Woman 19 dies in dog attack

Please report it and keep reporting it till it stops.

It's illegal for these dogs to be unmuzzled in public.

No wonder so many people keep getting killed. The stoopid owners can't follow the simple guidelines.

One tried to go for me just last week! I was walking along a path which winds alongside a narrow and sparse green area between flats. It's a very narrow path only one person can pass at a time and a man was walking towards me with his XL bully on lead.

So I stopped and stood to one side to let them pass out and the dog suddenly lurched towards me growling and barking threateningly and straining against the lead and I just froze dead and put my head down hoping it would see I wasn't a threat. But it kept lurching up towards me and the owner had to put all his strength to stop it and get it to turn around and stop himself from being pulled along also. I was really worried the lead would snap or something!

It wasn't muzzled and we have a lot of them around here, because it's an area with a heritage green space along with several parks so people from further out travel in just to walk their dogs.

It was really scary. There's no way if the owner had been a teen or a woman that it would've been able to control it.

But they ARE “different from any other large breed”, except the small number of other large breeds that have also been specifically bred for aggression, with very intentional in-breeding and line-breeding to maximise that specific trait. That neither your friend, her husband, nor you in her defence, can understand that is one of the reasons we are where we are. And why so many children and adults, known to the dog or complete strangers, have died unimaginably horrific deaths at the jaws of a breed that absolutely has to be wiped out.

I've been a dog owner most of my life and grew up with a German shepherd. I'm very comfortable around dogs, but even I'm extremely wary of these.

My friend lives in a maisonette and her next door neighbour has a dog that looks very much like an XL bully to me and is an un-neutered male. The fences between the gardens are low, a lot lower than waist height, and she's scared to let her small dog out into the garden or go out there herself when the neighbour's dog is in the garden. The dog could get over the fence really easily if it wanted to (even my Lakeland terriers could have got over it, tbh).

She's also scared to report it, for fear of reprisal from the owner. I've considered reporting it myself, but worry that she would get hassle from the owner anyway. She lives on a small estate where there are lots of young kids, and the maisonettes open onto a play area that's full of kids at weekends and during the holidays.

I've thought about reporting it myself, but worry that he might blame her anyway and make her life a misery. He's very volatile and verbally aggressive. It's bloody awful.

These dogs give me anxiety, luckily I haven't come across one when out and about. (yet) Genuinely would feel terrified if I saw one when out with my children, in fact in half term we were at the park and I clocked a dog off lead on its way over, at first glance I thought it was an XL and could feel my heart racing, when it got closer realised it wasn't thank god, may seem over the top to some but they really really scare me.
And I have a GSD. so not afraid of dogs. I've been around Rottweilers & Staffys but think XL bully's are something else. It is the breed, it's in their DNA to kill. They are almost impossible to stop once they attack. That is terrifying.
On that basis 100% wish they could all be PTS!

Water does absolutely nothing according to the many videos- even bear spray in the eyes and up the XL's nose does nothing.

choking it out using a collar high around the neck where it joins the head or a lever used between it's teeth is meant to be the only way- apart from a powerful weapon {firearm} aimed at the dog's chest, NOT the head - {useless advice for UK where guns are illegal for the average man and woman}.

I was waiting for the vet in Pets at Home a few weeks ago and a guy with an XL was waiting to see the vet. The dog was muzzled but was just growling and haunched up. His owner was right in front of him stroking him behind his ears and saying 'calm down, calm down' over and over again,, but the dog at least 3 times, went a bit crazy barking, growling trying to get away and he had to restrain it. Especially when someone walked in with another dog.

It was fucking terrifying.

I was so glad I didn't have a cat or dog or child with me - I was just picking up a prescription.

I felt so sorry for any vet would might have to unmuzzle the dog and check its mouth for example. How can they even do that safely?
It's not fair on the vets. They are being put in a very, very awkward and dangerous position.

It's interesting what people are saying about 'dead behind the eyes' because I have often said that about certain breeds of little/toy dogs - I just couldn't relate to them like I do with the various retrievers and GSD we have always had who have been, without exception for over 50 years, easy to train and eager to please and fit into the family and great with children of all sizes. Small toy dogs IME just don't have the same 'look' and were often quite vicious but because they were small it didn't 'matter' as much.

Strangers - our children's friends and their parents/tradesmen/deliverymen - can walk into my house even if we are not home - and the retrievers - even entirely males - just welcome them in as people to play with. Useless guard dogs.

My parents had a rescued toy poodle and it was just nuts - would pick a fight it had no chance of winning for no apparent reason with her baffled retrievers. One of my flat coats was attacked by five Yorkshire terriers whilst on a walk - laughable really but only because they were tiny - he didn't even react to them as if they were another dog

But put that attitude into a 50kg monster dog with massive jaws and it is very scary indeed. I cannot fathom why anyone would want that liability in the home.

I'm curious. Can a vet decline any potential patient?

Has it been confirmed that the 84 year old man has died? I read he was in hospital, that's so awful for his family if he's died. I hope the owner of the dog is charged.

They all need putting down. I can't see a shift in attitudes so this could ever happen, though.

The police round here do nothing about known unlicensed XL bullies. I think they are too in fear of the owners and the other nutters who back up 'dog's rights' 🙄 a quick glance at the local force's FB page will leave you in no doubt that we on MN seem to be in the minority of public opinion. Most posts attract idiotic, non-related 'should be out catching criminals not demonising dogs', 'if it were any other breed you wouldn't hear about dog attacks, protect our bullies' type comments. There would be uproar if the police actually did anything about these killing machines. Ridiculous and I think it will have to come down to vigilantism if things continue as they are.

they are like something from a horror film. That poor man, what a terrifying and horrific end to his life. I feel sick everytime I hear about yet another attack, the terror and agony that the victims go though is appalling and yet people still make out that these things make good pets!

I don't think water would do anything at all with XL's.

The police fired 19 bullets into the two XL's that attacked the 84 year old on Tuesday - they only stopped attacking after being shot nearly 10 times each.

They all need culling now.

The problem with the laws as they are now is that the vast majority of people who own these dogs don't like to abide by the law.

Most of the owners are poorly educated, lack critical or even common sense thinking. They have a fear or dislike of any sort of governance be it schools, social services, the police etc. They see it as 'the baddies' against their 'good boys/girls'. They don't have the ability to understand that all the other owners of these dogs thought the same as them. They are not people who make good decisions and the safety of the greater public should not to be allowed to be put into these people's hands.

@Twilight5 this is awful I would definitely try again and get this sorted. I am also in Scotland and the police are bloody useless with XL bully reporting. I've reported the one that's walked on the farm road near my house (unmuzzled) which the owner can barely control. They have it on a rope FFS! Not even a proper lead. This is a popular farm road in the local area for walkers, dog walkers, people with babies in prams, toddlers, runners. I no longer go for a walk with my toddler now I've encountered it too many times and it terrifies me. Police did nothing, said if I couldn't prove it was an XL also because I didn't know the person, where they lived or name then they couldn't follow it up. Even though I gave them the exact time the owner walks the thing.

We went to a museum in Glasgow with the kids last year and we were walking back to our car when there was an XL bully on a lead, the muzzle off, hanging down under its neck. It's owner was effing and blinding at his (I presume) girlfriend who was swearing back at him and the dog was straining at the lead, barely controlled. It looked straight at me and I felt like i was staring into a void. Blankness, no emotion. Absolutely terrifying. We walked as fast as we could without obviously running and I picked up my toddler and got into the car. The owner didn't even notice. You could see people actively running away or changing direction.

Awful, awful animals. Inbred by humans. They all need to go. And I say this as an animal lover.