An investigation by NationalWorld revealed this week that reports of dog thefts to UK police forces increased by 13% in 2020.
The 29 police forces that responded to our Freedom of Information request also provided breed details, which levied information for more than 2,300 stolen dogs.
We have crunched the numbers to find which types of dogs are reported stolen the most frequently – although officers do not always record this information in a decipherable way, if at all.
Crossbreeds were counted under each parent breed where the information was given – for instance a chihuahua-Jack Russell cross is counted under both chihuahua and Jack Russell – to get a fuller picture of the type of dogs targeted by thieves.
Here we reveal the top 15 most frequently stolen breeds.