A lost and found dog service has warned of a spike in dog thefts after two were snatched in Watford.

DogLost warned that thefts are rising because it is a "low risk and high reward" crime - adding thieves will then sell them on to unsuspecting buyers, hold for a reward, or use them for breeding.

The organisation, which aims to reunite dogs with their owners, confirmed that two thefts had recently happened around the Watford area.

Gerald McCarthy, 69, who lives in Croxley Green, had his six-year-old Chihuahua called Molly stolen from a communal garden outside his flat in Grove Crescent on the 21st of March. 

It happened at 10am while Gerald had popped indoors to put the kettle on, and when he came back out Molly was gone. 

He said: “She isn’t the type to run away, she always followed me around.”

Another theft was reported by Georgia Timms, 23, who is a primary school teaching assistant in South Oxhey. 

Her dog Gizmo, a 15-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, was stolen on the 14th of March after going out of the house to sniff some hedges. 

He was seen being picked up by a white man wearing a black hoodie who rode off with him on a bike turning into Caldwell Road, South Oxhey. 

A DogLost spokesperson said 151 dogs have been listed as stolen on DogLost from January to March 21st nationwide this year. 

This is a steep upward trend as in 2020 there were 465 in total for the 12 months.

DogLost advises new potential dog owners to really think about the origin of the dog they are purchasing or rehoming - especially when getting from an online site or from the "guy down the road".