Following Royal Assent on 10 February 2026, the Dog Theft (Scotland) Act 2026 establishes a distinct criminal offence of dog theft. The Scottish Parliament passed the Bill on 16 December 2025 by 119 votes to two, paving the way for enactment. (parliament.scot)
Section 1 defines the offence as either taking a dog so as to remove it from the lawful control of any person or keeping a dog so as to keep it from the person entitled to lawful control. The Act clarifies that taking includes causing or inducing the dog to accompany a person and keeping includes causing or inducing the dog to remain. An exception covers situations where the parties and the dog previously lived in the same household and later separated; taking or keeping by one party at or after separation is not the offence. (parliament.scot)
Statutory defences include showing lawful authority or a reasonable excuse. A specific defence applies where the accused believed the dog was stray, lost or abandoned, took reasonable steps to comply with section 150(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and did not keep the dog for more than 96 hours (disregarding any period when a local authority keeps the animal under that Act). Once sufficient evidence is led on a defence, the prosecution must disprove it beyond reasonable doubt. (parliament.scot)
Penalties mirror familiar thresholds: on summary conviction, up to 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine not exceeding the prescribed sum (as defined by section 225(8) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995), or both; on indictment, up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine, or both. (parliament.scot)
An aggravation applies where the stolen or kept dog is a “helper dog”. This includes an assistance dog as defined in section 173(1) of the Equality Act 2010 and any category added by regulations. Evidence from a single source is sufficient to prove helper‑dog status; on conviction, the court must record the aggravation, take it into account in sentencing, and explain any difference in disposal. At Stage 2 the Bill adopted the broader “helper dog” label and enabled Ministers to extend categories by regulation. (parliament.scot)
The Act builds in post‑implementation scrutiny. Ministers must prepare, publish and lay a report “as soon as reasonably practicable” after a three‑year period beginning on the day section 1 (the offence) comes into force. The report must cover Police Scotland records of offences under section 1, numbers prosecuted and convicted, and sentencing outcomes, including whether an aggravation applied, custody length and fine level. The one‑off three‑year report replaced earlier annual‑report proposals during parliamentary scrutiny. (parliament.scot)
To support that review, listed “relevant persons”-the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, the Lord Advocate and the Chief Constable-must provide the specified data in the form, manner and timescales required by Ministers. This places a clear statutory duty on justice sector bodies to furnish consistent statistics. (parliament.scot)
The Act confers broad ancillary regulation‑making powers on Ministers to make incidental, supplementary, consequential, transitional or saving provision, including modifying any enactment. Such regulations are generally subject to the negative procedure, with the affirmative procedure applying where the text of an Act is added to, replaced or omitted. Commencement is staged: the commencement, reporting and ancillary‑powers provisions take effect the day after Royal Assent; all other provisions, including the new offence, start on dates appointed by regulations. (parliament.scot)
Operationally, the Official Report indicates Scotland’s crime recording standard will need updating so incidents can be captured as “dog theft” where appropriate, enabling the statutory report after three years to draw on consistent police and court data. Existing stray‑dog processes under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 remain relevant to the statutory defence framework. (parliament.scot)
Next steps for practitioners include monitoring a commencement order that will start the three‑year reporting clock and any negative‑procedure regulations expanding helper‑dog categories. Operational guidance from Police Scotland and the Crown Office is expected to follow once commencement dates are set, aligning investigation, recording and sentencing practice with the Act’s requirements. (parliament.scot)