Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2025 [Draft]
What strange conversations we have when we are discussing a bill involving furry creatures—Jamie Halcro Johnston has just shown me a picture of his black cat, Squeaky Biscuit.
My brother’s dog is a rescue dog from Ukraine. It is much loved but paranoid and very anxious. I have two dogs: Pippa and Alfie. In fact, Alfie is dead, and I have Olly now. [Interruption.] I know—it is horrible when you lose a dog. My two dogs are pretty unruly. We live in the countryside and, when I take them on an urban walk and they misbehave, I say that they are rescue dogs, like my brother’s dog from Ukraine, but I am working on their behaviour.
I want to bring members back to the concept of returning home to find that your dogs are no longer there. When I arrive home, I know that my dogs are there, because, when I drive around the corner of the house, they are barking. To me, that is reassuring. When I turn the key, they are there and they are excited. They give me a warm, unfettered welcome, and it is lovely.
That was not the case for my constituents Georgie and Eddie Bell and their two daughters. In 2018, their dogs were stolen. They were two lovely Border terriers, who, if I remember rightly, were called Beetle and Ruby. Georgie and Eddie launched a campaign with lots of posters around the Borders, offering a reward, and Georgie posted daily blogs. They were totally beloved dogs. The family had a bit of a setback because, a couple of months after the disappearance of Ruby and Beetle, they had a mystery call from a gentleman from Galway in Ireland, who said that he had the dogs. Sadly, it was a hoax and an attempt at extortion. That was desperately upsetting, because the family were left heartbroken once again. Many years on, the family still hold on to the belief that their dogs will be returned. Ruby and Beetle would now be 12 and nine.
Why does Maurice Golden’s bill matter? Stealing a dog is treated in the same way as stealing a handbag or, as Jamie Halcro Johnston said, stealing £20. However, a dog is not like other material possessions; it is not an inanimate object. Although a handbag might bring joy to some people, a dog brings loyalty, companionship and, for many, independence, security and safety. Working dogs also bring an income.
Pet theft is on the rise—we have talked about that in the past. During the pandemic, there was a rise in demand for puppies. The law fails to consider the emotional value of a dog and does not do enough to collect accurate data, support owners, deter thieves or put victims at the heart of things by dealing with the trauma that they go through.
Gathering accurate data will absolutely—100 per cent—give a clearer picture of the problem. Proper reporting is also very important, as is a review of how the law is working. Furthermore, the bill makes dog theft a specific criminal offence, with penalties of up to five years in prison, as we have heard, which will send a clear message to criminals, even though some people have said that we already have a stand-alone offence. The bill has overwhelming support from the majority of animal charities and the police. The Law Society of Scotland was slightly sceptical about it, but it remained neutral on it.
The bill is about protection, victims and justice. It is about love, family and protecting our loved ones. I urge everyone to support it.
Finally, we should amend the bill so that it explicitly refers to working gun dogs, as requested by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, because it is important that we strengthen that part of the bill.