As Dr. Moreau, Chad's father prepared to shut down for the night, he had a thought. Karl had said he'd just acquired the dog, and had Dr. Moreau inject him with a microchip with Karl's ownership information, but Dr. Moreau hadn't checked to see if Rex already was chipped. He grabbed his scanner, and walked over to the cage where groggy Chad was fighting the sedatives.
"Sorry, boy, know you want to sleep. You need plenty of rest before our exploratory colonoscopy tomorrow, but I want to check one more thing," he said gently petting the German Shepherd, as he ran the scanner across Rex's shoulder.
BING
BING
Two hits.
Dr. Conan Moreau closed the cage up, turned out the light in the kennel room. Then went to his office to check the results.
The first hit was the chip he had installed earlier, but the second hit was for a chip that he hadn't used in at least 10 years. He'd have to look up the ID number on the internet.
Dr. Moreau entered the registration code of the older chip. He wasn't surprised that there was a vet out there still using the old ones.
PING.
He was surprised, this couldn't be right. The number he entered was already in his computer system. He hadn't had to connect with the internet. Now he was intrigued. If it was a chip he installed 10 or more years ago, how did it get into a dog that was just a year and a half old? He rubbed his chin? Could another vet be recycling old chips from dead dogs? Or maybe it somehow passed from the dog he injected into one of her pups years later? It was an archived number, so it took a minute to pull up.
NO!
Back when Chad was a toddler, he had been watching his father chip a litter of puppies. He had asked his father why he was doing that. Dr. Moreau had explained to Chad that it was so to help identify the puppy, if the dog was ever lost. Chad in his child logic had asked if he was chipped too. His father had laughed, and said of course not. Chad had gotten all sullen.
"What's the matter, Chad?" he had asked.
Chad answered, "Don't you want to find me, if I get lost?"
"Of course, I do, Chad!" he said hugging the little boy.
"Then chip me too," Chad said.
His father was about to say no, but he could see how hurt Chad would be, and besides there was nothing dangerous about the Chip, so he said, "Alright, I will. First, I'll get a fresh injector tip, a new chip just for you, and a little alcohol swab for your shoulder."
"Eep!" said Chad when the cold injector jabbed his shoulder and implanted the chip.
"Now let's get your chip registered, and program into my contact info."
He typed with Chad looking from his seat in his father's lap, "Dr. Conan Moreau, 123 Dogwood Lane, Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. (709) 555-1234. Pet: Male, CHAD SIMBA MOREAU."
That was the information now on his computer screen. Dr. Moreau had been contracted with the Canadian military at the time to take care of the dogs in the new canine unit at the base in Goose Bay, and he'd been asked to chip all of them. He had completely forgotten about chipping Chad then, until now. How did Chad's chip end up in Rex?
He picked up his phone, and dialed Chad's cell. It went to voice mail. He hung up, and shook his head.
He picked up the phone and dialed his home number, "Hi Hon, is Chad there?"
"Chad? Oh, I think he's spending the weekend at a friends," Mrs. Moreau said uncertainly.
"Oh, do you know which one?"
"Er, K- uh, Rick, I think? Why?"
"Oh, just wondering. Don't hold dinner for me, something's come up at the office, and I need to work late..." he exchanged some pleasantries and hung up.
He stared at the computer screen. Then he stood up and went back into the kennel room. He turned on the light, a few dogs yapped. Rex was asleep in his cage. Rex? Chad? He wondered. He grabbed a syringe. He was going to have to run some more tests....