Van men snatch family pet dog

Vera Smyth, 39, of Mill Close, Billinghay, said her children have been left heartbroken since their two-year-old pet pug known as Ellie or ‘Puggy’, was taken from outside their home on Thursday afternoon.

But even after locals came forward with a registration number of the van it was taken in and an address of where the dog is thought to be being kept, she claims there has been no more progress in getting her back.

Vera said after six days there may be little hope of getting her dog back.”

She said her children are ‘devastated’.

“They can’t sleep not knowing where their dog is,” she added.

Vera said she has been approached by a woman who wrote down the registration number and has been contacted by another woman claiming to know where the dog is.

Vera has passed this information on to police.

She said: “She’s only a tiny dog and she will die if she’s not being properly looked after.

“It will destroy my children if she’s not found, or if she doesn’t survive.”

Puggy escaped from the family’s front garden before being swiped by two thieves in a white van last Thursday which had been hanging around the area.

Vera’s stepdaughter Cherie, 19, was trying to get Puggy back inside while keeping an eye on her younger siblings when she watched the van reverse up the street.

She then saw a man get out and grab the dog and laugh at her, before getting back in and driving off.

The passenger had a black and orange top on with dark brown short hair.

The family immediately called Lincolnshire Police and Vera has since spent hours driving round trying to find her.

Vera said that her children can’t understand why ‘Puggy’ has been taken away.

She bought the pug/Jack Russell cross for her four children (three diagnosed with autism) James, 13, Jack, 11, Chloe, nine, and William, seven, for Christmas 2014.

She described the dog as quite unique with a cleft lip and a ‘calming influence’ on the children.

“It is just disgusting to steal it in front of my children,” she said.

Inspector Marc Gee of Lincolnshire Police said: “We are conducting enquiries around the information we have been given to try to identify any possible location for the stolen dog or the offenders.”

Anyone with any information should contact 101.