Hit cruel pet thieves with much tougher sentences

IT’S a pretty easy mistake to make.

I was cutting the grass round the back of the house, while the beloved dog lay blissfully in the sun at the front door.

We are pretty isolated, so it is not as strange as it sounds.

She would rather be involved in some way than cooped up inside, so we have developed a routine where she “kennels up” on a thick piece of vetbed and I do what I have to do.

She knows that I will return pretty soon and she will be rewarded for her steadiness.

I was happily cutting away, thinking about nothing except the sound of the motor and what my next article should be about.

However, I saw it out the corner of my eye – a nondescript white van heading away down my drive, at speed, the dust billowing up behind.

My heart leapt. I stopped the mower and ran. Dog thefts are heart-breaking. For most, it is the loss of part of the family.

It leaves an aching feeling that lingers forever and the constant thought about what has become of them.

And thefts are on the increase. The soaring cost of puppies has fuelled the unscrupulous who have no conscience and no thought for others.

Dogs are stolen from kennels, from vehicles, from shop doorways and are even snatched off the street.

They are taken from children, prised from adults and tricked away from the unwary.

White vans stickered with “SSPCA” or “RSPCA” pull up and demand you hand over your pet, as it “looks like one that has been stolen”.

Currently, offenders are penalised to the same extent as if they had stolen a bike or your sofa.

Surely it is time for pet abductors to receive stricter sentences?

In England, there are plans for pet thieves to be prosecuted under a new law, which should see them going to jail – a better deterrent by far – but the legislation would not apply in Scotland, leaving our judicial system lagging behind. Again.

In the meantime, be alert! Make sure that your dog is micro-chipped and that you have good quality photographs to distribute on social media if the worst were to happen.

Do not tie dogs up outside shops, be wary of overfriendly or inquisitive strangers and consider the security of vehicles, your home and kennels.

As for my dog? When I bolted back round the side of the house, she was still lying exactly where I left her, tail wagging languidly and a newly delivered parcel at her side. Never again!