THIEVES GO TO THE DOGS

Monday, Oct. 8, 2007 | 7:36 a.m.

Las Vegas is ranked at the top of places you're most likely to get your car stolen. It's a city where thieves literally yank the copper wires out of street lights and pawn them off to recycling yards.

Recently, somebody swiped an angel statue off the front lawn of Opportunity Village, a charity that serves disabled people.

It seems that in the valley, anything can be stolen at any time.

Add puppies to the list. Yes, furry, lovable, playful puppies.

The latest victim was Kelly Stuckey, the owner of the five-month-old Paws to Claws on East Sunset Road. Three people came into her strip-mall pet store two weeks ago and walked out with three dogs.

The total value: about $9,000.

The abducted are an English bulldog, a French bulldog and a West Highland terrier.

"Some money-hungry person I guess," Stuckey said.

The caper appeared to be a coordinated effort, with one person distracting a store clerk while two others gathered up the pooches and split.

The theft occurred on the first day Stuckey had taken off since opening the store in May.

But it was far from the first time purebred puppies have been stolen in Las Vegas. Metro Police know about at least a half dozen similar dog thefts this year.

"It's so unfortunate because nothing shocks anymore," said Doug Duke, director of the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Across the country, the theft of puppies occasionally makes headlines. In August thieves took three Yorkshires - worth about $1,000 each - from a home in York, Pa. They were found when someone tried to sell them to a nearby pet store. Yorkshires also were stolen at gunpoint from a Los Angeles pet store earlier this year.

"The bad guys are looking at purebred puppies," said Lisa Peterson, a spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club. "It's sad."

But she and others said they are not sure what kind of black market exists for stolen puppies. If the thieves do not take paperwork proving the dog's breed, its value is severely diminished.

How many dogs are stolen each year is anyone's guess. The crimes are typically recorded as property crime or, in Stuckey's case, as grand larceny.

"There is ongoing dog theft," said Patti Strand, president of the National Animal Interest Alliance. "I don't think there are many places recording numbers real firmly."

There is hope, however, for the three missing Las Vegas pups. They had microchips implanted in their shoulders, which will identify them as stolen if a veterinarian scans the chip, the latest technology in finding lost or stolen pets.

Stuckey had kept the dogs in open cages shaped like cribs, allowing customers to easily reach in and play with the dogs. But the theft ended that. She now has placed locks on top of the cages and added security cameras.

"We had a security gate," she said, tidying up the store prior to opening this week. "We figured that if someone were going to do something , they'd break the window."

Nope, they just walked out the front door.