Two Dogs Stolen From Owner's Garden

Police are appealing for help in finding whoever stole two Springer Spaniels from a dog run in the back garden of a house at Whitefield Road, Holbury.

At about 8.15pm Monday, December 10, the 63-year-old man who owns the animals heard a bark. The dogs bark only if someone enters the back garden, and the man thought it was a family member coming for a visit.
 
When no one came to the door, he went out to investigate and found the gates to the garden and to the dog run were open. Two bitches were missing, and two remained in the kennel.
 
The missing spaniels are five-year-old Fenn and 15-month-old Ria. Fenn is mostly black with some white. Ria has a main black spot just off the spine and a smaller black mark at the base of her tail. Ria also has an undershot jaw.
 
Police want to hear from anyone who saw suspicious people or an unfamiliar vehicle in an alleyway behind houses in Whitefield Road at about 8pm Monday.
 
“This alleyway leads to a block of garages, and someone going to or from a car in the garages may have seen a person or vehicle that would give us vital information,” said Hythe PC Alison Tilbury.
 
The spaniels’ owner is distraught at the loss of them.
 
“This has knocked the stuffing out of me,” he said. “I spend every day of the week training the four spaniels. They’re like kids to me.”
 
Anyone with information about the theft or anyone who knows someone who has acquired or been offered one or two Springer Spaniel bitches since Monday is asked to contact PC Tilbury at the Hythe Safer Neighbourhoods Team on 101.