A much-loved family pet stolen for alleged use in illegal dog fighting has been reunited with her owners some three months after separation, police say.

Coco the cross-bred bull terrier and Australian terrier was reported stolen from her Wallsend home in the NSW Hunter region in August.

"Police began to follow a line of inquiry that Coco may have been stolen for use in illegal dog fights," police said in a statement.

"The owners of the dog later received information that the dog was possibly being held by a man from the Wallsend area who might be allegedly involved in stealing dogs for illegal dog fights."

Senior Constables Mitch Harvey and Andrew Patterson went to a property at nearby Mayfield on Wednesday and found a dog matching a description of Coco.

There was no evidence to suggest Coco had been involved in illegal dog fighting, and she was reunited with her owners.

"It was quite a tearful reunion," Senior Constable Harvey said in a statement.

"You don't get too many happy endings in policing but it's nice when they do happen."

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Puppy Mills breed misery, boycott pet stores that sell puppies. Adopt! Don't Shop

Glad that worked out....very lucky people....and dog

oh, my word! i am so glad the dog got back home, un-hurt.
i hope they chip the dog for proof of ownership - theft of a dog is hard to prove,
even with photos, etc.
i had both my dogs stolen some years ago - broke my heart.
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, IPDTA, TDF

That must have been awful, Terry!
My own dog is chipped but a tattoo is the best way to deter theft. Sadly there aren't many qualified dog tattooists in the UK and it's not an option taken up by many people. There are no tattooists within 50 miles of here, for instance, though there is one near my mother's, so I have decided to go there when I visit next. For £25 it's worth it. Certain breeds, I feel, would benefit more from being tattooed - the most dogs stolen here in the UK are Staffordshire BTs and their crosses; greyhounds, whippets lurchers etc (often taken by travellers for coursing) and GSDs. But all breeds are at risk and I live in a high risk area. Quite often dogs are stolen as bait for fighting. Sometimes taken for breeding, or to be sold on, but when found to be neutered/chipped are then dumped or killed. A tattoo in the ear helps to prevent this at point of theft.

It is such a shame I don't drive or becoming a dog tattooist could be a valuable job option in this area.

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Sue, Merlin & Cuba
Dog moves in mysterious ways. Be at peace, Patrick.
I've been described as a lighthouse in a bog - brilliant, but useless.

wow! i had no idea that dog-theft was that common, even in particular regions.
what a worry - my dogs were not taken by a stranger, my then-fiancee turned them over to his mother, who lived out of the area. i was advised a few months later, by the local police, NOT to attempt to get them back - ownership being virtually impossible to prove. this was before chips were invented, or were easily available.

the dogs were my then-3-YO Dox x Bassett, my first therapy-pet dog, and my black Shepherd, Shady (call name Nightshade, registered Dancing Crow).

umm - this may be distasteful -
WARNING to the tender-hearted, but dog-thieves are not nice ppl, generally.
i would not tattoo an ear - i would tattoo a belly, as the ear can be -removed-,
the belly cannot. (ouch, eh?)

my next-pup (my Akita) was chipped IMMEDIATELY, and her registration went in the same day - i also got her insurance-info into her file, so that if for any reason we were separated, and she needed treatment, they could start immediately.
that was a worry off my mind.
:--)

dogs here are often kept in yards, which i hate - the climate is awful, the parasites and biting insects are year-round, and nasty ppl take advantage of the dog being vulnerable. we have had dogs locally shot, stabbed, kicked, stoned, poisoned, etc -
a series of 3 pitties were found wandering half-skinned over a month or so, one spring.
THAT was truly appalling! (and there was never an arrest. :---(

but i always warn clients that the safest place for the dog if U are not home, is INSIDE the house! if the dog is not well-housetrained, use a crate, puppy-proof a room, do sumthin --- don't leave the poor creature at the mercy of heat, cold, fly-strike, mosquitoes, or some &%#@! with a baseball-bat or a rock.
best regards,
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, IPDTA, TDF

I enquired about this as I would have preferred it but it's rarely done here, simply because it would have to be done under a GA, and few vets & tattooists are that organised over here.

Yes I know about that having travelled a lot in the US, it is different here in the UK (thankfully). Few dogs here are kept outside, it's just too crowded and too wet/cold to do that... no, not just that, I think we have moved on a great deal from, say, 30 years ago with regard to animal welfare.

We ain't the best at it - by no means - countries like Holland, Sweden and Australia have better animal welfare laws than we do here, but the fact that ear cropping of dogs, dog fighting, and a few other things like horse tail cropping (can you believe they used to dock horses's tails? were outlawed way back in the 1800's has encouraged other things in other places having taken our lead. As an example - in Holland it is now illegal to even own a dog with cropped ears.... That is not the case here but we so rarely see croppped ear dogs in the UK... my eyes stood out in stalks when I saw a cropped Dobe locally a few months ago... import, obviously, but still......!

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Sue, Merlin & Cuba
Dog moves in mysterious ways. Be at peace, Patrick.
I've been described as a lighthouse in a bog - brilliant, but useless.