PEKINESE pooch Max is today recovering at home after a hairy encounter with a thief who chopped off his fur coat.The £400 dog was snatched from his front garden in Vermont Road, Ipswich, but when he was retrieved, Max was unrecognisable and had lost around a foot of his bushy tail.

PEKINESE pooch Max is today recovering at home after a hairy encounter with a thief who chopped off his fur coat.

The £400 dog was snatched from his front garden in Vermont Road, Ipswich, but when he was retrieved, Max was unrecognisable and had lost around a foot of his bushy tail.

Owner Deya Carroll today told the Evening Star of the horrifying moment when she opened her door to the police who had returned with Max.

She said: "I was shocked to see him. His hair had been shaved off and he looked pretty stunned. His tail used to be enormous and curled right across his back, but that has gone.

"I was terribly upset at the time and I am still upset whenever I see him because he is not the dog I had. He looks quite ugly now."

Mrs Carroll said her Pekinese, a breed renowned for its courageous character, had been visibly subdued by the ordeal and was having difficulty eating.

"He was more lively, bright and very animated, but now he is much quieter," said Mrs Carroll. "It has definitely affected him and made him despondent."

Shane Booth, a traveller, admitted stealing the dog at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court.

He said some paint fell on the five-year-old dog after he drove off with him in his van and was forced to cut off his fur.

The court heard how Mrs Carroll had tethered Max at the front of her house on July 19. When she returned, micro-chipped Max had gone, but a neighbour jotted down the registration number of the van.

Mrs Carroll said: "I rang the police immediately and they came round in ten minutes. They were almost competing about who was going to take on the case. They rang me every three hours to say they were on the trail."

She added: "I spent a very sad night lamenting him and thinking I would never see him again.

"I am divorced and I live on my own and my two sons both work abroad, so Max is a great companion to me. I did miss him terribly when he disappeared."

Police found Max at a travellers' site in north west Ipswich where Booth had taken him.

Booth, a gardener who is married with four children, was told to pay a £250 fine, £250 compensation and £55 court costs or serve 14 days in jail.

Mrs Carroll said: "I am furious that anyone can just take your dog and drive off."

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