By sticking together and supporting each other, owners can help in the battle against heartless dog thieves. Julie Hill reports.

Many dogs are stolen from cars.

TOP TIPS!

● Avoid leaving your dog in a vehicle — but don’t victim shame.

● Support dog theft petitions.

DOG THEFT UPDATE

While dog theft is devastating, it is still relatively uncommon.

In 2020 — when the pandemic saw a surge in demand for dogs — there were approximately 2,000 incidents of dog theft reported to police forces across the UK, which equates to around five dogs per day.

Statistics gathered by The Kennel Club through Freedom of Information requests, using figures from 36 UK police forces, show that was a seven per cent increase on 2019.

Arriving at any definitive statistics is challenging, as no national tally is kept, but mainstream media outlets latched on to dog theft during the pandemic, and momentum grew around the issue, giving it a high profile. With more cases hitting the headlines, awareness of dog theft has certainly increased, and that will hopefully put owners on their guard, and keep dogs safe. For example, Dogs Trust’s theft prevention page had 780 per cent more visits in 2021 than it did in 2020.

While the national situation remains vague, some facts emerge from comparing different regions.

The police force with the highest number of reported dog thefts is the Metropolitan Police, followed by West Yorkshire, Kent, Lancashire, and Northumbria.

DogLost, as a national organisation, had 10,649 lost and stolen dogs registered with them in 2020, and saw a drop to 8,874 in 2021; so far in 2022, at the time of going to press, 2,209 dogs have been registered.

Dog theft is a danger, and the degree of danger can vary depending on your postcode, and the breed, age, and size of your dog. Younger dogs, and smaller, more portable dogs are easier to steal and sell on.