Play date in XL Bully house

That was my exact first thought

Also a ‘no’ and with the honesty that it’s because of the dog and nothing else.

Be totally honest and don’t pretend your child is scared of the dog. Explain that it’s you that have the concerns and invite them to you instead.
As an animal lover and dog owner , I do believe it isn’t the breed that’s the issue. I know several and they are all fantastic dogs. Unfortunately, their huge power makes any reaction potentially fatal so I would be concerned too.
If it was someone I knew well, had seen the dog interacting with my child more than once and had explained to my child how to behave I would be ok with it. Otherwise no for me. The risk is so small but too great.

When I was about 12 my friend had a dog a collie cross, it was fine with me until I went in their house - for some reason I don't know if it was my voice but he did not like me in their house... There is no way I would put my child in the house of such a powerful dog

I'm not so sure it's as simple as there is something wrong with the dog. On the one hand, they have been undeniably responsible for more attacks than any status dog before them. On the other hand, all of the publicized attacks can be pinned down to mismanagement or poor ownership.

The question we need to ask is are these dogs more prone to reacting to mismanagement and if so why? Or are there simply more of them than there were Pitbulls etc?

If we can decipher why this is happening we can start trying to figure out how to prevent happening with the next status dog.

Personally, I think it is a bit of both, poor breeding practices mixed with a massive boost in popularity due to celebrity interest in the "breed" with the added bonus of lockdown resulting in a massive increase of poorly socialized dogs of all breeds.

These poor animals are being dealt like drugs, by known drug dealers and criminals, in some kind of weird pyramid scheme. There was a documentary about it a few years ago (Panorama maybe?) Hapless idiots are being "leased" dogs they are told are worth tens of thousands of pounds on the understanding that they breed from them and the original breeder takes most of the profit. It is something that has never been seen before in backyard breeding and has resulted in a massive, sudden increase in breeding, and now the genie is out of the bottle it's going to be hard to get it back in.

They are breeding for size with no thought to welfare or temperament. The same thing is now happening with the Cane Corso and crosses thereof.

What possessed her to buy one of these dogs??

Is it simply a status symbol?

I hear a lot of 'it's not the dog, it's the owner' twaddle, but most of the people who are attacked/killed are regular families who presumably love the dog and don't mistreat it.
So, i don't see how they're the problem, rather than the smouldering Molotov cocktail they've brought into their home.

I always in the past believed that it wasn't the dog but the stupid owner.I can't with these dogs.

Same here. My sister had a staffie, and I became their biggest advocate because for a long time they had such a bad reputation. She was absolutely adorable and totally changed my perception. I've met so many beautiful staffies, responsibly bred, raised, socialised etc.

XL bullies seem utterly unpredictable, many of them seemingly 'loving family pets' and then completely turning. No way would I want my child around such an unpredictably dangerous breed.

'A dose of reality' - that's exactly what it is.

How can she be so clueless and put her children in harms way like that??
It makes me sick.

Fuck that.

I'm a confident dog owner brought up with big dogs . I wouldn't let it happen but I'd be up front about why .
I read yesterday that 1% of dogs in UK are xl bullies but 75% of dog fatalities are from them. They aren't a dog should be anywhere near kids .
I always in the past believed that it wasn't the dog but the stupid owner.
I can't with these dogs .

I'd agree, based on the videos of "cute" dog/child interactions on Faceache I see, XL Bully owners are not the only dog owners who believe their dog is a "softie", and ignore all the very clear warnings the dog is giving.

99.99% of dog/child videos on Faceache leave me feeling physically ill. The things people put their dogs through to be "cute" and get "likes" on Faceache it's a wonder any child makes it through living with a dog.

Fortunately, most dogs, even XL Bullies, will remove themselves or restrain themselves. You have to remember we only read about the times it went wrong. The Daily Fail et al don't publish anything about the thousands of XL Bullies/Pitbulls/Staffies/status dogs of the moment who lived long and peaceful lives in their families. It's also worth noting that the media gets the breed of the dog wrong in the majority of their reporting. Often the breed cannot be established even by veterinary professionals. 80-something % of dogs who go on to kill are thought to be undetermined crossbreeds, but the Fail et all will always lay the blame on the status dog of the moment.

However, education has been proven to work in places that have trialed it. I can't remember them all, but the Calgary model is often quoted as being the most successful and it places no restrictions on breeds. I'm not sure how well it would scale up to be implemented across an entire country but other countries have implemented education and noted a reduction in attacks. I'd Google/search through old files and notes but I've been awake all night with a chest infection and CBA.

I know of two women who own these dogs. Both have had experience of the criminal justice system, but both now work in prisoner rehabilitation.

Due to their backgrounds, this is not only the sort of work they want to do, it's one of the more limited options available to them.

They live, as they describe it, in "pro crime neighborhoods". They feel safer having these dogs. And yeah, they have kids.

Are they bright, or lovely? Not really. But they're not bad people, and they have their reasons.

@Frequency , what you say is very wise , but from what I have seen of the owners of these dogs . They truly think their “ fur baby “ is a softie cuddle monster, who “ wouldn’t hurt a fly”, so they don’t bother to learn about dog behaviour.

I agree we will soon see a spate of attacks by Cane Corsos. That's not because there is anything wrong with the breed, or they've suddenly turned evil. It's because they're becoming popular with the former XL Bully owners/breeders/twats. The same as Pitbull before them and the same as the x-breed that will come next.

I also agree that they're being crossed with XL Bully types to make bigger dogs but the resulting pups are not Cane Corsos, they are crossbreeds.

And this is precisely why banning breeds will never reduce dog attacks. The issue lies at the other end of the lead. Until we look at that side of things there will always be another "monster" x-breed waiting in the wings to be abused and corrupted by money-grabbing, idiotic thugs.

Most of the advocates against BSL warned that the Cane Corso would be next on the eejit's hitlist before the ban even came in. Anyone who works with dogs could see it coming years ago.

Re: supervising children around animals the point is not to step in after an attack begins but to prevent one by knowing and watching your dog. Very few, if any attacks, come out of the blue. Dogs are very adept at giving clear warnings they are unhappy with something, the problem is we are not very adept at "listening" to them.

If we really want to see a change in the number of attacks we need to start by educating dog owners so they can see the warning signs and take action before it's too late, or better yet, educate them not to put the dog in a situation where they feel the need to give warning signs.

I'm still puzzled at these 'lovely ladies' who have these dogs.

Of all the dog breeds out there they choose an XL Bully.

There is nothing lovely about people who own these dogs and I would have nothing to do with them, not even for play in the park without the dog.

Yes cane corso another nightmare breed. A neighbour of mine 2 doors up had one of these staying with her a few weeks ago (she had a bully dog for a few weeks a couple of years ago as well, which ran into my house jumping about all over the place and scratched my son leg) Anyway I was so worried about this cane corso, it looked and sounded awful. But I thought calm down it’ll get out and bite someone else and then it’ll be gone, and that’s what happened, I came home a few weeks ago and there was a police man pointing a taser at it. Within minutes the street was full of police shouting at people to stay in their houses and cars. They eventually took the bloody thing away. Thank god

The Cane Corso was an extremely rare breed here in the UK until post-Covid. Now we have them on every other street. How do you scale up a population that fast? Outcrossing and inbreeding. One of those outcrosses is the XL and I can tell you that for a fact because I have encountered some of these low life “Corso” breeders - most of whom also used to breed XLs. I’m sure there are people preserving the Cane Corso but I can assure you the majority of “Cane Corso” bought on Pets4Homes or from Scott down the road who just had a lurrrvely litter are mutts. You will surely see loads of dodgy “Corso” attacks as this scales up further after the XL ban.

No, no, no and no.

All these dogs are "lovely" and "wouldn't hurt a fly" until they're not and someone is dead.

It is not worth the risk and I don't think I could be friends with someone who had one of these animals in a home with children.

Precisely!

And when they do the adults can't do anything

Would you let your kid go to a house with a pet tiger?

Same here. Regardless of how many adults are in the room, it takes a second for a dog to pounce!

The dog may be fine with the lady’s children but you just don’t know how it may feel about a child who is not from the dogs family being on its territory. I would not let my young child go. Play date elsewhere?

No, be honest and invite her child to yours.