8.Section 1 of the Act creates the offence of dog theft. Subsection (1) defines this as taking a dog so as to remove it from the lawful control of any person, or keeping a dog so as to keep it from the lawful control of any person who is entitled to have lawful control of it. The wording of this subsection is drawn from wording in the Pet Abduction Act 2024 (“the 2024 Act”), which was passed by the UK Parliament and received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024(1).
9.Subsection (2) provides that no offence is committed where the conditions in (a) to (d) of that subsection are met. In short, the offence does not apply where a person who previously lived together in the same household with the dog takes or keeps the dog. This would, for example, cover a scenario where a couple separate following a domestic dispute and one partner keeps the dog. The wording of this subsection also draws heavily on the wording used in the 2024 Act.
10.Subsection (3) provides for the defences of lawful authority and reasonable excuse for taking or keeping a dog. This wording is also drawn from the 2024 Act. An example of lawful authority would be where a police officer or a local authority officer takes the dog from the owner to protect the dog or another individual from harm. An example of a reasonable excuse would be the belief that the person had the consent of the owner or (for example) a dog sitter to keep or take the dog.
11.Subsection (4) makes provision in relation to stray dogs which takes into account the requirements that already apply in relation to a person finding and taking possession of a stray dog under section 150(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“the 1990 Act”). Section 150(1) of the 1990 Act requires the finder of a stray dog to return the dog to its owner or contact the local authority for the area in which the dog was found. Subsection (4) provides a defence for a person charged with the offence of dog theft to show that they believed that the dog was stray, lost or abandoned, and took all reasonable steps to deliver the dog to the owner or a local authority officer. The wording reflects the wording in the 2024 Act, with one exception: instead of referring to “a stray dog”, the Act widens the term to encompass a dog which was “stray, lost or abandoned”. This is because it may not be obvious that a dog which is clearly owned by someone (for instance, because it appears well-fed and is found with a collar and the owner’s address on its collar) is “stray” for the purposes of this defence.
12.Subsection (5) provides that, where a defence is raised by the accused under subsections (3) or (4) and sufficient evidence of the defence is provided, the onus of proof remains on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defence does not apply.
13.Subsections (6) and (7) make provision in relation to the penalties to be applied for the offence of dog theft. These are up to 12 months imprisonment and/or a fine not exceeding the prescribed sum (as defined by section 225(8) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995) on summary conviction, and up to five years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine on conviction on indictment.
14.Subsection (8) includes definitions of “taking” and “keeping” for the purposes of this section. In practice this would mean that someone who may not have committed the physical act of stealing the dog, but has either facilitated the theft or been an accomplice in enabling the theft to happen, for example, as provided for in section 1(8)(a)(i) by causing or inducing the dog to accompany them or anyone else, would be covered by the definitions.
Commentary on Sections Section 1 – Dog theft