"Loving" XL Bully mauls 10yo to death

The child’s family needs to be tried for manslaughter/murder. They have let that girl down so badly.

Exactly. Those who find it unnecessary and don't pay, face actual punishment.
If you are willing to commit over a decade of your life to an animal, you would be willing to gain a licence to own one. And when you're caught with a dog and no licence, take the dog as you would a car. Both are deadly, in the wrong hands.

I have a trampoline hook in my bag that I took out with me a few months ago when I helped a friend put together her DC's new trampoline, extra hooks meant we could put the many many springs on much more quickly. I forgot to take it out of my bag and now it just lives there amongst the receipts and almost-finished packets of Polos. I come home sometimes late at night and have to go in a fairly deserted multistorey to collect my car when I get off the train, I think the tiredness from this is what makes me keep forgetting to remove it. It has a handle on one end and a hook on the other, if I was to jam it in a collar and start winding/twisting I think it would tighten up very quickly. It would also probably penetrate skin if used firmly towards a vulnerable area such as eyes, face, throat or groin.

The psychology of it is interesting. I get the thug image and why they want a killing machine.

But it's the young Mothers with these 'fur babies' who claim to love their children and seem to be totally lacking in any sort of critical thinking whereby defenceless children and a dog with the potential to kill aren't a match made in heaven. I can't wrap my head round the thinking behind it.

Anyone who owns an XL bully and children in the same vicinity needs to give their heads a wobble.

It’s not legal to have a banned weapon in the house nevermind having one in a house with children so why a banned animal? Surely if it’s too dangerous to be outside with the public without a muzzle it is also too dangerous to live with kids.

The law makes 0 sense.

They're about as delusional as those women who write love letters to serial killers (of women) in prison. In fact, I think the psychology is very similar: "I can fix him". "He'd never hurt me."

I've known a couple of women with a history of dating bad men who've been hopelessly devoted to dangerous dogs. Pathological.

Yes exactly, a lot of people also saying send in social workers if there's children in the house. Why the hell should social workers put themselves in the line of fire?! The parents wouldn't be arsed anyway - they'd be in uproar over anyone trying to take away the rights of their innocent fur baby

Yes, they should be banned from homes with children.

To be fair to the police - unless they are armed, I’m not sure I’d want to be confronting one out unmuzzled - you can bet the owner would ‘oops dropped the lead’ and then it’s the police being attacked.

Even knocking on someone’s door - unarmed - once the owner starts raising their voice and giving it all that - a loose dog int the house is then a weapon that can be set on the police. They attack and kill people for far less. And the owner will squeal ‘he was just defending his home’.

That’s not to say I think reports should be being ignored, but I think from the police’s perspective its not as simple as sending a single PCSO round for a few words of advice.

It would be like sending them to confront someone who is armed and known to be dangerous.

We’re all saying we avoid and cross the road to get away, and how they can overpower a grown fit adult - I wouldn’t want to confront a hostile owner who is holding the other end of the lead of one.

Yes and there needs to be clear statistics shown about these dogs and their rate of attacks and lethal attacks compared to how many exist. I think a lot of people don't realise how they are much much more dangerous than other dogs and their attacks more likely to kill/seriously injure.

These idiots just think there's an unfair campaign against their fur babies. "he'd never hurt a fly" it's getting laughable now.

In other words, the "Hagrid"s of the world. "Fluffy", anyone?

I had a hell of a time getting the police to take an off lead and unmuzzled XL bully seriously. I had proof it was an XL bully as the owner had plastered its breed all over her FB page. I gave the police the dogs name, address, owners name, times of day it was walked off lead and unmuzzled… nothing was done. I chased it up again weeks later, still nothing done. The police were absolutely useless over the whole thing.

I looked after my own dog’s sister for a day - She was left here with her food ( Butternut Box) her owner’s pillow , treats, plus her sister is here abs me ( whom she knows well) but she still missed her owner and wouldn’t eat anything- and wailed.
It took her a good few hours to settle, but even then her ear was up constantly, listening for her human’s car outside.

She definitely loves her owner.

They won't. That's why the law needs to take charge and demand an immediate cull of all these dogs.

Very true @Errors - it’s easy to say what you’d do with hindsight. I was really surprised that it didn’t flinch when he threw a bin at it, and when another person started hitting it with a spade it still didn’t stop.

I am a 100% signed up dog lover.

But I can't believe the what-aboutery in relation to this breed. So what if it's well trained? So what if other animals/dogs can on occasion cause harm? So what if the deadbeats that own them will just move onto another breed? So what if some animals want to make 'informed' decisions about keeping them? So what if people wouldn't really stick to licensing rules? So what if there are so many of them?

There are countless ways of having a dog that don't include XL bullies. Hell, there are also countless ways to show off to people that you're brainless and think you're a big wheel.

Get rid of term. I've lost dogs due to old age in the past and it's heartbreaking. It would be heartbreaking for people to lose their pet XL bullies for sure. But it's necessary heartbreak. No-one needs an XL bully and no-one should have to live anywhere near one.

To me having an XL bully in a house without children is like having a chainsaw in the house. Or a gun. Or an axe. Or street drugs. Our poison. Or anything explosive or flammable that could explode or cause the house to be engulfed in flames. The likelihood of something going wrong is perhaps heightened but unknown. But the potential impact is devastating.

As a society we're so anxious not to say 'no' to a few idiots that we're putting innocent children and bystanders at serious risk.

I was thinking that, once the mail man was out of the way. But I guess none of us know how we would react in that situation

There is a little pug type dog missing in my neighbourhood tonight. Dogs escape and go in the run. It happens.

I think I’d have tried to hit the dog with my car tbh at that point

Someone said upthread about gouging out the eyes. I thought of that too but would you be able to do it in that moment?
Would carrying a knife help?! A legal carry for the UK of course. I don’t even know whether that would stop one and of course, all the implications that carrying a knife bring!

That video someone posted of the mail man getting attacked was scary. That poor old woman trying to help by basically ‘tapping’ it with a broom! At least the guy who was driving the car managed to get a hammer on the beast and must have caused some damage as it was staggering around after. But then it soon regained its control and went after the old woman! Horrendous!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c36p5xlnxy3o

Why are owners of banned breeds always so reckless - and feckless?

Oh, I wonder if that is to do with the fact that guns are very heavily regulated here, and dogs are not.
Silly comparison.

Dogs kill more people than guns in this country.

Saw one on the tube the other day. With a "drug dealer type" owner and the dog had a collar with ridiculous large spikes on it. No doubt to make the owner look tougher 🙄

Oxytocin does not equal love in the human sense. Trust is another human concept.
Dogs do not have the cognitive ability for these higher emotions. They are responding in the moment to whatever is going on. They don't have the complex memory or ability to think about the future to have those kinds of feelings.
Most dogs will generally be trusting of most people or untrusting of most people depending on their breeding and early life experiences and will get used to new owners very quickly given some tasty food.