If you lose your dog in the Spring area, and it has a chip, there's good chance you'll get it back. Now all Spring fire stations have chip readers.
The Spring fire department's Tracee Evans says, in a pilot program with the Harris County Animal Shelter, all of the fire stations can scan lost dogs to return them to their owners.
"Since this summer, when the readers were put in place at all nine Spring fire stations, several dogs have been brought in that were, basically, wandering around neighborhoods. They've been checked for microchips and in most cases have been able to be reunited with their families because they did have microchips."
Evans says it's a free service; if you find a stray dog, take it to a fire station for a free scan.
"Most of the time people are very good about registering their animals online; we can get a phone number immediately and call the pet's owner and let them know their pet has been found."
Now that would make for a very Merry Christmas.