Burglars broke into a house in Abu Dhabi and made away with two dogs, leaving all other valuables behind.

“I wish they had stolen my TV, or jewellery. Those I could at least replace. I could never replace Roxy and Bama, my two dogs.” Laila Al Khalja, an Emirati woman living in Abu Dhabi is devastated. A month ago, people broke into her house in Al Rahba and stole her two dogs, a female Husky and a male black Pomeranian.

“They left everything else in the house and only took the dogs,” she says astonished.

“It was around 10 o’clock in the evening, on the 21st of January. I was at home, sleeping. We did not hear anything. They broke open the lock, took our dogs and vanished. It scares me when I think of it.” Laila’s dogs together amounted to Dh13,000 and the husky alone had cost Dh10,000. “My huskie was imported from Thailand. That’s why it was very expensive.”

Abu Dhabi Police is working on the case and calls it a rare incident. “We do not know such cases, it is very rare that people break in to a house to steal a pet,” says Salim Al Kutbi, who works for the department that receives criminal reports.

“It must have been done by somebody who was aware of the price of the dog and its location.”

Although Abu Dhabi Police cannot confirm to know about any similar cases, Laila claims to have been told otherwise.

“The police told me that there is a gang active in Al Rahba and that this gang specialises in the stealing pets.”

Salim Al Hosany of the inspection department thinks that the burglars may have had experience, but does not know of an organised gang. “It could also be that the intention was to steal more, but that the dogs scared them and refrained them from doing so,” he adds.

“Solving a case like this is very difficult. When you are looking for a person, there are many traces to follow. But a dog is hard to find,” explains Salim. “We have visited locations related to pet trade, but that might not lead to any results.

Meanwhile, Laila has not sat still. She has created a blog on which she describes her dogs – a Husky, 2 years old, black and white, sparkly blue eyes and a black Pomeranian, 1 year old, black silky hair- and makes an appeal on everybody to contact her when seeing the dogs. “I visited all pet shops, vets and animal shelters in Abu Dhabi and even went to the pet market in Sharjah,” she says.

"People are saying that ‘they are just dogs’, but they do not understand what I feel. You can get completely attached to a dog, believe me. And it hurts when somebody takes them away from you. Besides that it is stealing!”

Abu Dhabi Police advises people who fear pet robbery to secure their houses with a camera or guards and to make sure that the pet cannot be seen from outside when they are inside the house.