Dognapper tries to steal guide dog from blind student, 23, while she walks with white stick in park
- Maisy McAdam was walking in a Hampshire park with her guide dog Willow
- A man approached and tried to put the dog on his lead thinking she wouldn’t see
- Maisy, who is partially sighted, heard him and asked what he was doing
- The man fled and Maisy left shaken up, saying it has made her nervous to go out
A dognapper tried to steal a guide dog from a blind student who was walking along with a white stick in a park.
Maisy McAdam, 23, was exercising with her six-year-old dog Willow, a labrador-golden retriever cross who she relies on to navigate roads safely, in a Hampshire nature reserve last week.
She had let the dog off its lead when a man approached and started asking questions about it.
A dognapper tried to steal a guide dog from blind student Maisy McAdam who was walking along with a white stick in a park
Thinking Maisy could not see him, he tried to put his own lead on the dog.
But the student, who is partially sighted, heard him and asked what he was doing, prompting him to flee.
She told The Mirror: ‘I asked him what he was doing and he seemed startled and jumped up and didn’t say anything. I quickly clipped on Willow’s lead and left the area.’
Maisy doesn’t have peripheral vision but heard the sound of the man clicking the lead.
The student was exercising with her six-year-old dog Willow, a labrador-golden retriever cross who she relies on to navigate roads safely, in a Hampshire nature reserve last week
She had let the dog off its lead when a man approached and started asking questions about it
She quickly walked back to her partner’s house while talking on the phone to Charlie, her instructor at Guide Dogs, for comfort.
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association said the dognapping attempt ‘beggars belief’ and backed calls for tougher sentences on stealing dogs.
Maisy has reported the incident to the police and said now she is ‘nervous’ about venturing out alone.
She said: ‘I feel sick about what could have happened. I’m worried that as Willow is so friendly with people that she won’t have realised until it is was too late.’
Willow allows Maisy to live independently and the pair were carefully matched after years of training
Willow allows Maisy to live independently and the pair were carefully matched after years of training.
She said of the dog: ‘She’s given me so much confidence, not only to travel around by myself but to meet new people and speak up for myself.’
The incident comes as charities fear dog theft has increased by 250 per cent in lockdown as demand for puppies has soared.
Hampshire Police said they received reports of the alleged attempted theft last Wednesday in Barton’s Mill.
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