I live in a semi-rural area, no physical fence. Don't need a lecture at this point - just some advice. I did call the police to report the suspicious activity.

I would have done the same thing. At least now you have a description of this person on the record in case someone else's pooch goes missing.

I care about my dog. If I didn't, I wouldn't be upset. I'm not saying I didn't learn a lesson nor that I would continue to leave her out there unsupervised - I don't think I said anything about how or if my behavior will change. It will, and it has absolutely nothing to do with what you posted; it has to do with me realizing as soon as this happened that I might have dodged a bullet.

What I am saying is there is a way to offer advice that is kind and there is a way to offer advice that makes you seem like an a*hole; unfortunately, your advice is the latter. Be kind with words, man -- a bitter pill is easier to swallow if it's chased with a little honey...

I think behavior is suspicious indeed, and know of nobody that travels w/not one but several toys to innocently ingratiate him/herself w/other people’s dogs. Is your dog a pricey breed that somebody might steal and resell?

and it is true that electrical fences are excellent at keeping your dog in but useless at keeping strange people or animals out. I have an electric fence and it beeps b4 zapping pets. After one episode they learn to use the beep as the warning so it’s not inhuman or cruel. We are happy w/ours but we have had dogs come in the property & chase our dogs. Thank goodness those people and their dogs are gone.

You are NOT overreacting. I have had a dog stolen. They had him for 3 months and used him for dog fighting. Luckily,they were teenagers who went to school with SOs son,and teens can't keep their mouths shut,so we got him back.

I don't think it's wise to ever leave a dog outside alone unless it is very securely fenced in. We spent almost 20 grand fencing in a section of our acerage for our dogs. It was a huge financial hit,but i couldn't sleep at night otherwise. Those invisible fences are good for keeping dogs in but they can't keep human scum from getting in.

Please dispose of any toys she left. They might have poison on or in them. She might not have wanted the dog,she may have just wanted to hurt her,especially if she barks a lot. Some people are sick.

Do you have a game camera or something you can set up that will get her pic or a pic of her car? If not,consider getting one. Our cameras,both the game cameras and the ones wired to our house,have proven valuable in the scum busting business. Better safe than sorry.

I do think it's odd that your husband didn't confront her. But now that I live out in the sticks,anyone on my property would have to have a specific reason for being there,so we would have absolutely asked her what she was doing. But if she was up to no good,she likely would have had an excuse in your case.

We've had a rash of stolen dogs lately. It seems to happen on Sundays. The dogs have never escaped on their own (according to owners' posts on Facebook and Nextdoor). I don't know what is going on, but people are now posting about suspicious activity. I don't think it's just an urban myth, to answer your question. There was definitely something weird going on at your house.

There are a lot of dogs that are stolen around NE Ohio where I live now! What they do with them varies from just taking them because they like them all the way to using them to torture or dog fight. You never know. If it's a pure breed dog that can fetch a lot of money, they will sell them.

If it were my dog and I had an invisible fence, I would not let the dog out unattended. I would put the dog out and sit in a lawn chair until the dog was finished with its business and then we would come inside. There are too many problems that can happen with an invisible fence. Just remember that it does not keep anything from coming in. A large dog running loose or a Coyote could come and kill the dog easily. Who knows what the lady thought. She may just LOVE dogs and thought she was doing your dog a big favor by bringing it some toys. She could have been ready to steal it also. No way for us to know. If I saw the woman again, I would say something.

Great plan and a positive attitude about the situation! You are a kind and thoughtful person.

In general, I think poster has realized that a bad situation might have been averted. That being said:

I work with dogs, lots of puppies. When and if the issue of an invisible fence comes up, I always state that client needs to consider what might happen when dog is not being supervised. Awful things might happen, might not. If asked to clarify my point, I will go in to gory details.

I then state that they need to ask themselves how they would feel if a worst case scenario happened, and if they would be prepared for all that goes along with that.

My opinion is that invisible fences are a "negative" because of what the dog feels when it gets to close to the boundaries. What would reaction be if we found out children were subject to this behavior modification?

I feel very strongly that if a human cannot supervise when your dog is outside, even with a regular fence, dog should not be outside. If human simply must allow dog outside unsupervised, perhaps a re-think is in order about having a dog.

Mike

https://www.paws.org/get-involved/animal-cruelty/pet-theft/

Thanks for the link. I do have to update her microchip information.

"I have an electric fence and it beeps b4 zapping pets. After one episode they learn to use the beep as the warning so it’s not inhuman or cruel."

That is how my system works, and I have it set to a 10-foot warning (it beeps if she's within 10 feet of the boundary, and continues to beep if she's within that 10-foot area - it will only shock her if she actually crosses the boundary), and she is respectful of the boundary. I think there are pros and cons/risks to everything. For my situation an electric fence is a great option. So, the fence is not going anywhere, the dog will still be allowed out to play bounded by the electric fence, but like I said I'll be more careful about keeping an eye on her and the boundary will be moved much closer to the house.

I am glad you will be keeping a closer eye on her. My concern is that the invisible fence will not keep the intruder out who undoubtedly does not have good intentions. What is to stop her from coming in and taking off your dog's collar or just using a leash and dragging her across the invisible fence line? I suggest you invest in a chain link or other type of fence to keep people out. You never know when this woman or one of her accomplices will show up again.

Blaming an invisible fence for dog stealing isn't quite logical. A determined dog thief can lift a fence latch and lead a dog away. I do have several acres with an invisible fence I do let my dogs out on their own and I do pay attention to them. When I am not home, the dogs are indoors. I don't believe that the fence is in anyway cruel to my animals.

Sorry Lisaam. I just assumed that people keep their fences locked like we do ours. I am not against invisible fences- I just worry the OP's dog has been targeted for theft and offered a suggestion that I hoped would keep her dog safer.

As an aside...

"I don't know if it was a neighbor and maybe she was trying to quiet the dog's barking by playing with her?"

If you know your dog is barking, you need to do something about this. It's not okay to have a barking dog. It's an annoyance to your neighbors and, in most places, you can get fined, etc.

Have you considered the awful possibility that there are people who might be so annoyed by the barking that they'd go so far as to take your dog and do something to him/her?

*I* can't stand dog barking, least of all from my own!! If she starts and keeps barking for more than a minute or two , she gets brought inside for a while until she settles down, that's it. I think it is impossible to stop *all* dog barking, and I don't think a minute or two of barking is unreasonable. My immediate neighbors (who are not that close - I'm on acreage) have seen me bring the dog if she gets yappy, I should hope they acknowledge I do address it (it wasn't them who brought the toys, though).

I completely agree with the barking statement.

I work very hard to not allow this to happen. I do tolerate barking when strangers or delivery people come around, I'm alone lots of the time, one of two dogs is large, the other medium, front door always open so dogs can look out.

I never scold when they are guarding or protecting me. They are never left outside unsupervised so uncontrolled barking doesen't happen.

On occasion I ask immediate neighbors if dogs are bothering them especially when we are away, they always say no.

Mike

I’m glad you were able to realize what may have been taking place and you care enough to keep something terrible from happening. I don’t know if dog theft is a problem in our area, but it’s something that I’ve always worried about, so our girl is never out alone. Even when we take her with us on a store run, I’ll insist that one of us waits with her. My husband thinks I’m a little wacky about it but I don’t care, it’s something I feel very strongly about. Just my opinion, but I think you’re very wise to be concerned.

Mike, I’m with you about the scolding and barking. Our lab only barks when she is alerting to something or we’re spraying her with the hose (her favorite game in the summer) and we always reward her when she alerts. That’s her job and she knows it.

We have a barker in the neighborhood who is ignored by her owner and bored out of her mind. It drives me (as well as the other neighbors) crazy. We all feel terrible for her. I don’t understand why he even has her.

I had a neighbor call our HOA 'block captain' to report that my dog was barking all hours of the day and night - interestingly enough it wasn't my dog doing the barking, but the neighbor was threatening to call animal control and all kinds of crazy stuff directed at myself and my dog. We lived in a gated HOA and I did ask the neighbors directly on either side of me if my dog barks when I would be gone (I worked largely from home anyway) and if she did was it bothersome, both of those neighbors I knew well and was friendly enough with to trust their answers of 'no' to be truthful. So the random person living several units away was either hearing other dogs and simply mistaken, or had 'issues' about dogs in general and was hoping to cause a situation where dogs no longer were permitted to live nearby.

My dog barks if someone approaches me while I'm not facing them directly (I guess she thinks my hearing is poor, and obviously wishes to notify me that a stranger is approaching - this happens mostly with men.) and she barks when people come to the door. Hardly excessive but I do try to tell her to 'knock it off', since a dog going berserk with barking gets a tad annoying. :P

OP - people steal dogs for a number of reasons, and there are also individuals who are 'well intending' dog 'rescuers' out there that may believe your dog should be behind a 'real' fence so 'clearly' they would be doing the 'best thing' by gaining the dog's trust and bringing it to a rescue group so that a 'proper' home can be found. Sounds awful but it does happen. All because someone assumes that they know what the situation is and chooses not to talk to another person about it before they take action. Be watchful and be the best 'pet parent' you can be, also - maybe bring the fence line closer and go outside to supervise more.

This is the height of the dog stealing season in the Houston area. There is a huge market for dogs just before Christmas, and they are easily sold on Craigslist to those who check only two things: how cute the dog is, and how much it is being sold for.

Dog thieves will lie about the dog's age, breed, and personality to make a cash sale, after all, they will never see the buyers (or the dog) again.

^^ That is so horrible. I wish people would just refuse to buy dogs off Craigslist and those types of sites, and everyone who has a pet they cannot keep should know never to sell/"freecycle" a pet on these sites - take it to a shelter or rescue group instead. One of the dog rescue groups in my area has a great info page about this. It's heartbreaking what most often happens to these animals...

I did have the fence boundary moved, it's worked out well in the week since I had it done, I'm able to keep a better eye on her, and she's not running the cars as much. It's worth the cash I had to cough up just to have more peace of mind.

ETA: I noticed some of my above posts don't make sense because the poster who replied with some rather harsh comments removed their posts. Couldn't edit my posts, so thought I'd mention in case anyone was confused about a couple of the posts upthread - they weren't aimed at Suzanne LOL!

No problem. I have an invisible fence for my dachshunds and I feel exactly like you do.

My dental hygienist just posted a $1,000 reward for the return of her one year old mixed breed dog that was stolen from her fenced in back yard. What kind of person steals a family pet, at Christmas yet.?

^^ That poor family, they must be devastated. I hope she gets the dog back and no harm comes to the dog.

Is this a new thing, or have dog thefts always occurred? I never heard of this until recently.

I think that it may have increased because a lot of people are looking for young dogs (especially puppies); there is a mandatory spay/neuter policy at shelters run by municipal governments have been joined by shelters run by humane societies or SPCA’s that have contracts with cities/counties, pure bred are several hundred dollars from breeders and puppy mills are under increasing threat (as they should be) of being shut down.

I adopted Molly in 2006, it has hands down proven to be the best $37 I ever spent - the local county shelter was running a special promotion, so after a year of looking online at adoptable dogs for the right dog for me I spotted her, I called to place a commitment hold and took home a 4 month old chihuahua mini pin mix with all her shots, spayed, and microchipped. The SoCal area I lived in had so many puppies at the time, but as time has passed, there are fewer and fewer, particularly those of smaller breeds which I am likely to be looking for in life after Molly (hopefully not for years yet). In our new state, small dogs are a rarity at the ‘pound’ that is contracted with the humane society here, most that come in are senior dogs and while I want them to find homes I will be looking for another puppy.

A puppy of any breed or a young dog from a shelter can now cost a few hundred dollars or more (the one here increases the fee when the dog is a popular breed), they have people fill out the application and then the staff decides which dogs they can meet and consider. (Note, this is only applicable to the one here, which I have direct knowledge of, the practices MAY be different elsewhere.) So, the demand for puppies and young dogs has held steady or increased while the number available and in existence has dramatically dropped, at least in the lower cost range. Add in the places that decide that they will ‘control the supply’ by only making these younger dogs available to people whose application and ability to pay meets all their standards, and the desire for a puppy and you have a perfect storm. That they decide for someone which dog they are allowed isn’t going to be acceptable if the potential adopter doesn’t want an older dog no matter how many constraints and rules they have to utilize in trying to force it. So what’s a person to do when looking for a puppy but meeting with blockades at every option, other than turn to places like Craigslist? Apparently some expect them to either give up on finding a dog altogether or give in and adopt the older dog they are ‘allowed’.