Berkshire among most dangerous places to be a dog owner in UK, study reveals

Berkshire is one of the most dangerous places for dog owners in the country, according to a new study conducted by K9 Patrol.

Last month, a law was passed which recognises pet theft as a separate crime to other forms of property theft.

According to police data, instances of dognapping have increased by almost 20 per cent in the last six months.

K9’s study analysed local search data for terms frequently searched by victims of pet abduction over the last six months.

Berkshire residents searched for terms such as “report dog theft”, “dog stolen” and “report a stolen dog” more frequently than those living in almost any other county in the UK.

RANKED: Top 20 dog theft hotspots (out of 38 counties and metropolitan authorities)

1 Northamptonshire

2 Somerset

3 Gloucestershire

4 Devon

5 Derbyshire

6 East Riding of Yorkshire

7 East Sussex

8 Herefordshire

9 Cambridgeshire

10 Bedfordshire

11 Berkshire

12 Bristol City

13 Lincolnshire

14 Greater Manchester

15 Cornwall

16 Warwickshire

17 Worcestershire

18 Leicestershire

19 Greater London

20 Shropshire

The study's method analysed the number of impressions each search term had in each location.

It then calculated the percentage of residents this accounted for, by using the most recent population data for each area.