Dog Theft

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

To think 10 years ago I left my keys in the ignition and slept with my doors unlocked.  Well, not anymore.  

I dont think I was alone with those practices and most of us have had to change.  But have we changed the ways we look at dog safety?  

Pet theft is on the rise. According to the AKC, in 2013, the AKC tracked more than 590 pet thefts from news and customer reports, a 31% increase over 2012.

 

These thefts ranged from puppies being stolen from pet stores to purebred pets being snatched from cars, shelters, and their own back yards.

 

There are a number of reasons why dog napping is increasing and most of it has to do with money.  Stolen dogs are often sold for nefarious purposes and while ALL dog owners should be careful, the following dogs are stolen most often:

 

http://www.dogtube.us/10-dog-breeds-most-likely-to-be-stolen/#.VF5z...

 

10 DOG BREEDS MOST LIKELY TO BE STOLEN

1. Yorkshire Terrier

 

2. Pomeranian

 

3. Maltese

 

4. Boston Terrier

 

5. French Bulldog

 

6. Chihuahua

 

7. Labradoodle

 

8. Pitbull

 

9. German Shepherd

 

     10. Labrador Retriever

 

The most common reason dogs are stolen are:

 

Pure bred dogs are stolen as their street value that can fetch thousands of dollars with little effort from or expense by thief. 

 

Stolen purebred dogs, especially toys, puppies, and designer breeds such as Labradoodles, are sold for half the asking price of a dog from a legitimate breeder.

 

Dogs that are not spayed or neutered may be sold and shipped to puppy mills or used for breeding.

Thieves steal animals and then collect the reward money.

 

Stolen pets are used "bait dogs" to train fighting dogs.  Most commonly, German Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers and American Pit Bull Terriers.

Thieves sell stolen and lost animals for research facilities that use dogs for testing and experimentation. These people also acquire their animals through flea markets, newspaper ads, and respond to ads for free pets.

 

©Dogtube.US

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I can't even imagine it.  That would be so devastating.   I take some comfort knowing that Murphy would probably never let the robber close enough to capture him.  Even when I leave the boys in the car to run into the store (not in overly hot or cold weather), I know that if anyone even approached the car Murph would go into his attack state....he barks, lunges at the window, and bares teeth.  I think that would be enough to convince the robber to move on.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

It is good that Murphy would be on alert and probably deter a thief. I would hope my Murphy would do the same. I will have to watch them from afar the next time I park somewhere and they stay in the car. They both go crazy when they see us approach the car but in a happy way.

Would be reassuring to know that they would protect themselves that way.  That and just undoing their harnesses would take the person getting their face well into the back seat and in between them both.  I can't see anyone that brave with 120 pds of dogs barking and growling at you! 

The back yard is surrounded by 8 ft block walls and two large RV fences that are usually unlocked,  however, like your murphy, ours bark like crazy if they hear those gates even rattle.  And we are always home if they are outside so we'd hear it all as well. But it still scares me to think of someone taking them.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It's the first time I've though about it being a "good thing" that Murph is a "guard dog". 

[Emily, Bentley, & Maserati]

I would be so heartbroken. I hate that it is so prevalent and rising. 

We have a few friends who tease us about being such control freaks about our dogs whereabouts but I don't trust people where my dogs are concerned. 

[Jen, Buddy, & Kevin]

Thanks for posting this! It's so scary and it happens all the time. I used to take Buddy every where (weather permitting) and leave him in the locked car. And then we moved to the Bay Area where dogs are snatched from cars all the time, so I stopped. And there's no way I'd ever tie the boys up outside a store or restaurant while I went in without them. They stay with us at all times out in public, otherwise they stay home.

I actually had an up close and personal experience with a dog-napper a couple weeks ago. On our usual morning walk, there was a guy driving around the cemetery with a dog who was stopped on one of roads as we were walking past. The dog didn't have a leash or a collar and he started telling me how Zeus was a rescue that he just got, but he thought the dog might be irritated by the microchip in his back and asked if it was possible if the owners were calling him through the chip. Yeah, I can't make that nonsense up. Lol.

Then he told me what a good eater Zeus was and how he loved the canned corn beef he was being fed. I'm looking at this guy thinking - no leash, no collar, no food, and the "rescue" didn't even change the info on the chip or at least tell him how they worked. So, I advised him to take the dog to a vet or rescue place and have them scan the chip so he change the info no problem, but I'm thinking that when his info doesn't match the chips info maybe they'll confiscate Zeus and he'll be safe. And when I told him to make sure Zues was on a leash bc we have a lot coyotes, the guy said something like "oh, that'd be cool if they snatched him."

So I go home with the boys and the guy leaves the cemetery and all I can think about is this little dog that I'm guessing is stolen. I told Dh that I was betting the guy was gonna go back to the cemetery and try to dump little Zeus in the afternoon. DH told me to stay out of it. Fair enough.

The next morning I asked the guys that work at the cemetery if they saw the guy again and sure enough I was right! The guy came back in the afternoon and it seemed like he was gonna leave Zeus behind and the workers were gently confronting him and Zeus jumped in one of the guys trucks and wouldn't come out. (The guy also dumped a bunch of stuff from inside the car, so the assumption is he stole the car and got a dog out of his crime)

So now Zeus lives with one of ladies that works in the office bc all of his microchip info was out of date and the owners still haven't flagged his chip as lost so they can get him back.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Unreal story!   Crazy.   The world has gone mad

[Lynda Kamrath]

Definitely an unreal story!  But it is funny that he (the dog snatcher) thought the owners might contact him through the chip.  Sounds like he did his own "rescue".  Also funny that the dog knew to get out of the car the first chance he got and get into another "safe" vehicle.  But at least he did have a microchip, that is a start at least.  Maybe some photos or lost dog advertisements, but that guy who thought he had rescued the dog might just respond to those also.  Anybody think to get the license plate from the car?

[Jen, Buddy, & Kevin]

I truly believe Zeus knew he was with a bad guy - when they were driving around zeus was barking like crazy, so when he came running over to us my first instinct was that he was attacking. Hindsight tells me that he was crying for help.

The microchip had his home as Costa Mesa (which the guy told me) but since the owners phone number was disconnected, the address was out of date, and they did not respond when the gals looking for owners flagged the chip, Zeus is living with a family that is loving him obsessively and will keep him forever. He was really sweet but DH would have seriously mad at me if I was the one who ended up with Zeus bc we would've ended up with a third dog.

As for the license plate, all I know is that the guys from the cemetery called the police and made a report but I don't know know if they got the number. It sounded like they were all more concerned about the dog.

And as for the microchip being able to receive phone calls that would be making the dog scratch his back - well, we are still laughing about that one. ;-)