A HELENSBURGH vet has backed calls to dog owners to make sure their animal’s ownership details are up to date.

Dog owners across the UK are being urged to microchip their dog and check that the chip details are up to date on the first anniversary of a law which made the measure a legal requirement.

Dogs Trust statistics show that 4,073 strays were reunited with their owners in 2015-2016; 10 per cent of these as a direct result of a microchip, proving just how important microchipping is in ensuring lost dogs are swiftly reunited with their owners.

Douglas Craig, a vet at Parklea Veterinary Surgery in Helensburgh, said: “The local uptake has been very good both before and since microchipping became a legal requirement. Most people are complying now, and with very little resentment - most dog owners recognise the benefits, and very few dogs come through our doors now that aren’t chipped.

“Having a dog microchipped is very useful in terms of traceability - people bring in dogs to us regularly to ask who the owner is, and microchipping makes it very easy to trace.

“The one downside is that sometimes we scan a dog, contact the details given for the owner and discover that either the number is unobtainable or the dog has since been given to somebody else.

“It’s also a legal requirement to keep ownership details up to date. Sometimes it costs money to transfer the dog’s details, but it can be very upsetting when we think we’ve traced a dog’s owner but then discover we don’t have the right details.”