http://www.dogwatchalert.com/

Dog Watch and Thames Valley Police have launched a new web site. Just thought you would all like to know.

That is an excellent site Polly, very clear information on what to do should the unthinkable happen.   Wonder if something similar will be rolled out across country by different Police areas.

Thanks just bookmarked and joined the list as this covers my local area.

> That is an excellent site Polly, very clear information on what to do should the unthinkable happen.   Wonder if something similar will be rolled out across country by different Police areas.

Dog Theft Action have been trying to get this rolled out across the country. It is run as part of Country Watch and Horse Watch which most areas already have.

It was started because in the Thames Valley area there were so many game keepers and working dog owners who were having their dogs stolen. When Michael Colstons gamekeeper had his spaniels stolen he organised a meeting between the local police, Boris Johnson and Richard Benyon mp. At first the police refused to believe it was dog theft, they said it was dogs straying but then all the owners told them about their dogs going missing.

Since then the police have found that dog theft is often linked to other types of rural crime and it has helped them with both types of crime.

You might find that pressure might have to be applied to your local police chief to get this in your area, and ultimately right across the UK. It is worth following up because as soon as a dog is reported missing the information is sent by text to members registered by mobile and email, the same goes out to dog wardens, vets and police. We have had a lot of luck getting dogs back too. We now have folk from outside the Thames Valley area reporting dogs to us so that if a strange dog turns up we can perhaps reunite it with it's owners.

South of Oxford there is a village which had a load of dogs abandoned that went straight out on Dog Watch too, that was sent in via the dog wardens. If members see or hear anything susp[icious they are also asked to inform Dog Watch asap. So when a suspicious van with dodgy looking characters is around then it gets back to Dog Watch and the police. As with all these things it is a two way street, you need eyes and ears of members keeping watch and reporting anything and then information being circulated.

Do not know Polly if in our part of the country have many dogs stolen, possibly we will in the future, we are usually just a little behind the home counties.  When one of my puppy people come to visit with their boy I will enquire, as hubby is a local PC

They get supported by the local paper Henley Standard when they report on news stories.
Who reported on the spaniel that was stolen and then did a follow up when it was found.

One of the gamekeepers affected by theft of his dogs is only a 5 min drive from the village
where my Dad lives.

I know my vets also report back to Dog Watch too.

> Do not know Polly if in our part of the country have many dogs stolen, possibly we will in the future, we are usually just a little behind the home counties.

Dog Watch also reports to all members on dogs found, and I do wonder if some of the dogs found come from other areas. One example being a border terrier found wandering locally. The abandoned dogs mentioned in my previous post were it is thought abandoned by the travelling community and included quite a few pedigree dogs.

When a flatcoat went missing recently in Wiltshire it was put on our Dog Watch in case it turned up in our area. A flatcoat bitch and it's companion a CKCS were stolen and were spotted a few times in the area but never found, it isbelieved that they had subsequently been moved right out of the Thames Valley Police area. If other areas had the same type of Country Watch, Horse Watch and Dog Watch we might have managed to find the thieves.

If this was nationwide and linked as a resource for all police forces, Country Watch schemes vets and dog wardens it would be useful as members of the public could do much more to stop dog theft and rural crime generally.

Kent police regard stolen dogs as serious and are very active in helping with their return. DogLost featured them on their home page for a long while and have worked successfully with them to recover several stolen dogs.

It would be good to get all these police regions to co-operate insolving dog thefts.