Attempted dog thefts in my area

That is very frightening to hear. How cruel and shocking. Mind you if they took our old pooch they might bring him back when they discover he's got dementia, is deaf and partially incontinent (doesn t realise when he's pooped indoors) poor old boy.

That was happening in my area but men who seen people walking certain breeds of dogs would follow them home and went back when it was getting dark and would put yellow or other colour cable ties on drain pipes or fences to let the thiefs know a good dog to take lived there

Here on the West Country/South Wales border, we have had a number of dog thefts lately as well as people attempting to grab dogs from owners. Most of the incidents involve men in white vans. The police are advising dog owners to vary the times and routes of their walks and to beware of anyone showing an interest in your dog. It's all really scary.

In parts of East Anglia, they have also been trawling the streets with sacks and have been grabbing cats to use as bait for their dog fights too. Vans can be any colour, not just white.

yes it's getting a big problem now.they look for expensive breeds too. be careful when "travellers" are in the area.they usually knock on doors asking "can I fix your roof (now)" as if you would let them !!

I have heard of stories where people out walking their dogs being offered money or their dog and being threatened,
Just yesterday, a puppy was taken from outside a village shop - he had not long been neutered and the theory is that once the thieves saw this, he was thrown out of the car window! Luckily he was unhurt but is traumatised, understandably.
Every day reports are on social media of dogs "missing".
It's theft, pure and simple of what could be termed as a priceless belonging or part of the family - if it was a child that was taken, maybe police attitude would change!

my daughter has a young dog and has been very worried about letting hers off the lead. Here in Suffolk there have been a few reports of men in white vans scouting for dogs. They are marking houses with dogs with white chalk crosses. Numbers of actual dogs stolen is low as far as I can tell . The number of incidents of the chalk marks also rose during the school holidays, so it may have been bored teenagers copying the local news reports, but it is certainly worrying. A few years ago we had poisoned meat being left on the local common, and at least one dog died.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I think all you can do is to try to train your dogs never to go to strangers.

You need to be very careful about allowing a dog to become ferocious, as if he attacked someone you might end up being ordered to put the dog down.

Here there is a rumour of someone killing cats for fun!

There have always been people who enjoy mistreating animals. When I was small someone went around putting down poisened meat for dogs and cats, that person was never caught, nor was the one who dipped my fox terrier in tar!

I don't know how we can stop this, apart from reporting all instances of theft or cruelty to the police and chip marking our animals.

My GS begged for a puppy & finally one was bought. Dear little thing & loved so much. Will be well trained & looked after but I do worry in case the pup is stolen. DS has made the garden as secure as possible & someone always takes him outside when needed but if someone does get over the high fences what chance would a child or even an adult stand against a determined thief? My GS would be inconsolable if he lost the pup!

Should say rape alarm not rap - which is probably something quite different!

My dogs never have a lead on when I walk them in the local Forest - makes it more difficult for someone to grab hold of them. I have Labs and they might well follow someone for food, although they are working gundogs so would probably come back when I whistled, but I have taken to carrying a rap alarm on my keyring - which should at least frighten anyone trying to steal a dog and alert other people. There have been a lot of reports of dog thefts round here. A neighbour had a terrier stolen (she wasn't sure whether it was lost of stolen but it came back mysteriously after two weeks looking well fed but very nervous) we think that they realised she was neutered and chipped.

All dogs should be micro chipped by law so you could soon prove the dog was yours if confronted by someone claiming your dog is theirs.
Also if you pay each month you can have your dog tracked by their microchip. Although horror of horrors I can foresee some low life chopping the microchip out.

for anyone thinking of getting a dog do not buy a pedigree, get a rescue dog they will be neutered, and chipped, make sure you register the chip with your details, make sure the dog wears a collar at all times and have a tag with your contact number and on the other side have engraved " I am chipped"this makes the dog less desirable also why have pedigree when there are many mixed breeds out there.if you are worrried about some one grabbing dog while out walking, dont let of lead buy a training lead they are long and will enable dog to have a run and carry a pepper spray the if anyone attempts to grab dog spray the person and shout loudly, finallt never leave your dog in the garden alone.

As the owner of several Rottweilers (all wonderfully good tempered), this sort of thing terrifies me.
Dog's are stolen usually to sell on, to breed and horrifically for dog fighting.
Mine are kept on a lead at all times, if they are outside I'm with them and their recall is total..it's the first thing I teach them.
Sadly I don't think it's taken seriously by people, virtually every day when out with mine, I see dogs unattended in gardens and even worse, left outside shops!

Thanks for the warning, haven't heard of it in this area but there's always a first time. Our dog is a fiesty little thing. She'll give as good as she gets.

In the next town from me a guy pretended to steal a car from someone’s driveway, the owner heard and saw what was happening so he let his 2 German Shepard’s out to scare the thief off instead thief gave dogs large steak each with they gobbled up whilst he bundled them into waiting transit van. So the attempted cat theft was a ploy to get dogs outside.

I keep seeing the warnings on FB and messages from people on FB who have had their dog taken. Scary

We don't have a dog but neighbours on both sides do and they have asked us to keep an eye out.

Seems it's happening everywhere we are in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

There are punishments I'd like to impose on these scumbags but that's not acceptable so slap on the wrist it will be

Nearly happened to a friend. Walking his dog someone stopped his van to ask for directions, friend heard his dog growl which was unusual turned round and the drivers accomplice was trying to unclip the dog's lead.

The latest I saw was a photo of two men with a white van, the men wearing white overalls, seen in the Telford area. They allegedly stole a pug which was due to have puppies shortly. The puppies may be offered for sale soon - if they and the mother survived.

There have been at least 4 dogs stolen from properties local to where I live including one with her pups. The police have advised not leaving dogs outside in the garden on their own and to change dog walking routines incase you’re being watched . Very frightening. My dogs love to be outside mooching in the garden but unless I can stay out there with them it’s a quick wee and in. They’re not only stolen to be sold on these people are nasty and dogs are often used as bait and in reality what’s the chance of getting a dog back even if it’s chipped. Very sad !

In South Devon a pug was stolen from a beach. It was seen being carried by its front legs on a different beach. Someone was horrified by this and put a pic on Facebook. It was then seen chained to a parked campervan in Dawlish Warren in the rain. Police were called and reunited the pug with the owner. There was a white small van parked next to the campervan that had been knocking on doors asking about work. All part of a travelling community and other dogs were in the campervan but I don't know if they were stolen or not.

There have been confirmed reports that at Black Park (Buckinghamshire) near Uxbridge/Iver, men have been walking round with leads and if they encounter dogs off their leads they harness them on their leads and when confronted with the real owner, they offer to ‘sell’ them their dog back for a hefty fee. If you don’t pay they steal your dog! So make sure your dog responds to recall if you are going to let them off their leads. What a wicked thing to do.

People let themselves into your garden and break into your house here if you have a dog they want. And yes, they use them for dog fights which is horrendous.

Hence me not getting the dog my daughter would dearly love to give a home to.

Twenty years ago my Mum was walking her dogs as she did every morning. Tess her staff cross had wandered off to have a sniff of the grass near the exit gates. A bloke appeared and grabbed her - picked her up and started walking off with her. My Mum called her and she wriggled and jumped out of the blokes arms, and started running back towards my Mum. He gave chase and grabbed her again and my Mum caught up and started hitting him with the dogs metal lead. The bloke ran off. Couldn’t contend with an irate pensioner which a chain whose beloved companion was under threat.

In hindsight, she was lucky she wasn’t attacked herself... if it happened today I wouldn’t even like to imagine what would have happened to her

I'm not a dog owner, but do like dogs, a couple of neighbours have some really nice ones, not sure what breed, not very well up on those. These stories are really alarming and I can only sympathise with anyone who has lost a beloved pet in such a callous way.