actually i just had an experience with this. I was out with Tayda and Lenny the other day and a big Golden Retriever trotted past looking lost and anxious. I took my dogs inside and got in my car to find this dog. I ended up finding it in the back of an apartment complex and there was also a cop there who had been called because people were reporting a big dog in traffic almost getting hit. I asked the cop what he was going to do with the dog and he said he had to take it to the humane society. I just couldn't let that happen. so i offered to take it, and call the humane society to let them know i had it in case someone came looking. I took it home and was bathing it, when the cop called back and said "lets take it to the emergency vet clinic to see if it has a microchip" so he came and took the dog there (i requested to go also) he said that some vet clinics will do the scanning for free if a police requests it. we got the number off the chip, and called the number of the "chip" company. They had the name/number of the vet that implanted the chip. We called that vet, but since it was sunday, they were closed. Apparantly the default is that the chip returns the vets information unless you pay more to have your own info put on there. i offered to keep the dog until the next day and i would call the vet.
i never had to do that though, because in a few hours, someone had called the humane society looking for it and they came to get him. it was nice to reunite them all. actually, it ended up being a sad story. a couple came to pick up the dog, Bo, and the man said "the dog was actually my fathers companion, but he died last week, and we are now taking care of him" he said he felt so sad all morning because the dog was so important to his father and he felt he had let him down by losing the dog so quickly.
The vet clinic that was on the chip was actually really close to my house. I wonder if his owner (the father) lived near me and the dog was actually trying to go home? the couple lived like 4 miles away…. that dog traveled a long way!
anyway, sorry to make a short answer long. I've actually thought of calling the chip company that implanted lennys chip to see what info it gives... the breeder had him chipped before i got him.
oh, and i asked the cop if it was standard procedure to have the dog scanned, and he said 'not really, but we do it if we have time.' I also asked the humane society if they scan dogs as standard procedure... and they said 'yes'. so i think either way Bo would have been found. thats good to know.
I wonder though, what Basenjis would do if they got away... i feel like they would just keep running and running, and wouldn't necessarily let people get close to them. Golden Retrievers are so friendly toward people, so it was so easy to get him in the car. Actually i put him in the back of my car, and by the time I sat down in the drivers seat, he had jumped into the front passenger seat and put his head on my lap!