vet finds two different numbers on the same dog.
• A lump appears where the chip went in and does not settle within a few days, or there is redness or discharge.
• The register shows someone else's details and you cannot transfer them yourself. Your vet will tell you which documents you need.
• Your dog has run off and you have not found him in the first few hours. Ring the practices, the shelter and the local rescues instead of waiting for him to "come back on his own".
• Your dog often runs off or jumps the fence. The chip is the safety net, but the real problem is the escaping, and that is something to work on with a trainer.

The rules on dog identification have changed several times in recent years, in Romania and elsewhere. Your vet knows what applies now and can tell you exactly which documents your dog needs.