I have heard of dog nappers stealing dogs who have been left out. I see he's probably inside now, but when Our old neighbor had to be in the hospital for a few days he left his partially outside rottie Maddie outside and asked us to play with her, feed her, let our dog in to play with her, etc. It was summer, though, and she had a dog house to protect her from the heat. We practically co-owned her, and so this was ok. Also, she barked pretty loudly at anyone she didn't know, so the dog napping wasn't really an issue.