Dog walker issues warning after attempted theft at Welsh beauty spot

Dog walker Lucy Melton, of Lady and the Tramp Pet Services, has issued a warning after a man grabbed a Cavachon she was walking on 30 July.

Melton and her colleague were walking a number of dogs on a mountain path off of Oak Street in Clydach, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, when they noticed a man up ahead so began putting leads on all of the dogs.

Melton told Wales Online: “We heard Reggie squeal so we are assuming the man picked him up quite hard. We looked up and saw him go off-path with Reggie. He disappeared into nothingness.”

While Melton secured the other dogs and contacted the owner and the police, somebody had found Reggie about a 10-minute walk from where he was taken.

She said that the man who grabbed Reggie was wearing cargo shorts, hiking boots, an Australian-style hat, and was in his 40s or 50s.

Melton told the newspaper: “I’m assuming that he’s wriggled out of this man’s arms and bolted off. The poor dog must have been terrified.

“There was nothing more we could have done. It was just one of those things that happened in a split-second.”

Melton was contacted by a friend who saw a man matching the person who took Reggie’s description near Garth Park in Trealaw, which is under a 10-minute drive from Clydach. The man, who again was wearing hiking clothing and an Australian-style hat, “had a bag of dog treats by his rucksack but no dog”. They also said that he was approaching dog owners and later got in to the side door of a blue van.

Melton reported the incident and the subsequent sighting of the man to South Wales Police.