Boxer fought off two dognappers who threatened to stab him if he didn’t hand over 20-week-old collie

A pub landlord has revealed how he dusted off his boxing skills to fight off two dognappers who threatened to stab him if he didn’t hand over his pet. 

James Cosens, 29, was walking on Millennium Coastal Path near Llanelli in Carmarthenshire when two men approached him and ‘scooped up’ his 20-week-old Collie Rosie. 

At first the father assumed the strangers were being friendly, but was quickly told they were trying to steal Rosie and was threatened with violence if he tried to take him back. 

Luckily the pub landlord is a former amateur boxer and told on This Morning today how he left the criminals ‘worse for wear’ after they tried to steal his beloved pet dog. 

At first the father assumed the strangers were being friendly, but was quickly told they were trying to steal Rosie and was threatened with violence if he tried to take him back

‘We were out on our local nature reserve on Friday,’ said James. ‘We’d been walking  there for the last three or four weeks, and she was walking off lead as she normally does.

‘A couple of blokes approached her, and the local area is generally very friendly and welcoming. One of them scooped her up, so I assumed they were just saying hello, but as I approached he said “If you try and get your dog back, I’m going to stab you”.’ 

James, who moved to the area with wife Samantha and toddler Jacob last August, threw a punch at one of the men and began wrestling to get his dog back as the other man began ‘fighting him’ from the back. 

‘I thought I can either try and get away quickly which would involve leaving the dog which wasn’t an option’, said James, ‘So I managed to throw a punch at him, which sent him to the floor. 

Luckily the pub landlord is a former amateur boxer and told on This Morning today how he left the criminals ‘worse for wear’ after they tried to steal his beloved pet dog

He told hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond it was ‘horrible’ being threatened by the men, but that there was no way he was going to leave without fighting to get his pet back

‘But he still had a very tight grip of the dog on the floor and I tried my best to wrestle her off him, which luckily I managed to do, but the other guy started trying to fight me from the back while I was trying to get her back’.  

‘I did manage to leave them a little bit worse for wear and make our safe getaway’. 

He went on to say that it was ‘horrible’ being threatened by the men, but that there was no way he was going to leave without fighting to get his pet back. 

‘Its a horrible thing for someone to say to you, said James, ‘But it would have been a very awkward conversation if I’d come home without the dog, so there was no way I was going to leave there without at least trying to get her back.’ 

He added: ‘Especially at the minute, [walking your dog] is one of the things you’re legally allowed to do and people are now in fear of doing that.’   

When asked why he thought he was a target of the criminals, James said he felt that they were simply being opportunistic after seeing a young puppy walking without lead

Cases of what is known as ‘dognapping’ are on the rise, with recent figures from lost and found organisation DogLost showing that thefts surged by 170 per cent in the UK last year.

The figures have been climbing for a while, but last year the booming market for ‘pandemic puppies’ led to a surge in opportunistic theft, as well as more sophisticated gang-related crime — with dognapping gangs removing microchips, raiding kennels and robbing breeders.

When asked why he thought he was a target of the criminals, James said he felt that they were simply being opportunistic after seeing a young puppy walking without  lead.  

‘Since the attack I had a look on platforms advertising dogs and puppies and some of them are going for thousands of pounds’, he said. ‘I think they saw a young puppy and fancied their chances really’.