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Pet theft seems to be on the rise

By Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon

published 10/26/2009 | View all articles from this day

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Is dog-napping on the rise? The American Kennel Club has kept informal tabs on the stolen pet numbers and says pilfered pets aren’t uncommon. Last year there were media reports of at least 71 stolen dogs, with more than 100 thefts so far this year. Some states are considering legislation to strengthen penalties. Pets are stolen for many reasons, including keeping the pet as one’s own, resale or trying to get a ransom. One California woman paid $10,000 to have her dog returned after it was stolen from her parked car. Crimes that occurred just in one month over the summer included a puppy stolen from the lap of a 5-year-old in a public Idaho park, a 16-week-old boxer stolen from the owner’s yard in Oklahoma, and a Lhasa apso taken from a North Carolina backyard.

• Petting a dog or cat has been shown to significantly lower the stress hormone cortisol, making us feel more merry, say University of Missouri researchers.

• What is believed to be the world’s most expensive dog recently changed hands for $582,000. The Tibetan mastiff known as Yangtze River No. 2 was purchased by a millionaire identified only as Mrs. Wang of the Qinghai province of northwest China, where there are many residents of Tibetan descent. A motorcade of 30 luxury cars met the dog at the airport when he arrived. Mrs. Wang already owns a Tibetan mastiff and has plans to mate the dogs. A Florida family’s pet purchase seems a bargain by comparison: $155,000 for a Labrador named Lancelot Encore, which includes the cloning of the original Lancelot.