A WOMAN has told how she thought she was being kidnapped during a desperate struggle with an animal thief outside her home.

Susan Smith said she had returning from a short walk in Dalton, near Thirsk, with her two-year-old border terrier cross, Cooper, at 11.50am on Thursday (December 11) when she suddenly found herself grappling with a man.

The 46-year-old, who is awaiting an operation after sustaining a spinal injury while working with disabled children, said the attack had left her covered in bruises and cuts and in fear of walking by herself in the small village.

She said she had noticed a blue van being driven around the village, and as the rescue dog she got from Jerry Green's Rescue Centre, in Thirsk, stopped beside a bush someone seized hold of the short lead.

She said: "I grabbed hold of the harness and the man grabbed hold of my arm, so I kicked him on the knee and he momentarily loosened his grip, so I kicked him again.

"At first I thought it was me that they were after, but then, in a thick eastern European accent he said 'release the dog'.

"While we struggled the man got hold of Cooper's collar.

"I thought 'he's not having my dog', then Cooper slipped his lead and ran off."

Mrs Smith said after the man fled the scene, she alerted police and members of her family from Northallerton and Harrogate, who soon found Cooper in a garden nearby.

She said: "I'm not walking him by myself again."

Detective Constable Steve Harris said he did not believe the attempted robbery was linked to a robbery on a dog walker in Thirsk earlier this month or claims circulating on Facebook about a gang of dog thieves operating from a fish and chip van in the town.

He said he believed Cooper had been specifically targeted.

DC Harris said: "This is not the sort of thing that happens in rural North Yorkshire.

"People will pay money for dogs that are useful for something, but this was not a particularly high value dog.

"We do not believe the thieves are from the local area, they may have been passing through the village because of the nearby industrial estate."

The attacker is described as 5ft 7ins tall, in his mid-30s, with mousy brown hair and it is believed the van had the letters T and F on its registration plate.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or email claire.starkey@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk