Dog-Sense: For All Dog Owners

Microchipping The World!

Is it about animal control, people control, or inventory management? Being microchipped is not to any mentally competent person’s advantage but it’s coming…

September 10, 2018

Col. Sam Harper, Dogsport Reconnaissance

The Army Times reported in May 2018 that “Soldiers may soon be carrying monitoring devices that can alert doctors thousands of miles away to medical emergencies.” I couldn’t verify that, even going through channels. Microchipping and DNA records aren’t a bad thing, in fact it could be the only means of positive identification on the battle field when “dog tags” are stripped away.

But how do you feel about microchipping everyone? That is what my adult daughter says is going to happen and she’s all for it. When I lifted a skeptical eyebrow she responded with her own body language… hand on hip she informed me “Microchipping could identify a lost child, an incompetent relative, or our pets should they become lost or run over or something…”

I thought about that reasonable argument for giving up the civil and personal rights we fight to protect. It took a minute even though I’m trained to make split-second decisions (read me smiling) because “becoming a number” dehumanizes us. That is one of the first things we learned in battle command but it should never apply domestically. We are people, Americans, and we are guaranteed the right to privacy but somewhere along the way, we lost a lot of the “rights” guaranteed in the ii U.S. Constitution.

Don’t tell me the Constitution was written in a “different time”. That was a more grueling and bloody time than any other period in American history.

When I looked up, she was still standing there, tapping her foot. “Are you back?” she asked.

I nodded and she handed me a clipping that said Ft. Worth TX is toying with making microchipping all pets mandatory. I scanned it quickly. “Well?” she said, sounding just like her mother. I knew this was important to her so I chose my words carefully.

I told her what I’m telling you readers. A microchip provides no health benefit to man (or beast) other than storing medical records which YOU can’t read and to which you have no access.

In cold reality, a microchip is a management device for chattel, i.e. something owned… Where we once used branding as a mark of ownership in cattle, we’ve moved on to more humane ear tags.

She nodded approval of that so I continued my train of thought.

They tattooed the inside upper lip in military dogs and I think they did it in racing horses and dogs to insure positive identification. I reckon in racing it prevented “ringer” fraud. Today there’s easily-read microchip I.D. that serves the same purpose.

She smiled, sure she had won me over.

I remember there was a lot of concern about microchips migrating around in the body. (she nodded.) I reckon they solved that problem. (she nodded again.) But they haven’t changed our right to privacy and ownership of our body. (she frowned.) So getting any kind of identification implanted or tattooed on our bodies must remain as an individual choice, right?

She looked confused. Sat down in the chair next to me. Yeah, I was taught to read body language. I knew I had her.

You are thinking that we own our dogs and of course you’re right. That means we are responsible for them, for as long as they live. A military horse or a racing dog can’t talk so we have to insure they can be identified if lost or stolen. A cow is born into a sort of slavery (giving milk or meat) and we take good care of what we harvest so I guess that gives us some kind of ownership rights and control.

Here’s the catch. Our bodies belong to us and to our Maker, not to the government, unless you are military. We are thinking, sentient beings, right? (she nodded) We were created as having dominion (power) over all animals and we have the blessing of reasoning. She looked up at me unsure of where I was going.

I grinned. Look honey, if you were a cow you wouldn’t care if someone microchipped you. If you are my dog, you may be a smart ole hound but you don’t know a microchip from a biting flea… I reckon if it helped my dog get found I’d go for it. Hell, if my older brother became mentally challenged and started wandering off, I’d let the doctors microchip him. But would I let them microchip you if you didn’t want it? She looked up at me, her eyes soft and wet.

She whispered “I get it daddy.”

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