10 pieces of advice to keep your dog from being stolen

Written and verified by the lawyer Francisco María García

Last update: 22 December, 2022

Unfortunately, dogs are being stolen. Recently it’s been found that there are gangs specializing in stealing dogs, especially breeds that are popular and in high demand, ones that will be easy to sell. There are also cases of pet kidnapping. So if you want to keep your dog safe from be stolen, follow these tips.

After taking them, kidnappers see the owners putting up posters to find them and then take the opportunity to demand large sums of money before giving the dog back.

Advice to keep your dog from being stolen

In the face of this current surge of dog theft, it’s important to take precautionary measures. We’ll list some below:

• If your dog is in the backyard, make sure there’s no crack where he could escape. If there is a fence that leads outside, make sure he can’t get through the bars or slats.
• It’s great to train your dog to be wary of strangers. This way he won’t be taken by bribes of treats or toys. There are trainers specialized in this type of training.
• An I.D. tag is very useful if your dog gets lost. The same goes if they are taken and manage to escape from the thieves.
• Never let your furry friend outside alone, even if he doesn’t take long and knows the way well. It’s very important that someone goes with him.
• A leash can help a lot. There’s no need to take your our dog on a walk without a leash, especially in quiet areas at night.

Be careful and keep your dog safe

• Careful with the bad habit of leaving your dog inside the car alone. It doesn’t matter if you’re just quickly buying something at the store or checking something out. Criminals take advantage of that little period of time to steal your dog.
• Safety must be for both the pet and the owners. It’s best to avoid dark alleys and any area that looks suspicious. Although you may believe you have all the protection in the world with your mastiff, that’s not always true.
• It’s not just pure breeds that attract criminals, but also mixed breeds.
• If you have the option,  implant a microchip with GPS in your pet. With this gadget you can track his location if he gets lost or stolen.
• Finally, don’t trust any stranger to accompany your dog alone.

The microchip, high-tech tool to find our pets

Implantation of microchips is done subcutaneously, underneath the skin of the dog. So, whoever finds a lost dog can read the information with a device like a bar code reader. This system allows the pet’s owner to be identified more easily.

For lost or abandoned animals, microchips are helpful for finding the owners and getting the pet back home. Unfortunately some thieves have the ability disable the microchip so the owners can’t find their dog.

If you’re in Europe, there’s also an information hub: Europetnet. This initiative consists of a group of associations that share the identification records of all animals with a microchip. Here all of the data is centralized.

If your animal is lost in some country in the European Union, you can enter the microchip number on Europetnet’s website. It will give you a list of entities where the pet has been since he’s been lost.

Finally, in Spain there is something called the Spanish Network for the Identification of Companion Animals. It’s a file with the microchip codes of all of the Spanish autonomous communities. This file helps owners find their dog that may have been lost in a different region than home.