Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says his young AFL team won’t be weighed down by a long unsuccessful run at Geelong when they travel to Simonds Stadium to tackle the Cats on Saturday.

The sixth-placed Bulldogs haven’t won at the venue since 2003 and have not beaten Geelong anywhere in their past seven clashes dating back to 2009.

“We definitely won’t talk about it,” Beveridge said on Friday.

“It’s such a new brigade, such a new team who have come together this year so we won’t let it play on our minds at all.”

The family of Chester, the half-blind and voiceless dog snatched in Melbourne, are thankful to have the mutt back in their arms.

Chester, a Japanese Chin, was found dumped on a Glenroy front yard after 6pm on Thursday, 24 hours after police suspect he was stolen by a group of teenagers.

The seven-year-old pooch went missing after going behind a bush while on a walk with a member of the family who recently rescued Chester from a dog shelter.

“I’ve never seen him scoff food as hard as he did last night,” said Barron Corbett, one of Chester’s new family members.

Another family member, Caiden Morris, said: “We won’t be keeping our eyes off him for a very, very long time.”