American Bully XL to be banned by end of year

[SunshineHello]

Rishi Sunak has just announced these dogs are to be banned.

Good riddance - who needs a big aggressive dog like that? It’s hardly a family pet.

I do however suspect the ven diagram of ‘people that own an American Bully XL’ and ‘people who will be interested in following this law’ may have a limited overlap however.

There’s a young looking Doberman in my village with a stub tail, but then perhaps it was taken off for medical reasons.
The fact is that it needs policing to work.

Anyone know if this applies to Scotland too? Knowing our luck it won't

Because its impossible to enforce. It works for cars because there's anpr cameras and they trigger automatic fines etc, and they have to be driven on public roads or mostly stored on the street

If you take something like microchipping (as is the law currently), it's well known that there remains significant numbers unchipped.

The problem is that the dogs that access vet care etc, come from registered breeders etc don't tend to be the dogs involved in attacks etc. Eg battersea reports that very few dogs they pick up are microchipped because they don't tend to get the responsibly owned dogs

The dogs/owners that would most benefit are the dogs probably less walked in public areas, less likely to be going to the vets, born in the back room of a pub etc. Theres no record of them

There would be serious welfare concerns (and likely increase in dangerous behaviour) if dog licencing prevented dogs from getting vet care when needed, or getting exercise

As I say there's multiple dogs near me with cropped ears that are clearly against the law but there's no action taken...

Most of the owners are utter morons, frankly. They regard such dogs a status symbols.

I'm a dog lover and work with dogs but am glad they're being banned, two of my customers have had their dogs killed by an xl bully and several others have had their dogs attacked.

I'm sure someone will be along to say that chihuahuas bite and yes they do but they don't have the power to kill other dogs or people.

As for how it'll be enforced I hope they don't put them all to sleep as there are many of them who are gentle creatures but I think the minimum they should do is be on lead and muzzled in public and neutered so the breed will naturally die out.

“you have to wonder about the thought process behind buying one of these when you have small children in the house.”

Well, they need something to guard the drug stash.

Yeah, shoot me, whatever.

YES! about time. Never though I'd say this but well done Rishi Sunak and government.

Hope that when this ban starts, neighbours will start reporting those with an XL Bully or even cross breeds

I hate the people more than the dogs.

It's the right thing to do.

yes, it needs to be DNA based to include the cross and bitbull-based dogs.

I’m usually a massive believer of ‘It’s the owners not the dog’ having met some incredibly lovely rotties and some frankly psychotic Bichon Frises but these American XL bullies scare the crap out of me. I’m glad to see a ban but I don’t think it goes far enough.

All dogs should be neutered or spayed unless owner is a registered breeder and there should be more stringent checks on registered breeders. No dog should ever be sold on those godawful websites either. Any dog changing ownership should have to be temperament and health checked by a vet. Lord knows how this would be funded or enforced though 🤷🏼‍♀️

We were at the vets last year and someone brought in their litter of 5xls. They were only small, but they’d been fighting and several of them were bleeding. The vet came to the waiting room and asked what their diet was. Six weeks old and eating pure mince ‘for the protein’. This vets surgery was minutes from Caerphilly, where that poor boy was killed by an xl a few years previously. They are not pets. I’m glad they’re being banned. I cross the road when I see one approach.

Thank god. Lots of people own these dogs in my area and it terrifies me the thought of my DC being mauled by one out playing on the street. They're all adamant they're harmless dogs who wouldn't hurt a fly, how can they be so naive & stupid? Are they really that thick to not understand that the dog could turn aggressive at any moment?

KILL THEM ALL!

The RSPCA are, as so often, worse than useless on this, arguing against breed restrictions:

www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/bsl

Not yet announced

XL bully attacks will still happen though, as no way of getting rid of all existing ones out there and idiots from breeding more

Thank fuck.

The thing is that the people who want them, so they look ‘hard’, will move onto something else.

Great news!

Eg battersea reports that very few dogs they pick up are microchipped because they don't tend to get the responsibly owned dogs

When chipping became mandatory, there was a big drop in the number of dogs handed in, because they could be much more easily reunited with their owners.

So of course the only ones they get now are those

• chip has failed technically
• owner/keeper has not updated their contact details with the chip company and so cannot be traced
• stolen and chip removed (you can tell DIY jobs by the scarring)
• never chipped

Exactly. It should be done but in 5 years it'll be another "breed" that is the dog of choice for certain people.

There also needs to be massive regulation around breeding in general. So many people are breeding dogs which aren't dangerous but have limb deformities or terrible breathing issues. See the link ( not about XL bullies, but unfortunate pocket bulldogs who were the result of backyard breeding and had to be euthanized.

There MUST be better regulation.

https://twitter.com/BullyWatchUK/status/1701294244030238721?t=G41MnzethVcj-9wMdfFoUQ&s=19

I think there are a lot who are owned by people who bought them purely to breed and make a lot of money from them, as they boast about being from “famous lines” (always with ridiculous and chavtastic names within the line 🙄)

What happens next? To these owners frantically try and breed now before the new rules come in? Or has their value already dropped as a result ot this? (I hope so)

Will recuse centres be able to take them? As a lot or these idiots will lose interest if they realise they can’t turn the profit they expected.

This will be an amendment to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

As for what happens to existing dogs - from Wikipedia -

The process for getting a Section 1 dog exempted includes proving to the court that the dog is not a danger to public safety, that it is owned by a 'fit and proper' person to be in charge of a dog, that the dog is already neutered and microchipped,[Note 1] and that the owner has obtained third-party insurance that would cover an incident of bodily injury or death of a person caused by the dog. Ongoing conditions include keeping the dog at the address listed, notifying of address changes, notifying of the death or export of the dog, keeping the dog muzzled and on a lead in public places, keeping the dog securely to prevent escape, and maintaining all previous conditions for the life of the dog.[18]

The Act established the Index of Exempted Dogs and the Animal Welfare section of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) oversees the administration of the Act and the Index.[16]

Initially, dogs born before 30 November 1991 were eligible to be put on the Index of Exempted Dogs (a grandfather clause). Applications were received for over 8,000 dogs; 5,223 dogs received their Certificate of Exemption.[19] Dogs born after 30 November 1991 were not eligible to be on the Index, and it was expected the Index would cease after the death of the last of the original 5,223 dogs. However, the 1997 amendments expanded eligibility, effectively continuing the Index. As of 2015, there were 3,001 Pit bull terriers on the Index, 6 Dogo Argentinos, 0 Fila Brasilieros, and 3 Japanese Tosas.[20] As of 2018, there were 3,514 Pit bull terriers, 3 Japanese Tosas, 13 Dogo Argentinos, and 0 Fila Brazilieros.[21]

It will be interesting to see how many pass the 'fit and proper person' test and how many pass the temperament test.

And when a breed becomes a breed of choice, for shall we say certain types, the breeding floodgates open and potentially a breed that if bred responsibly- ie for positive traits - is perfectly sound, soon turns into something way off what a pet should be. And here we are. Of course humans have caused this, but unsound dogs have no place and so breeding has got to be taken extremely seriously, and quickly. You can probably guarantee that the next hard nut dog type has been chosen and breeding already underway, so this needs to be fast.