It didn't matter.
I found a pug. Took him to the vet. They scanned him and said "Yep, he has a chip."
They gave me a phone number and a website. The number went nowhere. The website wanted money and wanted me to register. Nobody called back. Ever.
I just wanted to return someone's lost dog. You know how it feels when your best friend is missing. It's devastating.
That pug is now named Beef — legally Sir Pugglesworth — and he's mine forever.
I'm glad the system was broken, because I got the best dog in the world out of it. But the next dog might not land somewhere this good.
That's what we built.