HELP FOR RECOVERING STOLEN HOUNDS

[BEAR HUNTER]

Hey everyone. We all know of the recent increase in hound theft due to the high price of a good hound and the tree huggers out there. They can remove a tracking or name coller but can't remove a freeze brand or Tattoo. I am in the middle of putting together a website to track peoples freeze brand or Tattoo ID they use for identifying their dog.
The way it will work is for for a small fee I will list the brands that an individual is using to identify their dog. This would not be a brand registry just a website that would list the brand and the name and state of the person using the brand. The person would send me a picture of their dog or dogs which I would keep on file for identification purposes along with their contact information. The contact info and number of dogs would be private and only accessible by myself. I would not put the number of dogs owned by the person as animal control could theoreticaly use the info for license fee info. If the persons dog is lost or stolen they would send me an email with the missing dogs info and the circumstances. I would immediatly send a fax or an email to all the animal control offices in that persons state and the adjoining states. The person would then contact me when the dog is found. I will also post all missing and lost dogs on the website until that dog is recovered.
At the start of this website I will notify all Animal control offices in the nation and provide them with the website address and my contact info. This will allow Animal control officers to be able to access the website if a hound turns up that they have not had a flyer on. They could then contact me. Every month I will also send an email or fax to the offices to keep the dogs in the public eye.
Now for some concerns. First I would not use the word "Brand" as people associate this with the cattle brand and cruelty. I would use the word "mark". Second. As these dog brands are not registered other people could possibly have the same brand as you. I would recommend two ID marks, a brand and a tattoo. Third. In order to make this work people would have to join and list their mark. This requires advertising etc. This is going to cost me a few thousand dollers to start up and more to maintain. After looking into it I would need to charge at least $25 a year or two years for $20. This is cheap if it helps to recover your dog. It will also require man hours. I can do this as I am retired and willing.
Please comment on what you think of the idea and any concerns or suggestions that you feel would make it a better site. This idea is not for me to get rich on just to do my part to help out the hunting dog world.

[FullCryHounds]

Before spending any money on the idea, I would try and get an idea of how many people would be interested. Just my opinion but I would say not many would sign up. Not because of the cost but because most guys don't think about problems like this ever happening to them. You still read about guys turning out their dogs without any ID tags! Personnally, I think if you have a dog that is worth anything, you'd have him microchipped along with some other type of ID, tattoo or brand etc.
The microhip company I have my dogs chipped through has something similar. If your dog is lost or stolen, they notify all the animal control offices with a picture and ID of your dog. The service is included with the $25 microchip.

[BEAR HUNTER]

Thanks for the reply. I agree thats why I posted my idea to get a feel from people. Unfortunately no ones leaving any post. Even if it was just a simple good idea or dumb idea would help.
The problem with chips is The price can ad up if you have several dogs. Also the only people who can use them are the animal shelters. Freeze marking helps protect against dog theft by having a mark that everyone can see. Anyway anyone who reads this please post a reply. One or two words is fine. Thank you.

[liontracker]

I think that anything and everything that helps recover a stolen dog is good.

[DerekE]

It's not a bad idea but most people don't have there dogs branded. It's worth $20-25 if it saved a dog but I think if you spent a couple thousand you might lose your money.
Derek

[Charlie Burger]

I agree with liontracker, anything to recover stolen dogs is a good thing

[joelkokel]

i think that its a good idea and work well as long as everyone would work together.

[Buddyw]

I was talking with someone on this site about that same kind of Idea. A little bit ago.

Like I told him.. Personally I'm not sure I believe it is worth the time. (At least worth my time managing it) I don't freeze brand, And I have a feeling that it would get only about 10-20 people that registered their brands.. However.. I have be wrong before, and would hope I'm wrong this time. So I'm open to the idea and would help set it up.

Regardless, The Offer I gave him was that I could put a Topic or thread on this site and limit it so that everyone could read and view it, but Only the selected Gate Keeper or Gate Keepers would be able to Post in it.

Folks who want to "register" their Brand would email the Gate Keeper, and the Gate keeper would then post their information in the topic.

I can't manage it, So someone would have to take ownership and keep and post all the brands.

Buddy

[Mr.pacojack]

I was talking with someone on this site about that same kind of Idea. A little bit ago.

Like I told him.. Personally I'm not sure I believe it is worth the time. (At least worth my time managing it) I don't freeze brand, And I have a feeling that it would get only about 10-20 people that registered their brands.. However.. I have be wrong before, and would hope I'm wrong this time. So I'm open to the idea and would help set it up.

Regardless, The Offer I gave him was that I could put a Topic or thread on this site and limit it so that everyone could read and view it, but Only the selected Gate Keeper or Gate Keepers would be able to Post in it.

Folks who want to "register" their Brand would email the Gate Keeper, and the Gate keeper would then post their information in the topic.

I can't manage it, So someone would have to take ownership and keep and post all the brands.

Buddy

I like that Idea