{"id":5605,"date":"2012-03-19T19:05:13","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T18:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/?p=5605"},"modified":"2013-05-05T21:44:43","modified_gmt":"2013-05-05T20:44:43","slug":"a-warning-from-the-echo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/a-warning-from-the-echo\/","title":{"rendered":"A warning from The Echo: DOGS STOLEN TO ORDER"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ARTICLE FROM THE ECHO:<\/span><\/h3>\n

http:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/9588833.Dogs_being_stolen_to_order\/?ref=mr<\/p>\n

\n

Pets being ‘dognapped’ to order across Hampshire<\/h3>\n

12:00pm Wednesday 14th March 2012 in News<\/a> Exclusive By Arron Hendy <\/p>\n

\"A<\/div>\n
A dog being taken for a walk<\/div>\n

WE\u2019VE all seen the missing dog posters and heard the rumours about pets being stolen to order.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the stories circulating \u2013 which some say are urban myths \u2013 about thieves targeting pedigree dogs and stealing them from owners\u2019 homes or kennels.<\/p>\n

Some, it is said, are even taken while they are out being walked.<\/p>\n

But while distraught owners spread the word that their beloved pet has been taken away in the back of a car, it\u2019s easier to believe they must simply have run away.<\/p>\n

However, today the Daily Echo can reveal that many of the claims are true.<\/p>\n

Dog thieves are targeting high-value breeds in the Southampton<\/a> and New Forest areas and owners have been left heartbroken at losing their animals.<\/p>\n

Dog rescue groups are warning that the expensive pets are being taken for breeding, hunting and to be sold on, while some say they are even used for fighting.<\/p>\n

The volunteers fear the problem is going unreported and unpunished as owners cannot always prove the dogs have been stolen.<\/p>\n

But after pets have been suspiciously \u201cfound\u201d and reunited with their owners in return for a reward, owners are being warned to be vigilant.<\/p>\n

We can reveal:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Breeders are warning each other to be wary of fake buyers who often visit to check where valuable dogs can be stolen from.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Out of nine dogs reported lost in the Southampton and the New Forest areas during a three-month spell, six of them were said to have been taken away in the back of cars.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In one recent case two terriers and a lurcher were stolen from the Hampshire Hunt kennels in Ropley, near Winchester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Most Wanted<\/p>\n

Dog breeds most frequently reported stolen include:
\nchihuahua,
\nYorkshire terrier,
\nLabrador and
\nretriever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Emmy Watt, honorary secretary at the Hampshire Hunt, said they are contacted by owners when their dogs are taken.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThere\u2019s been a number of dogs stolen over the last couple of years where the owners ask the rest of the hunt to look out for them and I know someone who had their dog stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese latest dogs were at the hunt kennels in a locked enclosure and it\u2019s desperately upsetting for the owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another case a lurcher owner reported their pet going missing on a walk between Burley and Bransgore in the New Forest.<\/p>\n

The owner was reunited with his pet when a man in Southampton phoned the number on the collar two days later and the pet owner remained sceptical about to how the dog had ended up in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen owners get a call from somebody saying they\u2019ve found their dog they often know that\u2019s the people who stole the dog but it\u2019s your word against theirs and there\u2019s no way of proving it,\u201d<\/p>\n

said a spokesman from Doglost.co.uk, a website set up to trace missing dogs.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThere is a problem with dog theft and we know there are people in Southampton involved. People can be in their home and have their dog stolen from inside their house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma Baker, from Totton<\/a>, breeds chihuahuas as a hobby and sells puppies for more than \u00a3500.<\/p>\n

She has been warned by fellow breeders to be wary of thieves posing as customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have people who once came around and they didn\u2019t add up. They asked too many questions asking how many chihuahuas I had and where I kept them. It makes you cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

‘Dog theft is rife’<\/p>\n

DOG rescue groups are urging owners to have their dogs microchipped to make it more difficult for thieves to sell their dogs.<\/p>\n

Carol Bolton has run the Warren Avenue kennels in Southampton for 20 years and has reunited dogs with owners up to four years after they were stolen \u2013 and all because the animal was microchipped.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThere\u2019s bound to be an element of dog theft going on and we\u2019ve had dogs here which we found out were stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know they were stolen until we checked the microchip and contacted the owners. They\u2019ve said to us \u2018Oh my god, we had the dog pinched four years ago\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s no doubt dog theft does definitely go on. The crucial thing with microchipping is to keep your details up to date so that you can be contacted at the right address and on the right phone number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denise Boardman founded Dogwatch UK when she had her English setter stolen in 2004 and said the breeds most commonly targeted are Yorkshire terriers, chihuahuas, Labradors and retrievers.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cPeople will target dogs and they can be stolen to order and a lot are stolen down on the south coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can be sold on for \u00a31,000 so having them stolen is a general problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Nawrockyi founded Dog Theft Action when her dog was stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cDog theft is absolutely rife,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really don\u2019t expect it and when it happens to you it\u2019s such a shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Nawrockyi said there are three types of theft: organised thieves who know what they want and how much money they can make, opportunist thieves who prey on dogs left outside shops, and spiteful thieves who take dogs to upset the owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute nightmare,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: http:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/9588833.Dogs_being_stolen_to_order\/?ref=mr<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ARTICLE FROM THE ECHO: http:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/9588833.Dogs_being_stolen_to_order\/?ref=mr Pets being ‘dognapped’ to order across Hampshire 12:00pm Wednesday 14th March 2012 in News Exclusive By Arron Hendy A dog being taken for a walk WE\u2019VE all seen the missing dog posters and heard the rumours about pets being stolen to order. Then there\u2019s the stories … Continue reading “A warning from The Echo: DOGS STOLEN TO ORDER”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sithean.com\/dawgdogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}