A woman has described the moment she saw two men trying to steal her dog from her garden.

Saskia Buckley, who lives in Boughton, Chester, said she was alerted to a "scream" from her Staffordshire Bull Terrier  on Monday afternoon.

When she got outside, she saw two men attempting to lift the dog over the six foot garden fence.

Luckily, the dog's collar came undone and it fell back into the garden.

Saskia said: "One of the men was hanging over the fence, and I could see his arm hanging down and my dog was on the floor with his collar undone.

"I saw him and he saw me and he climbed down off the fence and they both ran. I grabbed a plank of wood because you don't know what people like that like will do nowadays and climbed up the fence. But by that time they were gone."

Saskia was instructed to check the property to see if any markings had been left.

"A woman told me that if they've planned to steal your dog they will have painted one of two coloured markings somewhere on my property," Saskia said.

"A red marking to signal that a low-value dog is at the property - ones they steal and likely use for dog fighting."

"She said a blue marking indicates that the property is home to a high value dog - and when I checked a blue mark had been left on my back gate.

"This confirmed what those men were doing."

Saskia added: "It's horrible because you see a lot about it on social media and sometimes the news, but nothing ever seems to get done about it - until someone's dog is actually stolen."

One of the two men is described as being very gaunt and thin, having dark, greasy hair and was wearing a green hoodie or zip up and light beige trousers.

Cheshire Police has confirmed it is investigating the incident.

A spokesperson for the force said: "At around 2.50pm on Monday (June 21) police received reports of suspicious activity at an address on Heath Lane, Chester.

"The caller reported that they had heard noises in an alleyway at the rear of their address. Upon investigating they found an unknown man who was leaning over the fence and appeared to be attempting to steal their pet dog. A second man was also present.

"Upon seeing the caller both men ran off towards Whitchurch Road."

Anyone with any information in relation to the incident is asked to call Cheshire Police on 101 quoting IML 1018947. Information can also be reported online at www.cheshire.police.uk/tua.