With Christmas within sights, it seems as though there is a van going around my town attempting to steal dogs

The post I’ve seen on Facebook says a white van followed a woman walking her dog then tried to unhook its lead when tied up outside the shop while the owner withdrew money less than 3m away. When questioned, the men claimed they wanted to play with him

How can we try to protect our dogs when out? I never personally leave my dogs unattended outside shops, I won’t even leave them in the car but I was once asked how much my boy was worth

tried to unhook its lead when tied up outside the shop
For starters NEVER do that!, regularly see 2 different ones fastened up in the front foyer of Sainsburys,

I do leave my dogs in the car due to the fact that they travel with me everywhere every day... and I worry. Our car has private windows everywhere in the back, but the dogs can be spotted from the front still. But then I also worry leaving them alone in the house, there is nothing of value to me inside except the dogs!

We have a camera at home to check on the dogs for the same reason, although he does bark at anyone who comes near the house so I hope if anyone did try he might scare them off!

Oh I make people come with me whenever I’m going away with the dogs and we take “shifts” of sitting with them when we need to go into services but that’s also partly because I don’t like going anywhere alone

Once read the majority of dog thefts happen with dogs left unattended in their garden.

These are the things I do (my dogs are large, standard poodles, but what some would term a "special colour" and are very striking looking).

Both dogs have "microchipped" and "chemically castrated" on their collar tags, even thoubh only one is amd only ver recently! Breeding is a big drive for theft so having "neutered" on the collar can help dissuade even when they aren't.

I stay aware of my surroundings and if I see a van pass more than once I walk with both dogs on my side away from the road and keep as far from the kerb as I can. I have taken pictures of vans who are passing often and slowly before and that puts drivers off too.

I don't leave them alone outside shops.

In the house I have always let them bark at people coming to the door (though I did also work hard to let them know the postie is a friend and that if I say off they need to shut up).

I have good home security.

Also my dogs are very distinctive looking and have their own Instagram account with followers in America and Europe so it would be a challenge to sell them without them being recognised at some point.

The majority of dogs stolen are young (under one), sexually intact and unattended in some way. Be it outside a shop, alone in a garden or car or miles from their owner in a park. Vigilance is usually sufficient to keep your dogs safe.

> when tied up outside the shop

How I hate to see this.  We never saw it back up East, but people do this ALL THE TIME down here in 'holiday country'.   So stupid.

If this is going on, theft from vans scouting neighbourhoods, I'll have to warn my husband again although he does carry a stick which I'd hope he'd use rather than let anybody snatch mine.   He will talk to everybody when out which always bothers me.   People will always talk to him when he's walking our Basset especially - not so much with our Whippet, bless her.

> Once read the majority of dog thefts happen with dogs left unattended in their garden.

Almost every case I read about is exactly this circumstance.

I don't worry too much in any situation but then I have guardy types, or individuals who are nervous of humans so wouldn't allow one to try anything without reacting.  Not good targets for theft, and none of them are of a desireable type anyway.  Also I walk 3-4 at once!

Any tips for breeders with puppies ?

A friend of a friend has just had an entire litter stolen, every one is assuming the thieves visited first pretending to be buyers.

Another friend even more cynical than me suggested they all died of natural causes but theft is covered by insurance. I said nonsense for that to work they would all need to be very ill, very quickly and no vet treatment sought.

Often when people share these incidents, they are unable to say exactly how the puppies were stolen, I presume this is because of ongoing investigations. But it would be so helpful to know how do litters get stolen - do thieves break in the house while owners are away? do breeders keep their litters in sheds/stables and thieves break in there while owners are in the house? stolen from garden while owners are inside?

In almost every case of stolen litters I've seen, just as with adult dogs, the litter has been outside - in a shed often, or in kennel and run.  Or in a few cases, yes, playing in the garden during the day unsupervised.  I dare say there are some cases that happen from within the house though and acting as an interested puppy buyer would make sense to scope the place out, see what the adult dog/s are like (i.e. would they raise the alarm) and so on.

There is always a possibility that people visiting to 'see the litter' could be casing the joint BUT our litters were always kept inside our house and I was there pretty much 24/7 when we were doing our occasional litters.

There are occasions when entire litters are stolen but one has to wonder where the litter is being housed and what SECURITY the breeder has.   Again I'd suggest good breeders have their litters indoors although perhaps not the bigger breeder?   To have an entire litter taken one wonders how far away from the breeder's house these puppies are!!   And again what security system, if any, they have.

I can only suggest being watchful and if a visitor doesn't seem 'right' be warned/alert.    And don't have litters outside and some distance away from the owner's house!!!

Most puppies of anything above toy size, need to be outside for space and exercise/habituation, for at least some time from a month old,

With my own pups they are not happy in their indoor quarters exclusively after 4 weeks of age.

So unless your garden is totally landlocked all round any outside time is a risk. 

Of course I live in a suburban house and pups are literally outside back door, and side gate padlocked, but I have nipped out to shops with pups outside, but generally poor dears are brought in if I am going out, where I used to be happy for them to stay out in the day in years gone by, though their outside puppy pen/shelter is not visible from the gate..

I agree, the older puppies required large space for running, so the security might be something to keep an eye on