Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 3 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of dog thefts reported in each or the last five years, and how many of those dogs reported stolen were reunited with their owners.
Information is not held centrally on the number of dog thefts in Scotland. When the theft of a dog is reported to the police, it may be recorded under a number of crimes, depending on the circumstances (for example theft, housebreaking or robbery). The data the Scottish Government receive from Police Scotland on recorded crime is a simple count of recorded crimes by crime type and does not contain any detail on the specifics of each crime e.g. the type of item stolen.