Dog thefts

[Penny Less]

Fairly local to me, two cocker spaniels aged 11 and 13, stolen from owners garden. These dogs are clearly aged from the photo so would not presumably be sold, so is it a ransome type thing, Is that the next scam after the lockdown dog stealing , I hope its not dog fighting. How devastating for the owners.

 

[Parrotperson]

well whoever took them might not be cover enough to know their old so trying to sell them on. Better than the alternative frankly.

 

[Birker2020]

Fairly local to me, two cocker spaniels aged 11 and 13, stolen from owners garden. These dogs are clearly aged from the photo so would not presumably be sold, so is it a ransome type thing, Is that the next scam after the lockdown dog stealing , I hope its not dog fighting. How devastating for the owners.

There are loads of dogs stolen at the moment. A woman posted something on our local neighbourhood page about someone stopping a car, getting out to try and 'stroke the dog'. She managed to get the dog indoors as she was stood on the pavement outside her house. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I realised our road is off the road this happened on.

Very worried for my lovely dog now. I have armed myself with a rape alarm and a Jif lemon squeezy bottle!

 

[wren123]

In our local park a man was attacked by two men trying to steal his dog. Thank God he managed to fight them off. This was in the daytime.

 

[Birker2020]

They reckon this is a good idea, to attach your lead to your dogs collar, in the event someone tries to take your dog by unclipping the lead and making off with it, it takes a few seconds to undo. Anything that gives you a few extra seconds can only help you. Not sure how you would attach the lead to it though unless you tie it to it with a knot.

This link explains about keeping your dog safe from theft. https://www.confused.com/pet-insurance/guides/dog-theft-during-lockdown

 

[SAujla]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dog-owner-1800-puppy-snatched-23993009.amp

Taking a pup to the supermarket for socialisation always seemed a good idea but even that is dangerous. I worry about this all the time

 

[deb_l222]

Unfortunately, with over-inflated lockdown prices, dogs are seen as a worthwhile commodity to steal now. Think about it from the thief's point of view. Steal a mobile phone, maybe get £50 for it via your fence. Steal a dog however and they might pay you in the hundreds, if you've nicked the correct breed.

We all need to remind ourselves however that this is still relatively rare and most 'thefts' from back gardens turn out to be someone leaving the gate open and the dog(s) has wandered off, soon to be found a couple of hours later.

Life is a risk but I won't stop doing what I do with my dog(s). To be fair, if anyone pinched Willow, they would probably return her within 24 hours so not much to worry about there!

 

[zandp]

We've had a lot of dog thefts and attempted thefts in the South West recently, from gardens, from houses mostly - not so many from walks. 1 of mine hates men and the other doesn't listen to anyone but me anyway so I'm hoping we'll be ok. And to be fair who'd want a deaf lurcher and one who may as well be !

 

[Clodagh]

Unfortunately, with over-inflated lockdown prices, dogs are seen as a worthwhile commodity to steal now. Think about it from the thief's point of view. Steal a mobile phone, maybe get £50 for it via your fence. Steal a dog however and they might pay you in the hundreds, if you've nicked the correct breed.

We all need to remind ourselves however that this is still relatively rare and most 'thefts' from back gardens turn out to be someone leaving the gate open and the dog(s) has wandered off, soon to be found a couple of hours later.

Life is a risk but I won't stop doing what I do with my dog(s). To be fair, if anyone pinched Willow, they would probably return her within 24 hours so not much to worry about there!

We had a BT dog nicked, years ago, and three days later he was dumped. He was an absolute unlikeable little shit of a dog, we weren’t missing him ?.
Those elderly spaniels being taken is so sad.

 

[Moobli]

Hopefully the elderly spaniels will turn up safe and sound very soon. It isn't something I worry about unduly, and it certainly isn't going to stop me going out and doing the things I enjoy with my dogs, but it does make me think twice about leaving them in the car if I go somewhere more populated, and I would never leave them tied up outside shops etc anyway.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Two older labs were stolen recently from outside an M&S food shop in the nearby town. They did get them back after a few days, there were good cctv images of the dogs being led away by the thieves.

Not a time to be leaving dogs tied up outside a shop, not that I've ever done that.

 

[ester]

Even 7 years ago my YO 14+JRT was taken, dumped the next day when they presumably realised quite how old he was.

 

[Penny Less]

I admit that up until a couple of years ago I tied my dog outside the shop when I went in for a newspaper. Dont do it now.
Apart from the thefts we have had a few poisonings in our area which worries me as dog will scent food from 100 yards away and eat anything .Wondering about buying one of those soft muzzles.

 

[GSD Woman]

I don't leave the dogs in the back garden if I'm not home or awake. The exception to that is the day after the second Corona vaccine. I was so sick I propped the back door open. I managed to crawl out of the bed who knows how many hours later to shut the door.

I have a friend that has a lock on her car crate. I use a vent lock if I need to.

 

[Jenko109]

My dogs aren't in the garden while I'm out, but are somewhat unattended out there sometimes. I do however have a fear aggressive lurcher who I know would go absolutely bat s*** if a stranger climbed the gate into the garden, so I would know about it instantly if we had an intruder.