just wanted to warn other people to be on their guard, our local paper reported that in the coventry area 9 staffies have been stolen from their gardens in the past 3 weeks. Dog warden said they were a mix of female and male so she thinks they are being stolen to order.

That's weird I was just about to post that :) I'm in B'ham and work in coventry and popped into the RSPCA centre Monday to pass on some info to them and they told me then there were 6 advertised as missing on there notice board alone.

If you recall the same thing happened in B'ham earlier this year about 11-12 were stolen form gardens in a four week period I assume when word gets out they move on!!!!

Karen

i must admit was at work today and i saw 2 dog warden van out and about today which i thought was unusual because you usually dont see any. where do you work in coventry.are you one of those poor souls that get stuck in traffic on Holyhead Road are you?

You know something, i was also going to post a similar post. I was out walking charlie a few days ago and a woman stopped me and said hers had been taken, she was so upset. I could only say how sorry i was. Also while my bf was walking charlie yesterday someone in a car stopped and asked how old he (charlie) was... My bf replied he's 10 (he's not, hes 9) and he drove off. Tonight the same man slowed down while we were both out walking charlie. We were about to turn up our path but my bf said just carry on walking coz that way he wont know where we live. My bf thought charlie might be stolen from inside the house while we were out or something....

Donna and a very closely guarded charliex

i think its quite scary to think you cant let people see you go into your own house in case your dog gets stolen. My husband and myself are the only ones who take jakey out for a walk, and we take him to work with us. He loves the attention he gets from the customers(and the chews)

Let me suggest that you take the reg.no. of the van when you next see it. Contact your local newspaper asking them to warn pet owners. We had front page coverage when all the Labradors went missing in this area.. Please urge owners to have their dogs and bitches neutered and speyed . This is one less reason for a theft then.

That may protect the males if breeding is the reason they are stolen, but you cannot tell for sure until a bitch has failed to come in season for a year or more that she is probably spayed.

I engraved the back of Heidi's indentichip disc "This bitch has been spayed" and on the back of her identi disc "Contact a vet if found" Hopefully they'll take her to a vet if found and she'll be scanned, or they'll just leave her alone if they think she needs medication.

Robert

Perhaps I shouldn't have said any thing?

Hi all,

I wonder if 'staffies' are still stolen to use as fighting dogs?
I know for a fact charlie could not hold his own if this was the case.
Im going to walk charlie later and if i see the car again i will get the reg number. Dont know what the police would say with a case like this as nothing can be proven at this stage. Scary thought though.... Id be devestated if charlie got stolen.
Robert... good idea... im going to get charlies identichip tag engraved with something like.... "Im ill take me back home" Not that, that would faze the theives.
Donna and charliex

Do be careful everyone - it is not unknown for dog thieves to actually grab a dog on lead from its owner :(. It happened down here last year with an elderly lady and her GSd who was stolen from her, also a friend who is a vet was walking her lurcher in the Forest and 2 lads came up and tried to claim he was theirs. Luckily she was very strong minded and told them in no uncertain terms he was hers, and they werentl willing to pursue her, but it could have ended up much worse. So please everyone be careful.....sorry not trying to scare anyone :(

Lindsay

up north dog fighting is becoming a problem chances are they were stolen to train fighting dogs if not fought head on with them for money