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AKC Companion Animal Recovery Celebrates Its Four Millionth Pet Enrollment

Posted on: Thursday, 14 May 2009, 15:24 CDT

-- "Peaches" Honored Along with Connecticut State Police K-9 Heroes --

HARTFORD, Conn., May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AKC Companion Animal Recovery (AKC CAR), the nation's largest and only non-profit pet recovery service, announced today that "Peaches," a 5-month-old German Shepherd Dog from West Hartford, Connecticut, owned by Tom and Anne Decker, became its four millionth enrollee when his microchip identification number was added to its database. In a special ceremony at the State Capitol today, Peaches, along with Connecticut State Police K-9 officers were honored with the latest in pet recovery technology.

"From beloved family pets like Peaches to the working K-9s that keep our cities and borders safe to even the nation's First Dog, "Bo" Obama who is an enrollee, AKC CAR is dedicated to the safe return of lost dogs," said Tom Sharp, CEO of AKC CAR. "To date, AKC CAR has helped reunite over 360,000 pets with their owners and donated hundreds of free lifetime enrollments to protect working law enforcement, military and service dogs. The more pets we enroll translates into more animals being safely returned home."

Giving Back

To celebrate AKC CAR's historic milestone and staying true to its non-profit mission of "giving back" to the community, AKC CAR donated 50 microchips and free lifetime recovery service enrollment to all 80 Connecticut State Police K-9 officers. These working K-9s provide life-saving services to state residents and beyond. Being protected with microchips will aid in recovery should these valuable canine officers be separated or stolen from their human partners.

The Connecticut State Police K-9 unit will also receive a $5,000 Search and Rescue grant from the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund to help purchase GPS handheld units and a laptop for training search and rescue teams. The Fund not only provides grants to search and rescue teams, but also disaster relief to care for companion animals displaced by natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires.

As the lucky four millionth pet enrolled, Peaches' lifetime AKC CAR enrollment will be upgraded to include Pet Poison Helpline(TM) support and Lost Pet Alert services. Peaches will also receive a new SpotLight GPS Pet Locator collar unit from Positioning Animals Worldwide (PAW) and a two-year service plan enabling "24/7" recovery assistance if the pet ever gets lost. A special rescue button on SpotLight can be pressed to alert recovery representatives that the pet has been found.

"My Dad was a veterinarian and I saw first hand how lost dogs ended up at his practice, and without the identification that would allow a safe return to their owners," said Tom Decker. "Peaches is a family member and having him microchipped will increase our chances of getting him back should he be stolen or run off chasing a squirrel. Knowing Peaches would be returned to us because of the microchip or his new SpotLight is a huge comfort."

"We are thrilled to team up with AKC CAR to provide Peaches and millions of other pets with the first-ever comprehensive tracking and recovery service," said Chris Newton, CEO of PAW. "SpotLight demonstrates the natural evolution of safeguarding your pet. We're glad to merge this advanced technology with the best recovery team to provide the most compelling level of pet protection available."

For more information on AKC CAR's microchip and lifetime recovery service and Spotlight GPS Pet Locator, call AKC CAR at 1-800-252-7894 or go to www.akccar.org or for further information on SpotLight visit www.spotlightgps.com

AKC Companion Animal Recovery

Microchips. Recovery. Giving Back.

AKC CAR, an affiliate of the American Kennel Club(R) and a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, is the largest non-profit pet recovery service provider in North America. Established in 1995 as a public service to help pet owners reunite with their lost animals via identification and 24/7 recovery coordinators, the organization has enrolled 4 million companion animals and recovered more than 360,000 lost pets. In 2007, AKC CAR introduced the AKC CAR ID System(TM) microchip. The AKC CAR ID System(TM) consists of microchips, scanners, and prepaid enrollments. In 2009, AKC exclusively partnered with Positioning Animals Worldwide (PAW) for the first-ever canine GPS tracking technology combined with 24/7 recovery services.

AKC CAR makes donations annually for veterinary student scholarships, grants for search and rescue teams and donations for natural disaster relief. In addition, AKC CAR enrolls all active service, military, and law enforcement K-9 dogs for free. For more information visit www.akccar.org, call 1-800-252-7894 or email found@akccar.org.

About Positioning Animals Worldwide

Raleigh, NC based Positioning Animals Worldwide (PAW) was formed in 2008 by a team of experienced and passionate pet owners with the collective mission to reduce the number of lost pets by enabling reliable and timely tracking to locate and recover pets should they become lost. Through a partnership with American Kennel Club Companion Animal Rescue (AKC CAR), PAW's flagship product, SpotLight GPS Pet Locator, is the only tracking system that bundles GPS technology with the recovery assistance of CAR's team of Recovery Experts.

PAW's products and services reduce pet owners' anxiety by linking owners remotely to their pets so that owners know their best friends' location at all times. SpotLight instantly notifies pet owners when their dog has left the designated safe zone and, unlike other products currently in the market, enables owners to track their dog with continuous real time tracking with turn-by-turn direction from their cell phone. Finally, once near the dog, a bright LED can be activated to help better locate the carousing canine.

For more information, please visit: www.spotlightgps.com, call 919-833-9975, or email hollis@blastpr.com.

CONTACT: Lisa Peterson, 212-696-8360

SOURCE American Kennel Club

Source: PR Newswire

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