A new report has found that over 20,000 dogs have been stolen in the UK from families between 2014 and 2024.
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00:00Well, historically, dogs are being stolen because of the price that they're worth.
00:08So up until May last year, when the new Pet Theft Awareness came in, it became a criminal
00:14offence for stealing someone's dog.
00:16Obviously, with the new law in place since last year, if you steal someone's dog, it's
00:22a £5,000 fine, it's five years in prison, you know, so people have got a lot to lose
00:29now.
00:30And this is the first year, the last 12 months is actually the first year we've seen a small
00:34drop in stolen dog cases across the UK, however, we're still getting roughly five a day stolen.
00:41You might get a famous celebrity that buys a particular breed of dog, then everyone wants
00:45that breed of dog, then they become the fad, you know, they become the dogs that people
00:51regularly get, then they come on at slightly higher prices than usual.
00:56At the moment, it's the bulldog breed, so believe it or not, Excel Bullies are on the
01:01top ten list at the moment still, even though they've been banned, but the one at the top
01:06at the moment is probably the French Bulldog.
01:09The Met Police advise that if your dog's stolen, then you should contact the police and make
01:13a note of the crime reference number.
01:15Then it's advised you contact your local council to make them aware.
01:19Contact the Microchip database to update them, and then add your missing dog's information
01:25to websites for missing animals.
01:27It is rare to have your dog stolen across the UK, so I don't want to alarm people, however,
01:34when it does happen to you and it happens to your family, I was a victim of dog theft
01:37myself, and it just goes on for years and years and years, and the impact's absolutely
01:43devastating.
01:44You know, you've got children in the family sometimes that rely on a dog, they sleep with
01:49a dog, you know, they become their best friends, and you know, you've got people out there
01:54that perhaps can't have children, and your pets, and in this case, particular dogs, they
02:00become your children.
02:01But what I'd like to see from the government and the police forces is more action around
02:05dog theft.
02:06I fully understand that police forces are outstretched at the moment.
02:10When I first started over 20 years ago, some of the teams within the police force I used
02:15to work with were 30, 40 strong per office.
02:20Them same teams I'm working with now, there's only three officers.
02:23However, dog theft is a crime, and it's a crime on its own right now.