BROWNSVILLE — Pet parents know some canine companions tend to high-tail it at the sight of an open gate or door.
Top Dog Grooming teamed with the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Care Center to offer free identification microchips for dogs 4 months and older.
“Our business is affordable grooming, but I feel like we have a responsibility to the canine community,” Top Dog Grooming owner Wally Cisneros said, adding that his business contributed the microchips. “We believe in giving back.”
Cisneros said more than 80 pets received microchips, which help shelters reunite lost pets with their owners immediately.
A BARCC employee declined to speak with The Herald about the event, saying city employees have been warned against talking to media without prior approval from administrators.
Bonnie Salazar and her husband, Bill Seale, headed to Top Dog Grooming to get microchips for their two miniature schnauzers.
Salazar said the younger of the dogs, Coco Chanel, sometimes makes it blocks away from their home when she escapes from their back yard. Seale said they’re not worried about their older dog, Buddy, who they inherited from their home’s previous owners because the pooch wouldn’t budge from the property.
Omar Cisneros and his family took their Chihuahua-pug mix Luna to get a microchip.
“It’s a great thing because people in the community can’t always afford something like that, especially because I know the shelter can get pretty backed up, so it gets dogs back to the owners,” he said. “We appreciate it.”
Dinorah Zarate received microchips for her Havanese dogs, Mambo and Juju. She said Mambo established his habit of zooming out the front door at 2 months old, and he was found by city workers cleaning out an alley.
“It’s very important to have microchips,” she said. “You don’t want them to get lost and never have a chance to get them back. I think it’s a great thing Wally Cisneros is doing.”
Top Dog Grooming is a dropoff location for donations to BARCC, and Cisneros said he’s working to become a dropoff location for the Laguna Madre Humane Society. Cisneros has two shelter dogs of his own and said he wanted to host the microchip event on a Saturday to ensure as many pet owners as possible could attend.
“It’s a way to thank clients and the community,” he said.
