Please be more aware than ever about people going around stealing dogs. At this time of year everyone needs money for Christmas but the majority of us do not cause misery to animals and other people to get it. However, there are some who do not care and will steal anything to make themselves some money. As you can read below, some dogs are lucky and are reunited with their owners but the majority are not. So please do not leave your dogs outside if you are not in the house or if you are at home, you need to be able to see them at all times. Please don’t think it will never happen to you – that is what everyone thinks. Be very suspicious of strange cars and vans in your area. Also be careful of sending children out to walk your dogs. These evil people will take what they want. They have no regard for law abiding people.
On Friday evening we received a call from a very concerned lady. She had been driving down the Mountmellick Rd and noticed the car in front of her was driving erratically. She slowed down and before she could grasp what was happening a white bundle flew out the car door. She immediately stopped to see what it was and there was this little boy staring at her, shaking like crazy. She managed to get him and put him straight in her car. When he came into our care he was still in shock, but it wasn’t long before he started to settle down. He was scanned straight away to see if he was microchipped, and unfortunately he was not. On Monday morning one of our volunteers noticed a missing dog appear on their news feed from Ahar, they contacted the details straight away and we had found the owner. This dog was rescued in Portlaoise, but he came from Urlingford. Our volunteer drove him straight to the owners and was delighted to be part of the reunion between owner and pet. This little boy had been STOLEN and for some reason they didn’t want him anymore and just threw him away. People assume it is just pedigree dogs, hard to come by breeds that are stolen. That is not true. These scum of the earth will take any dog they can get their hands on. The importance of having your pet microchipped and wearing a collar and tag is visible in this case. Had he been chipped or had a name tag, these owners would not of spent a heart wrenching weekend looking for their beloved pet. There are so many dogs out there that have gone missing, which may have also landed up being dumped anywhere around the country and never find their families as they have no chips or collars and tags on them. This is a happy outcome for this family, but there are hundreds of people out there still looking for their beloved pets. Please microchip your dogs so you don’t land up with heartache!!