Dog Theft

Here in Ireland at the moment dog theft is a huge problem, a few years ago you would hear the odd time of a dog been stolen from a garden or maybe someones house been broken into and the dog taken as well, but in the last few months particularly it seems to be happening all the time, and they way it's happening is very scary.

I heard of two incidents that happened today alone -  a woman was walking her dog (a saluki) on the beach in broad daylight and some men tried to put the dog in their car, right in front of the owner, and a little bichon was stolen from somebody's car. Last week two maltese puppies were stolen from a house (i think it happened during the day as well). A few weeks ago two lurchers were stolen from a boarding kennels, one has since been found but the other remains missing (https://www.facebook.com/HelpGetJodieHome), the list goes on and on.

 Only two weeks ago some men, while driving past where I work, spotted my friend who was outside with her dog (an Amstaff) on her lunch break, and drove in and started asking her all sorts of questions about him, there is no way they would have just been passing as we are in an industrial estate and they had to leave the main road and come out of their way to come in. A couple of weeks after we got Reggie myself and the OH were walking in our estate with all 3 dogs, and some workmen from one of the houses came out and started asking us how much we paid for him, and what kind of papers he has.

We no longer leave our dogs unattended in the garden (and have not done so for years) for this reason, we used kennels once last year but have not done since and will not be doing so again, but to think that now you can't walk your dogs without fear of them been taken from you or that you may have people following and targeting you is very scary.

Is this a problem in other countries as well? What do you do to keep your dogs safe? Do you feel that having a certain breed of dog makes you more of a target? Certainly a lot of the dogs stolen here seem to be either lurcher types (presumably to be used for coursing etc) and small dogs (to use as bait dogs possibly? ) I would also think that staffy's are the type of dog that may catch the attention of dog theives.

That is so horrible to hear, the worst feeling is having a pet stolen, years ago my Pomeranian was stolen right from our back yard in the middle of the day. We do have a lot of theft especially break ins, but I haven't heard of much dog theft. But we do take extra precautions around the house, ensuring all fencing is high, all side fences locked, would hate to think someone would take our Rocky!

This is quite a big problem here too. This must be the worst thing to happen, don't know what I would to anyone knowing they had stolen my pet, but it wouldn't be pretty.

It's a big problem her as well, I hear about it all the time, and it is mainly staffy's and other bully breeds that get taken for either breeding or dog fighting
I would be too worried to ever leave max in a garden unattended! I can't even leave her in the car for 5 min, stresses me out!

Its horrible to think what it would be like to come home and find your dog missing or have it taken straight from you by strangers, its so scary! I never leave my dog unattended in the garden even though its fully secure with high gates and fences, i never leave him in the car alone full stop. Since i heard 17 staff wenst missing in two weeks in my area ive stopped telling anyone any information about my pooch, ive even said to those that seem particually interested that he can be quite nasty becasue i dont want him getting a reputation of being over friendly. Im getting a new harness for him soon as well that doesnt state 'friendly' on it.