According to the American Insurance Institute, nearly half of all dog bites occur while the dog is off the owner’s property. While in some cases, a dog may attack another person or animal while in its owner’s presence (i.e. unleashed dogs; improperly secured collar/harness; pulling/breaking away from owner’s control), many bites and attacks are caused when a dog escapes from their owner’s property. Often time, the dog’s owner is completely unaware that their dog has escaped. The Dog Bite Injury Attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. take note of a promising new technology, which might aide in the reduction of dog-related incidents.
Micro-chipping pets has long been used as a means of recovering lost animals, however, the benefits of such microchips were dependent on whether (1) the animal was actually brought in to be scanned; (2) the scan was successful in identifying the owner (3) and the owner’s contact information was current. Traditional microchips can neither track a dog’s location, nor notify a dog owner that their dog has escaped their property, and therefore serve a highly limited purpose-the possibility that the dog and its owner may be reunited. Though, a new product, ‘Escape Alert,’ offers to change dog-to-owner reunification. As discussed by the Chicago Tribune in ‘Pet escape: How to deal with it-and prevent it,’ with the use of this device,
“a pet owner can set up a virtual boundary – his or her yard, for example. When their dog or cat crosses the boundary, they get immediate text and email alerts. Neighbors, friends, veterinarians and local animal shelters can also get notifications. Next comes the cool part: The implanted GPS chip then tells the pet owner the animal’s exact location via cell phone, iPad, text message or computer.”