Prodigal Dog Back, Thanks To Microchip

By Jeanne van der Merwe

Labrador Flaxen loves to go on long walks - without permission.

His habit of running away has landed him in trouble countless times, but his latest dash to freedom last Thursday led to a reunion everyone had given up on.

He grew up with Nita Chisholm and her family in Pinelands and tried to run away while he was a puppy. The family then had him tagged with a microchip at the SPCA.

Three years ago he ran off again after the Chisholms' burglar alarm went off in the dead of night. The family couldn't find him anywhere and eventually gave him up for dead.

But he had been picked up by a member of the local labrador association and was sold to Dorothy Green of Newlands, who called him Rusty.

Green is now moving to a retirement village and was looking for another home for him when, on Friday, the amiable but restless canine decided to run away again.

He wandered to Keurboom Road in Rondebosch, where someone called the SPCA to pick him up. Back at the SPCA, he was scanned and the staff found the Chisholms' contact information still intact on the microchip on his neck.

An elated Nita Chisholm said: "We were completely stunned when we got the call that they found him. He remembered us all and immediately went and sniffed out all his old favourite spots."