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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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Original poster

Your views on leaving dogs tied up outside shops

68 replies

Sunflower49 · 20/01/2014 14:04

Apologies if there's another recent thread on this, I couldn't find one.

I never nip into shops and leave the dog outside them tied up. I've had friends/family say I'm silly for this.

My reasonings are;
-She's a pedigree and I'm scared of her being stolen, DP and I would be both absolutely gutted!
-She's a lovely natured dog but, she's still a dog and if somebody hurt her or scared her, she might give a warning 'snap' that would be misconstrued.She's usually fine with strangers, but a friend of mine once tried to pick her up about 5 mins after meeting her and she growled at her (I did scold said friend and say that was a dumb thing to do with a large dog ,or any dog,anyway)!
-If other dogs approach her and attack her that could result in a fight.

DM thinks I'm neurotic and paranoid. Friends have said the dog stealing thing is daft as it rarely happens. I don't know, to be honest how common it is.
I would prefer it if I could leave her outside shops to be honest-it would mean I could walk more often than drive, incorporate walking her into daily errands, not have to leave her at home when I nip out places...
What are your thoughts on it , generally?

OP posts:

PeanutPatty · 20/01/2014 22:54

Hell no! Simply not worth the risk.

ExitPursuedTheRoyalPrude · 20/01/2014 22:59

This is making me so sad.

clam · 20/01/2014 23:02

Never, never, never. Too scared of him being stolen.

MissMilbanke · 20/01/2014 23:08

Good grief I leave my dig tied up outside shops almost every day for years and never given it a second thought.

I came on here to say you we're barmy op but you have opened my eyes to a whole new world .

I won't be doing it again.

curlew · 20/01/2014 23:12

"Good grief I leave my dig tied up outside shops almost every day for years and never given it a second thought.

I came on here to say you we're barmy op but you have opened my eyes to a whole new world .

I won't be doing it again."

Carry on unto giving it a second thought. Don't be scared by the catastrophisers.

VivaLeBeaver · 20/01/2014 23:12

I used to but don't these days. There have been a lot of dogs stolen from gardens round here.

Rumour has it they're been stolen for dog fighting. I laughed and said my little scrap of a thing wouldn't be a good fighter so they wouldn't want him. But apparently little dogs are what they want for bait.

curlew · 20/01/2014 23:15

Has anyone actually heard of a dog being stolen from outside a shop?

ButICantaloupe · 20/01/2014 23:18

I wouldn't do it. Not a chance.

My dog is very nervous so would be very panicked at being left alone.
She hasn't been spayed and is a pedigree.

The main reason,

Where I live a lot of small dogs have been stolen and used as bait in dog fighting.

I could never forgive myself. Ever.

ButICantaloupe · 20/01/2014 23:19

Yes, curlew. Two chihuahua's were stolen about 2 miles from where I live and they were in the owners car. They smashed the window and stole them.

OldBagWantsNewBag · 20/01/2014 23:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VivaLeBeaver · 21/01/2014 07:03

Not from outside a shop but a friend of mine had an attempted snatch on her dogs while she was with them. She has a secure field where she walks her two sighthounds. She was there with the dogs and a van stopped, two men opened the gate and they picked the dog up nearest to them. Friend was other side of the field running towards them, shouting. The dog thankfully wriggled like mad and squirmed out their arms. They ran back to the van empty handed.

I'm not making it up and I doubt my friend is. I think if someone does this then they'd take an unattended dog from a shop.

YourHandInMyHand · 21/01/2014 12:38

When I was a kid my mum left our dog outside the local newsagents while she popped in and a gang of teens set off fireworks at/near the dog. Thankfully she was uninjured but traumatised.

I'd never leave my dog outside anywhere for the same reasons as OP has listed. If I walk my son to school with the dog I time it so I can give him a kiss as the bell rings and send him in - I won't tie the dog up outside school as I've seen too many kids lunge at her to fuss her and she's a very anxious dog, if she was tied to a fence and couldn't get away when a child did that I think defensive instincts would kick in. I have also observed the other extreme, children cowering as they try to walk as far away as possible from a dog tied to a fence barking for it's owner to come back.

The risks of leaving your dog tied up far out way the benefits regardless of the odds IMO.

YourHandInMyHand · 21/01/2014 12:41

Lots of dogs stolen near me from outside shops or from gardens too. I never leave my GH unattended.

Tiredemma · 21/01/2014 12:47

Oldbag- taht is just fucking horrendous.

What the actual fuck is wrong with people

Scuttlebutter · 21/01/2014 13:57

Curlew, dog theft is a real and growing problem. A particularly popular variant is to ring the distraught owner and "request" financial compensation - usually the caller will claim they bought the dog in good faith from the mythical man in the pub.

Unspayed bitches (especially from small breeds like yorkies, westies, bichons etc) will end up being used as breeders. Small dogs in general often stolen for bait dogs.

Sighthounds v vulnerable to theft - this is why our car has no stickers etc on it. At Bath Cats and Dogs home, they actually tunnelled in through the roof to get at a group of sighthounds.

Others have already discussed the behavioural issues and the vulnerability of the dog to being poked/teased, fed by strangers (not good if they have a sensitive digestion) or worse, kicked/frightened.

There is no way that as a responsible owner, I would dream of leaving ours unattended. If that makes me a "catastrophiser", then I'm happy to wear the badge with pride.

This article discusses a recent Dog Theft Census. It makes sobering reading, particularly given that over half of stolen pets are never recovered.

A related problem is that many pets are still not chipped - this makes it even easier for thieves,and even if pets are chipped, not all vets automatically scan new patients. Bruce Forsyth's daughter has been campaigning on this issue for a number of years - it's called Vets Get Scanning and makes interesting reading.

Gileswithachainsaw · 21/01/2014 14:07

There have been a few "lost/missing" huskies round here

Original poster

Sunflower49 · 21/01/2014 16:11

Thanks all who've replied, I'm glad I started this thread now.
TiredEmma I wish I had one of those!
I usually do errands alone. I leave her in the car often apart from in summer (yeh right I mean if It's too warm!) ad she actually LOVES being in the car-so I can do that but I'm trying to stop driving so often to places I could walk to and it would be good if I could walk her at the same time.
Definitely not doing it now. And I'm showing DM/some friends this thread!
oldbag that's absolutely horrific, poor little thing :(
sleepingdragon I worry abot that too. She's not spent a lot of time around children, but I'll take her to my Sister's house and she's fine with her kids, and my friend has a 3 year old who visited recently and she was lovely with him, but a stranger's child, if she was anxious due to being left somewhere strange to her-cannot say I'd trust her 100% in that scenario.
Mitfitless MissMilbanke :)
nuttymuttie thank you-she is an unspayed 'alpha F' as well so even more so for concern.
Vivalebeaver I've heard of that happeening too. My dog once ran off whilst I was walking her, I was running around the fields really panicking, thinking about wtf to tell DP and then she turned up, covered in mud from having been in the river!
I'm going to have a read of that, scuttlebutter

OP posts:

MTBMummy · 21/01/2014 16:25

Hmmm - I was in the camp to say don't be daft we do it all the time, but you've given me pause for thought.

On the plus side DD (darling dog) is rather large, would lick anyone to death before snapping and about as far away from pure breed as you can get.

DP once went to tie him up outside a shop with DD's bike, he locked the bike but forgot to actually tie the dog up. 5 minutes later when he returns the dog was standing next to bike waiting as if he had been tied up.

Lovemyfamily · 21/01/2014 16:32

It really annoys me when people tie there dogs outside a shop,
My son was playing on his scooter whilst his uncle went in the shop whilst we were in haven holiday, he came off his scooter and my son said he had approached the dog but didn't touch the dog, he said hello and the dog launched at him and bit his stomach leaving his stomach all marked and his shirt torn, on the CCTV my son didn't approach nor touch nor was close enough but the lead was an extending one. They think he was in shock and in fright that he couldn't remember what had happened so that's why he had said he had approached the dog but the CCTV said different.
The guy was an older gentleman and when his uncle shouted at him to say what had happened the older guy had disappeared?
Knowing what his dog had done and didn't even ask if he was ok!
The security had tried to track him down, but for some reason couldn't, they said they found a man with a dog with same discription and when they approached the caravan the dog was very nasty but the older man denied he was anywhere near the shop that day!
Nothing else was done which I was mortified over..
The dog was a collie, and know our son is scared of his own dog know, its taken time to get him back to likening dogs but this is another good reason why they should not be tied up at shops!

digerd · 21/01/2014 19:41

The dogs left tied up outside our small PO corner shop always look unhappy at being left alone. I would never do that, and go out leaving her at home where she feels safe.

lljkk · 21/01/2014 19:51

I would do it if I had a dog & he didn't mind.

SunnyL · 21/01/2014 20:12

I do it. But then everyone in my village seems to do it too. Sometimes when I leave her there are at least 2 other pooches tied up outside. When I lived in the city I never did it but now we live in a small rural village which feels very safe.

I have heard lots of stories of dog theft around here. However when we talked to the dog warden they seemed to think a lot of the stories were urban legends doing the rounds on Facebook rather than real stories.

Seems I'm in the minority leaving my dog though.

AllDirections · 21/01/2014 20:26

I was in a queue for a cash machine in a high street in a little town on market day and a collie was tied up nearby. A 4 year old boy patted the dog once very lightly on it's head and in a split second the dog had bitten the boy's nose off. It had to be stitched back on

The dog was showing no signs of being agitated before the attack!

LavenderFox · 21/01/2014 21:28

I wouldn't leave a dog tied on its own because of the worry of theft, and also the worry that he may get attacked by a dog running loose (this has happened before in my fabulous neighbourhood) and pull himself free in panic and end up run over..... It is better for my sanity not to leave him, even if likelihood is small.

Blistory · 21/01/2014 21:35

I wouldn't.

Any dog can be provoked into attacking as they have no other means of defence. I'm not going to put my dog in the position of having to be muzzled or put down because I left her exposed to the twats who appeared out of nowhere and decided to bait the big friendly looking dog.

I promised to look after her and a deal's a deal as far as I'm concerned.

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