I think you may be right on. There was a “rash” of dog nappings in my neighborhood last year. My assumption was that it was the yoots from Detroit driving around and looking for “training dummies” for their pit fights. However, you have given me something else to think about.
The current trend is tacks or nails hidden within meat and cheese placed in dog parks.
I can only think of one uniformly evil group of suspects.