A WARNING has been issued to dog owners in Fife after a woman was stalked by a couple following her in a car.

The woman was taking care of her friend's dog when the frightening incident took place.

At around 10.30pm last Monday, July 5, she spotted a car driving past her and then slowing down before turning back around and coming back up the road.

The owner of the dog, who was on holiday at the time of the incident, said her friend quickly realised what the car was doing and ran for help.

"It clicked in my friend's head what was happening, and she started to run with the dog to her friend's house," the owner said.

"The car, I think, waited outside the house while my friend was banging at the door. The lights weren't on but eventually her friend came to the door with her husband.

"Unfortunately, my friend tripped on the step and the dog ran off across the road, but thankfully they got her back.

"When her friend opened the door, the car took off. As it's a loop road, the car had to come back around and that's when they were able to see the license plate. The plate was fake. It didn't have any numbers, it was all letters.

"It was a grey hatchback, similar in size to a Ford Focus.

"It was a male driver and a woman in the passenger seat."

The incident, which happened on Alderston Drive, near Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, has been reported to Police Scotland and the owner is especially grateful to her friend for being wary of what was happening around her and that her dog was unharmed.

"It would break my heart if anything had happened to my dog," she said.

"My friend said to me, 'Do not go out on your own with the dog at night'. I don't do that anyway, I let mine out in the back garden. And when I go out with her, we'll go to a place which is busy with dog-walkers.

"It would make me feel quite sick if she was taken by someone."

DogLost reported recently that the number of dogs being stolen had increased by 170 per cent in the last year.

The charity, which provides an online database of missing and stolen dogs, said that 465 dogs were stolen across the UK in 2020 – just 172 thefts were reported in 2019.

Scottish SPCA officials suspect that the dogs are being snatched for breeding purposes or they are sold on for profit.

The organisation’s chief superintendent Mike Flynn has urged dog owners to keep a close eye on their pets when they are outdoors and to microchip their pets as soon as possible.