Re: Dog thefts Most dogs stolen are Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and they are stolen in London. 11% of dogs that are stolen are gundogs.
Re: Dog thefts Totally anecdotal but I did think that stolen gundogs sometimes got shipped to Ireland. I'm not so sure that's true now with the economic challenges in Ireland seeming to put quite a lot of dogs into rescue..... It's just heartbreaking
Re: Dog thefts How much is a trained gundog? I would imagine a fully trained gundog would be quite expensive. I paid £600 for her 14 months ago, but that was just the down payment. It has been a lot work and quite a lot of expenditure to get her to where she is today, and I am only requiring her to be my companion. So I would imagine a fully trained gun dog would be worth several thousand pounds, so suddenly I can see that I am walking a valuable asset. Changes how you view things
Re: Dog thefts [quote author=Mollly link=topic=9432.msg135879#msg135879 date=1420808609] How much is a trained gundog? I would imagine a fully trained gundog would be quite expensive. I paid £600 for her 14 months ago, but that was just the down payment. It has been a lot work and quite a lot of expenditure to get her to where she is today, and I am only requiring her to be my companion. So I would imagine a fully trained gun dog would be worth several thousand pounds, so suddenly I can see that I am walking a valuable asset. Changes how you view things [/quote] Someone at a shoot was interested in our pups' dad and offered £7.5k for him. It seems like a lot of money for a dog to me (however lovely he is), but when you consider the amount of time spent training to a high level and all the costs associated with raising him, I suppose it's not so extravagant.
Re: Dog thefts Hah - thankfully no-one observing my hooligan would mistake him for a dog with thousands of pounds worth of training! ;D ;D ;D
Re: Dog thefts [quote author=JulieT link=topic=9432.msg135900#msg135900 date=1420814126] Hah - thankfully no-one observing my hooligan would mistake him for a dog with thousands of pounds worth of training! ;D ;D ;D [/quote] Or mine! ;D ;D ;D
Re: Dog thefts [quote author=bbrown link=topic=9432.msg135671#msg135671 date=1420711275] If anyone ever asks about my dogs I always play down their value. [/quote] We do have dog thefts here and then they turn in the horrible,horrible pet souk in the next emirate... A strange guy loitering around in our neighbourhood followed me from my friends once.He shouted across the road 'what is he?' So I shouted back 'why?' The reply was ' what happened to his tail?' My reply was ' he has a disease'.....I walked down the street past my house to security and reported him....but I never heard anything else.....and I think he lost interest in my poor diseased boy
Re: Dog thefts There are reports of dog theft here, too, usually from rural farms or acreages where the dogs have been left outside, alone while owners are not home. The thought is that they are taken for fighting, but I don't know that anyone knows for sure. I've never heard of a dog being stolen by someone else while the owner is out walking them!! Whenever I get the chance to go to a non-urban walk spot, I am alone 99% of the time. The % is when hubby can come or when I meet someone else on the trails where I usually walk, which are just on the outskirts of my town. My bigger concern is with wildlife, as someone else said. It's pretty unlikely that I will come across a cougar or wolf, but both have been spotted on the trails. Slightly more likely to encounter a black bear, and more likely again to see a moose and a thousand times more likely than that to see deer. Thankfully the chances of running into a grizzly are pretty much slim and none..... Lots of coyotes around too, but I'm not too worried about them. Simba's big enough that I don't think they would go after him.
Re: Dog thefts Goodness Lisa....just the thought however slim that there are grizzlys in the area is a shudder..... Stealing dogs for fighting is somewhere my head can't go....it's so dreadful :'(
Re: Dog thefts Obviously the prevalence of this is greater in the UK than it is here (Aust.) but it's still a low risk, when you look at thefts as a percentage of the number of dogs in the UK. Keeping your dog inside and in sight on walks would pretty much eliminate the risk I'd think. I know the risk is not zero, but it's not the case that people on every corner are poised to steal our dogs and, if sensible precautions are taken, I don't think it's something people should live in fear of. It's like driving a car. There is always a small risk of an accident. But the thing to do is drive carefully and wear your seatbelt, not become afraid to get in the car...
Re: Dog thefts [quote author=Lisa link=topic=9432.msg136131#msg136131 date=1420904403] There are reports of dog theft here, too, usually from rural farms or acreages where the dogs have been left outside, alone while owners are not home. The thought is that they are taken for fighting, but I don't know that anyone knows for sure. I've never heard of a dog being stolen by someone else while the owner is out walking them!! Whenever I get the chance to go to a non-urban walk spot, I am alone 99% of the time. The % is when hubby can come or when I meet someone else on the trails where I usually walk, which are just on the outskirts of my town. My bigger concern is with wildlife, as someone else said. It's pretty unlikely that I will come across a cougar or wolf, but both have been spotted on the trails. Slightly more likely to encounter a black bear, and more likely again to see a moose and a thousand times more likely than that to see deer. Thankfully the chances of running into a grizzly are pretty much slim and none..... Lots of coyotes around too, but I'm not too worried about them. Simba's big enough that I don't think they would go after him. [/quote] We also have very diverse wildlife here. We run the risk of running into whole group* of marmots! I just looked it up and the collective noun for marmots is "a madness". Heh.
Re: Dog thefts A madness of marmots - love it! They are cute little creatures - what do the pups make of them? I guess they probably don't get the chance to get that close
Re: Dog thefts [quote author=Kirriegirl link=topic=9432.msg136164#msg136164 date=1420909220] A madness of marmots - love it! They are cute little creatures - what do the pups make of them? I guess they probably don't get the chance to get that close [/quote] To be honest, they haven't met them yet - they're all hibernating, so we won't see any until next summer. There are a LOT here, but they're pretty good at going into their holes when anyone approaches. I love them, they are so cute. And surprisingly large!
Re: Dog thefts [quote author=Karen link=topic=9432.msg136240#msg136240 date=1420934306] Marmots - are those Murmeltiere? [/quote] Yes
Re: Dog thefts I think they are about 45-50cm long Rachael. Not seen one in a while as I haven't been in the Alps in summer for a few years and we don't have them in Scotland
