Are those smaller bully dogs as vicious as the xl type?

[downwithmaterialistdogma]

I came out of a client's house yesterday and went out of the back gate and started to walk along the lane to my car. A man was standing there with two smaller bully dogs talking to someone over their gate. As soon as he saw me he dropped the dogs leads and carried on talking. The dogs were both watching me. The man kept looking at me and saw me standing there a few metres away as I didn't know what to do.

I called out to him to ask him if he would pick the dogs leads up. I was polite and non confrontational and just wanted to go home. He started saying they were soft and wouldn't hurt anyone. I said that I wasn't to know that. He then said they'd be muzzled if they were dangerous. I then walked past and went to my car.

I know these dogs aren't included in with the xl bully type, but aren't they the same apart from smaller in stature?

I don't know why owners automatically assume that everyone knows everything about every dog out there and we can magically tell the vicious ones from the friendly kind 🙄 why do they have to argue?

No, they aren't all the same. It really depends on what type of dog it was. The XL Bully was originally bred as a companion dog, however it has been bastardised so much that there are known temperament traits. Any dog with bad breeding could suffer from the same thing, however the XLs are capable of inflicting a lot more damage than, say, a chihuahua.

That said, it is also unacceptable for an owner to allow his dog to make someone feel uncomfortable, especially in the street.

I have a Labrador but generally make him sit or wait as other people pass by and he is usually put back on a lead too. Not everyone wants to be slobbered over.

If it is of any consolation, there is statistically a very low chance of you being attacked by a dog in the street. It does happen, but you are more likely to be hit by a bus. An air of confidence walking past them will help even if you don't feel it inside.

No they're not but that guy sounds weird, why would he drop the lead?

Any dog can be aggressive especially with people they don't know so that guy was being a dick in dropping the lead.

Any dog can be vicious. A Labrador near me bit a child it lived with.

But, if you asked it for him to hold the lead, and he refused, chances are his dogs are aggressive IMO - because people with well trained normal dogs wouldn't have had an issue (because they're not scumbags). The sorts of people scumbags who get confrontational and/or say shit like 'they're so friendly' or 'they're so soft - they're nanny dogs' often have the most aggressive and unpredictable dog.

Like dog like owner IME.

Dogs are not always trustworthy, however cute and friendly their owners think they are, and whatever the size of the animal.

Personally, I would usually take dropping the lead as a sign that the person feels the dogs will stay put because he's standing still.

Leads aren't just about restraining dogs, they are a means of non verbal communication between the owner and the dog. If a dog is on the lazy side, the lead helps it know that it's time to move and dropping it means you don't have to move now.

Your description doesn't indicate that the dogs made any move to approach you when he put the lead down. They just looked 🤷‍♀️

Yep. I often take our neighbours dog out, unlike my own dog the neighbours uses a lead, a dropped lead means we’re staying here for a bit, holding the leads mean we’re going somewhere etc. So he will sit/lay and waiting nicely if the lead is on the floor, if you’re holding it he is more likely to try to walk upto to someone for a sniff as he’s in ‘lets go’ mode.

OP from your description I can’t see an argument anywhere.

My dog was twice almost killed by small bully dog, I had to throw fucking dog over fence to the road below so owner learns to keep him on a lead.
Original pitt bulls are small.

Original pitt bulls are small.

And also banned in the UK. This clearly worked as a strategy though as there more of them now than there were when they went on the banned list 🤦‍♂️

I would ban them, staffies and all simmilar dogs tbh. Problem is that many look alike and you would need to dnk every single one of them.
Never met sane owner of these dogs.

Staffies are lovely, but I agree about the owners of Pit Bulls, XLs etc.

Pit Bulls (Pitbulls?) were banned in 1991 which should have meant the breed died out. There are more in the UK today than there were in 1991, so banning them doesn't really work. Tighter controls on breeders and how dogs are bought and sold would be much more effective.

Do you have any data that today there are more pitts then when they got banned?
I am surprised as imo pts would quite quickly end the breed efficiently.

STAFFIES are NOT lovely - to strangers and other pets they can be VERY dangerous. ONE KILLED my friends toy dog outright. Another went for my cat and would have killed it easily, Those jaws. Bred for aggression. They can be nice and loyal to selfish owners, of course, but that’s part of the problem.

The English used to breed “working dogs”, like golden retrievers and spaniels, or the lovely collies for sheep herding. Also a few toy dogs and small terriers. Now we have imported all these awful Staffordshire bull terriers and pit bulls from the US with a massive jaws and aggressive DNA. Horrible, they blight every urban landscape and rural ones too. It will only get worse. People have lost all sense of responsibility to others, only thinking of themselves and what they like and they want.

Because the selfish owners get away with it. Because none of these laws are ever enforced. Because of the obsession with individual rights of the stupid and selfish over the rights of the majority.

I will see if I can dig it out. If I recall correctly it was an RSPCA stat.

They didn't put them to sleep, they were all supposed to be neutered and not bred from, hence would eventually cease to exist on their own. That's the plan with XLs, but it won't work for the same reason.

All bully breeds are bulldogs, bred to fight bulls, they aren't nanny dogs or bred for companionship but fighting

Agreed. Only bred as companion dogs in the same way as some other breeds. I was meaning to differentiate that they (arguably) didn't start out as Frankendogs, that has been added in recent years by idiots.

I don't understand why UK dog owners are not obliged by law to have their dogs chipped and registered with their DNA like they do in Germany and Austria. Even if the dog is a mixed breed, it will be chipped and registered to an owner (of a fixed address).

I don't know if it is all states in Germany, but from what I understand and was told, the dog has to have a collar with a registered number that the local community police offer can check (or ask the owner to say out loud). This number for the pet indicates that the owner has or hasn't paid their dog tax for the year (!), or if their DNA has been found in poo (!!) uncleared. I mean, what a job. But seriously, there must be some sense made out of this whole system.

Assuming you are talking about staff's? They too are one of the "best family" dogs but also more so these days as a trophy dog.

He should have pulled them back, softies or not. I have an American bulldog, he's not an xl bully but 50kg of bouncing stupidness and thinks he's a chihuahua......he's always on a short lead when near other people, even though I know all he wants to do is bum wiggle and lick you.

Gibraltar also followed suit....purely because of the amount of dog shit not picked up.

Oh, here we go. I knew this is what would happen when XL type breeds were banned. How boring being right all the time...

And the xl bully is made up of 3 bulldog genetics.....its not a breed in its own right. Technically its a mongrel. However the breed line can be predicted the same way as collies and labs. I know breeders of both and have heard many a story on rejecting a stud or bitch due to unwanted behaviours.

However, ultimately like EVERY SINGLE DOG it's down to the training.

Aren’t Staffordshire Bull Terries from Staffordshire? Not America.

Yes...2 completely different breeds. And the staff (uk) was a nanny dog.to protect.

The most vicious dog I've come across in my line of work is chihuahuas! And Jack Russell's.....the bigger breeds staff's, mastiffs, cane corsos, rottweilers etc have all been cuddle monsters.....because they have been trained well.

I have a lab that comes to my work, he's a grade A arsehole and id never turn my back on him! But i also know his owner...enough said.

Thanks!

The plan is too lenient.
Treat it like owning weapon, dog pts and prison time plus hefty fine.
People would quickly stop.

He was using his dogs to intimidate you so that makes him an irresponsible dog owner from the start I’d say. Would an irresponsible owner gave trained their dogs well and socialised them with people and other dogs?
My dog could possibly kill someone by licking them to death but if anyone, anywhere asked me to put him on a lead on it’d go, even though he’ll walk to heel off lead, stop, sit, go, lie down on command. I don’t want anyone to feel nervous of my dog.