Dog thefts

I thought you may be because a similar point could be made about the meat industry e.g. Do sheep care that their lambs are being sold on for slaughter? If there was no market for the animals they wouldn't be bred into existence in the first place, regardless of the feelings of the animal. In my experience dogs do pine for their pups for a few weeks.
 
SpeedFreak said:
I thought you may be because a similar point could be made about the meat industry e.g. Do sheep care that their lambs are being sold on for slaughter? If there was no market for the animals they wouldn't be bred into existence in the first place, regardless of the feelings of the animal. In my experience dogs do pine for their pups for a few weeks.
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i dont have any pets so im genuinely curious about this.
biggest difference is that people keep dogs as pets not sheep. so if dog is mans best friend and you sell on your best friends kids what happens? does the dog wake up one day wondering where its kids went? or does it just carry on as normal and forgets it ever had kids?
always wondered about this.
can others chime in on this who have sold their dogs pups and seen any behavior changes in them?
 
I have bred livestock guarding breeds for years and I have never seen much if any visible emotional upset if the pups are taken away after about 12 to 16 weeks, in fact some bitches seem relieved ;) Once the pups get to over 6 months or so they seem to become part of the pack and for sure a death or removal from mother can cause obvious distress for a while. The fathers seem oblivious and just carry on sniffing for another bitch on heat <LOL> Much the same as some human families...
 
Cyber-Mav said:
i dont have any pets so im genuinely curious about this.
biggest difference is that people keep dogs as pets not sheep. so if dog is mans best friend and you sell on your best friends kids what happens? does the dog wake up one day wondering where its kids went? or does it just carry on as normal and forgets it ever had kids?
always wondered about this.
can others chime in on this who have sold their dogs pups and seen any behavior changes in them?
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No idea, some dogs show some strong emotional disconnection with pups being taken away, so do some of the other litter.
 
wesimmo said:
I always remember doing genetics in GCSE biology, our teacher had a real bee in his bonnet about the way humans have selectively bred dogs to look 'desirable' while condemning them to a life of health problems.
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i remember a while back, think it might have been on here, seeing a bunch of comparisons between various dog breeds 100 years ago compared to today.

found it rather interesting that the pug basically had no wrinkles and frankly i think the older version was a much more visually appealing animal than today.

i mean breeders gave it a ton of health problems and made it look awful.

the other breeds were all similar although generally not as dramatic a change (German shepherds for example went from sleek to butch or bulldogs getting progressively wider)

wesimmo said:
If people weren't prepared to pay £1,000s for unhealthy dogs while healthy dogs were available for free then the thefts would pretty much go away.
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yeah, that's what i don't get, i can't see how a £1000 pure bred is going to be any better as a loving family companion than the mongrel.

unless it's just a fashion/status symbol? people buying expensive breeds just because they can?
 
I think people just like having choice and want to spend their money sometimes

We had dogs when I was at home, younger. Collie cross was the last, great family dog. Passed on a good few years back.

It was my Mums 65th last year and I gave her some money as a gift and she spent some of it on a Spaniel, she adores it (I told her to just do something she always wanted with it). So, even though it cost a lot it wasnt anything to do with it being pure bred as such, she just always wanted a Spaniel with the colours. It was something probably to do with my Dad, he always wanted one and passed away before having the chance.

So I think although for some there will be status symbol reasons, some people have other reasons

 
pinkpound said:
Prices of puppies has gone from £750 for a Cockapoo pre covid to £2500 in covid lockdown its same for most other breeds . Recently in the news a the traveler site was found to have 83 stolen dags
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Wait - people are paying two and a half grand for a mongrel? Jeez.
 
Axeboy said:
I think people just like having choice and want to spend their money sometimes

We had dogs when I was at home, younger. Collie cross was the last, great family dog. Passed on a good few years back.

It was my Mums 65th last year and I gave her some money as a gift and she spent some of it on a Spaniel, she adores it (I told her to just do something she always wanted with it). So, even though it cost a lot it wasnt anything to do with it being pure bred as such, she just always wanted a Spaniel with the colours. It was something probably to do with my Dad, he always wanted one and passed away before having the chance.

So I think although for some there will be status symbol reasons, some people have other reasons

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That's a lovely looking dog, hope he keeps your mum happy.
 
Delvis said:
Couldn't agree more.

British Bull Terrier
Pugs
German Shepard
Dachshund was bred I think to get another vertebrae at one point? (Maybe?)

Anyway, that's a different topic :p
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Add Chihuahua's to that list. What's left of their brain gets squished against the inside of their skull because they're so damn small.
 
I can see the talk has moved away from dog theft a bit, but as a recent new dog owner it's something which is on my mind when I'm out and about. Always wanted a dog (family had them growing up) and lockdown enabled us to save save get our own place which was the requirement before getting a dog.

We wanted to rescue if we could but as others have said, if you're honest with rescue centers in the UK and say it's your first dog together they don't want to know about you regardless of your background. We don't have kids but even still there was nowhere willing to take us seriously. Fair enough wanting to find the right home but it does make it tough for those who have experience and know what's in store but it's their first time as named owners.

Couple that with the current demand and we ended up adopting from abroad. Cost for the foreign vet, some extra emergency vet bills and longer kennels while Brexit delayed transport and it was more than adopting in the UK, but still less than buying from a breeder in the UK outright. And hey, she's got a pet passport already if we're ever allowed to go abroad again!

Our little girl looks like a Collie/Lab mix as far as we can tell and we get so many people interested in her out and about that it does concern me that she'd be a target for the current spate of thieves. Not valuable as a pure breed but unique and well loved. As she's shy anyway I'm very aware of other people nearby as it is, and will avoid too many people if I can.

I hate how this kind of thing turns you against people out and about though. Not a kidnapping but just last week I had a seemingly nice old lady walk up to me and offer me a chew in the street and I had to say I'm sorry but no thank you. You just can't tell peoples intentions and something about the interaction felt weird (she didn't have a dog with her for starters). I'd rather snub someone in the street apologetically than give my dog something that causes problems. 99.9% sure she had good intentions but I couldn't live with myself if it was the one crazy person with a vendetta.
 
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