The American Kennel Club announces a new feature to its individual dog registration package that will give purebred dog owners the opportunity to register their dog with AKC and “stay connected for life.”

New owners can now enroll in the AKC Companion Animal Recovery System, at the same time – and on the same form – as when they register their dogs with the AKC.

Whether they select the Gold, Silver or Standard registration package, the new “Lost and Found” upgrade option can be easily added. This option offers a discounted AKC CAR lifetime enrollment and a free collar ID tag which features the AKC logo, the dog’s AKC registration number and the AKC CAR toll-free phone number.

“Losing a pet is devastating which is why we continually work to improve the process of identifying and registering your pets,” said Dr. Carmen Battaglia, President and CEO of AKC CAR. “Enrollments in the AKC CAR database and, we’re pleased to say, recoveries of lost pets are growing rapidly each year.”

There are three ways AKC registrants can enroll in the “Lost & Found” program:

• Choose the “Lost & Found” upgrade option on your AKC registration application

• Fill out and mail the enrollment form that was enclosed with your AKC registration certificate

• Call our toll-free hotline at 800-252-7894 and mention the “Lost & Found” program to one of our recovery experts

With a mission to protect the advancement of purebred dogs, the AKC formed the non-profit Companion Animal Recovery program in 1995 to help reunite lost pets with their owners. Many species of animals can be tattooed or microchipped and entered into the database, including dogs, cats, birds, horses, and even more exotic animals such as chinchillas, leopards and seals.

In the past decade, more than 2.7 million animals have been enrolled in the database and 258,000 lost pets have been successfully reunited with their owners. Enrollments in the database are up more than 20% and recoveries are up nearly 25% over last year.

AKC Companion Animal Recovery is an affiliate of the American Kennel Club and is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. For more information, visit the Companion Animal Recovery web site at www.akccar.org, call the National Pet Recovery Hotline at 1-800-252-7894 or email found@akc.org.