The theft of six pedigree chihuahuas has thrown the spotlight on the number of suspected dognapping cases in the county and the influence movies can have on animals being stolen to order. ANDY DAVEY reports

WILTSHIRE animal lovers fear a ruthless gang of dog snatchers could be behind a spate of disappearances across the county, which have left their owners' lives in ruins.

Devastated pensioner Margaret Greening, from Grittleton, is convinced a gang of thieves snatched six of her beloved prize-winning pedigree chihuahua dogs last Thursday.

Mrs Greening, 70, a dog breeder for 40 years who won the best of breed competition with one of her chihuahuas at the prestigious Crufts dog show in the 1970s, says she was so upset by her loss that she approached MP James Gray.

He told her he thought it was high time the police realised dog-napping is a big industry and promised to raise the matter in the House of Commons.

She also blames the theft on the increased demand for chihuahuas created by the success of the two Legally Blonde films, as the film's main character, Reese Witherspoon, is accompanied almost everywhere by her beloved chihuahua Bruiser.

Mrs Greening, who has offered an undisclosed cash reward for the return of her animals, says the success of the film has generated huge demand for the diminutive dog, which she suspects can only be met on the black market.

"There's nothing like a film about a dog or with dogs to create demand," she said.

"The Dulux paint adverts and 101 Dalmations are prime examples. People watch them and say I want one, but its not as though you can just go and pick them off a shelf."

Incredibly one of Mrs Greening's stolen dogs, a pregnant bitch called Ellie May, was found sitting in a wicker basket outside a shop in a village near Frome on Monday.

The pensioner said she was delighted by the return of the animal and suspects it was because Ellie May proved too hot for the thieves to handle.

Jackie Brimblecombe, 41, from West Lavington, believes thieves deliberately targeted her golden Labrador pedigree puppy in January.

Mrs Brimblecombe fears the thieves may even have followed her looking for an opportune moment to snatch it. "I've no doubt there is a gang operating in the area or across the country, which is stealing dogs, possibly to order," she said.

Mrs Brimblecombe believes thieves targeted the pup, which was briefly left alone in her car at Gore Cross, because they took her dog, but left her bag and wallet untouched.

She posted details of her missing pup on www.doglost.co.uk, with a photograph and details, shortly after it went missing. She was shocked to discover from the website that a dog from Winchester disappeared in January, a dog from Sixpenny Handley, near Blandford, vanished two weeks later and another pooch in Dilton Marsh went missing seven days later.

"Going on geography that seems too much of a coincidence," she said.

"In my opinion someone is stealing these dogs and selling them on, probably in somewhere like London."

Cathy Moore, 40, of Saffron Close, Wootton Bassett, was distraught when her four-month-old English Mastiff puppy Clarkes disappeared at Christmas.

She was overwhelmed by the number of websites dedicated to lost pets and the number of disappearances across the country. "Dogs are being stolen all the time," she said. "It's a phenomenon.

"The people stealing them are either opportunistic thieves, dog lovers who genuinely believe the animals are strays, travellers or organised gangs of dog snatchers."

She added: "The easiest way to sell a dog is in a pub.

"You could just walk in there, say it was a Christmas present for the wife, but she was allergic to it and I'm sure if it was a pedigree it wouldn't take long before someone offered you £50."

Jane Hayes, from Doncaster, set up her website www.doglost.co.uk a year ago after her dog vanished. She refused to give up on the animal and finally located him six weeks later after a tip off that it was being hawked around pubs.

Ms Hayes believes the thefts that come to light are just the tip of the iceberg. She said: "In 2003 the big insurance companies paid out on 26,000 claims for stolen dogs, but a lot of people don't insure their dogs because it's so expensive and many people on the website don't claim because they refuse to give up on their pets.

"So the figure for missing dogs in the UK is likely to be much higher."

Mrs Greening discovered that three of the chihuahuas she had entered for this year's Crufts had vanished, as well as two other showdogs and the pregnant Ellie May, when she returned home from visiting her son in Cardiff on Thursday evening.

The pensioner says she is praying the thieves will find it in their hearts to return her cherished animals.

Police are baffled as to how the thieves knew the pedigree dogs, which are registered with the Kennel Club and worth hundreds of pounds, were at the house because all the kennels are hidden from the road by a hedge.

But Mrs Greening suspects the thieves may be the same gang who stole a pair of her dogs two years ago.

Following the latest theft, she said: "My first reaction was just pure horror and distress, it's like a nightmare.

"They're my whole life really. I love having my dogs around, but now I'm totally bereft.

"I couldn't put a price on them because I was never going to sell them."

The thieves left behind six of her chihuahuas and her 72-year-old husband's two terriers. But the family remains broken-hearted.

"My eldest son's family live in Yatton Keynell and their three children were so upset they couldn't go to school on Friday. I just pray they are returned because I'm worried sick about them," said Mrs Greening.