Dog Theft
Whilst there’s always been a problem with dog theft, it’s very obvious that it’s increased a vast amount recently. There’s probably a myriad of reasons for this, but that doesn’t stop the heartache of losing your dog - the “not knowing” is the worst bit. To use I word I hate, at least if you know the dog’s been killed, you have “closure”.
I was quite shocked to hear that there’s a 250% rise in dog thefts and that 54% of dog thefts nowadays happen from the owner’s garden. There are also reports of people masquerading as RSPCA inspectors and claiming they need to take a dog away with them as it matches the report of a stolen dog!
Please guys - be paranoid!!! Don’t leave your dog unattended if you go out with it (eg tied up outside a shop) , don’t allow people to fuss and take photos of it ( they may be looking at the address tag) and in the case of Lurchers, never boast about how fast your dog can run / how many xxxxxx it catches, etc etc!
Neuter your dogs so they can’t be used for breeding, make sure they’re microchipped and/or tattooed (with NDTR) and their details are kept up to date. Even dogs that can’t be bred from can be used as bait dogs for dog fighting gangs though - and no dog deserves that fate so please keep them safe.
This article is worth a read:
This poor Galga was rescued after being used as a bait dog