An Inverness dog owner has spoken out to warn pet lovers after a stranger tried to make off with her eight-month-old Border collie puppy.
Kimberley Gray, 26, a nursery practitioner, was at home at 7.20am on Tuesday morning when she let Lollie out into her front garden.
But shortly afterwards, she heard the gate bang and found that the Lollie was missing from the garden.
Mrs Gray said: “I went out and called her name, couldn’t see her in the garden, checked her bed which is in the hall way, she wasn’t there so I just ran outside.
“And then I saw a woman further down the street and I heard her shout ‘come here’ so that was it – panic mode.”
If not for the intervention of a neighbour who was outside at the time the would-be dog snatcher may well have got away with Lollie.
“He managed to grab her, luckily he had a milk bottle in his hand and he was able to make a noise and distract her.
“He got Lollie further up the road so I could physically grab her so then it was just a case of getting her in the house and calming her down.”
Mrs Gray says she only turned her back for “a couple of minutes” before noticing something was wrong. The whole incident lasted less than 10 minutes.
There is no doubt in her mind that it was an attempt at dog snatching because the garden gate does not open outwards to the street and Lollie does not like wandering.
Mrs Gray said: “I was angry. I was very angry but I just want to prevent anyone else having to have that same feeling.
“No matter what it is, a dog, a cat, a rabbit, at the end of the day they are our pets – part of the family.”
A number of people have been in contact since they warned other dog owners on social media about the incident.
People have come forward from Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and further south reporting “very similar circumstances.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “An incident in the Dalneigh area of Inverness was reported to police on Tuesday, January 9 and appropriate advice has been offered.”
