Owner of missing cockapoo puppies 'heartbroken' at apparent attempt to sell them from car boot

  • Watch Charlotte Gay's report

The owner of puppies missing from a house in Gloucestershire says she feels sick over the thought of what might be happening to her dogs. 

Four eight-week-old cockapoo puppies went missing from a house in Berkeley on August 28, with just one puppy of the litter left behind with its mother.

Janet Maiden has cared for four generations of this line of cockapoos and says they are "like family".

She said: "It's just so worrying thinking about what the people are doing to them - how they are looking after them, because this one sleeps on my bed now at night."

She told ITV News West Country the ordeal has made her very security conscious.

"I don't want to leave the house now because I am frightened they might come back and take the others. It put me me very uneasy."

Just a few hours after the puppies were taken there were reports of the dogs being sold out of a car boot in Little Stoke, north Bristol, for a £1,000 each.

Photos taken of the dogs by a passer-by have been shared with the the family and police.

These photos were taken of puppies being sold out of a car boot in Little Stoke in north Bristol Credit: Family handout

Janet says seeing these photos has broken her heart.

"The picture of them is so heartbreaking you can see the fright on their face and they are filthy dirty."

Family friend Judith Le Riche says they feel so helpless.

"You just feel that you want to do something but there is nothing you can do. I can only sort of console Janet and be there for her but It is just so final. They are gone."

Avon and Somerset Police have now said there have been sightings reported in the Bristol area. Credit: ITV West Country

A reward is being offered for the safe return of the dogs to 'refund' anyone who may have bought the puppies.

Gloucestershire Police officers are conducting house-to-house enquiries in the area and are asking anyone with information, or who witnessed suspicious activity, to get in touch.

Information can be submitted by completing an online form and quoting incident 273 of 28 August.

The puppies have been described as:

  • a chocolate brown tri-coloured boy who has yellow eyebrows and markings on his legs

  • a chocolate girl with a tiny spot of white on her chest

  • a chocolate girl with white back paws and white on her chest

  • a black girl with ginger eyebrows, a ginger muzzle, ginger legs and white on her chest