THE GET SCANNING CAMPAIGN
When Debbie Mathews’ two Yorkshire Terriers were stolen in 2006, her father,
TV entertainer Bruce Forsyth, launched a media appeal to help recover them.
Happily she was reunited 10 days later, but the experience led to her founding
the Vets Get Scanning charity, which campaigns for compulsory scanning of
dogs at vet’s and shelters, and the tightening up of microchipping rules.
●Find out more at http://www.vetsgetscanning.co.uk or check out Bruce Forsyth’s
Vets Get Scanning/UK Get Scanning and Bruce Forsyth’s Vets Get Scanning
Petition on Facebook.MARCH 14 IS DOG THEFT AWARENESS DAY
Find out more at http://www.stolenandmissingpetsalliance.co.uk or
check out Stolen and Missing Pets Alliance on Facebook.40 Your Dog March 2020Elizabeth secretly married her lover
Robert Browning before eloping with
him to Italy. Naturally Flush went too,
safe at last from further abductions by the
London dognappers.HANDSOME DAN
When Harvard students in the US
dognapped Yale’s mascot Handsome
Dan II in March 1934, it was merely
a student prank; the abduction a few
months later of 18-month-old champion
Boston Terrier Kids Boot Ace (pet name
Timmie) was a more serious matter.
Snatched at a Chicago dog show,a ransom of $5,000 was
demanded, which owner Louis
Rudginsky was unable to pay.
A few days later the price dropped
to a more af ordable $500, which he
agreed upon. But the caller hung up and
nothing more was heard until a call out
of the blue i ve months later revealed
that the dognappers had fallen out with
each other, and given Timmie away.
The new owner had recognised him; he
returned him to Rudginsky, incidentally
collecting the reward money too.
Dognapping escalated in the following
years, and by the 1950s gangs were
involved in abducting dogs. As showing
became more popular, the risk of theft
increased further; in New York state in
1959, 10 Poodles valued at $25,000 were
ransomed for $5,000.Sadly, not all abducted dogs were
held for ransom: sometimes they were
stolen to sell to research laboratories.“...she was distraught; and even more so
when her father refused to pay his ransom.”
sent back.
By all accounts
it was an emotional
reunion, as Biche leaped onto
the desk where the King was writing
and placed her paws around his neck,
reducing him to tears at the return of the
dog he considered his ‘best friend’.ELIZABETH BARRETT
BROWNING
“Flush is a dear, devoted old dog,” wrote
Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
“When I was very ill Flush never left my side,
day and night. Every time I put my hand
out of bed, I could always feel his curly head
and cold nose.” A gift from fellow dog-lover
Mary Russell Mitford, the much-loved pet
off ered comfort and aff ection at a time when
Elizabeth was at a low ebb. She spoiled him
shamelessly, joking about his fondness for
muffi ns and that he would turn his nose up at
‘unbuttered bread’. When he was dognapped
in September 1843, she was distraught; and
even more so when her father refused to
pay his ransom. Elizabeth secretly sent three
sovereigns, and he was safely returned albeit
dishevelled and with a minor leg injury.
A year later he was abducted again, and once
more Elizabeth covertly paid for his release.
She could scarcely believe it when, in 1846,
thieves struck yet again, forcing her to travel
secretly to seedy Whitechapel to negotiate
with them; it was six anxious days before the
ransom was agreed upon and paid.
A week after Flush’s return to her arms,38-40 YD Dognapping Mar20 CSGW(SW)ok.indd 40 23/01/2020 15:13