Police patting an XL bully

[Unsurprisedyetsurprised]

Well it’s finally happened! The local XL bully owner (who has never muzzled his dog, including today and walks it on an extendable line - despite it being aggressive to other dogs) encountered two police officers on his walk today along the seafront. Everyone in the smallish village knows him - he’s the only bloody one with that breed and, he’s proud of it (boasting loudly)

Shock and horror - the police said nothing, about it being unmuzzled and worse than that, they then patted the vicious little bastard and said how lovely it was!!

Anyone who knows anything about dogs - tbh even anyone who didn’t - could tell what this dog was. But did the police do anything? No. Instead they went on to bother the local (very harmless) homeless man who had been asleep on a bench nearby - asked him to move on! He’s been around for about ten years and is so completely harmless. But something actually illegal and a nuisance? No. Let’s pat it on the bloody head.

I’ve long had a low opinion of the police but this really took the biscuit!!

TBH, I think the police should have to take away suspect dogs and the onus of proving what it is should be on the owner. So unless the owner can prove it’s not a pitbull, XL Bully etc etc, it stays in a pound or is put down.

And I’d enlarge the list of banned breeds a lot as well. We have too many large and potentially lethal dogs around.

Aren't you a delight....

Everyone thinks my dog is a husky. She has similar colouring/markings but she's twice the size/weight of any husky I've known.

They may have said something to him? But they won't be able to remove the dog instantly and I'm not sure what result not petting the dog would've achieved. Did you want them to slap or hit it for existing? It's hardly the dog's fault it is on the planet or owned by a moron.

Well, I’m against people being bitten, mauled or killed by dogs, if that’s what you mean.

They’re not that distinct looking given that so many people seem to get it wrong.

Banning breeds doesn't work. It never has and it never will, but we are too stupid to learn.

When they banned the Pitbull, people created a new crossbreed, the XL Bully. Now they've been banned, people are crossing Cane Corsos to create a new crossbreed. Once that crossbreed is banned, they'll start on something else.

If we ever want things to change, we need to learn.

But it does work. The number of people killed by pitbulls is now close to nil. And soon enough there won’t be any XLs running around causing damage either.

I do agree that we’ve been too cautious about dog breed bans though, so the unscrupulous have taken advantage. There are loads that could be added straightaway, like all bull breeds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Alsatian-type dogs, and so on.

It's not because they're ugly or someone doesn't like how they look, it's because they're potentially dangerous. Owning a breed that makes someone nervous is asbo behaviour when we all live in such close proximity in this country.

Also, the only way we could ever categorize a crossbreed is through a tape measure, which will never be accurate. All dogs, even pedigrees, are crosses somewhere down the line. A DNA test from one dog to another, even within the same litter, would have different results for each puppy.

The same thing is true with a measuring tape. Even within the same litter size can vary wildly. We bred a litter of pedigree chihuahuas. The stud was KC registered from a long line of champions and a perfect example of the breed. The bitch was not KC registered but her parents were and she was also a perfect example of the breed bar her coloring. We did all the relevant health tests and ensured the stud and bitch were not closely related.

Out of the 6 pups, one is too small to be categorized as a chihuahua according to the breed standard, and one is three times the size of a chihuahua according to the breed standard and looks more like a staffy cross than a chihuahua.

Wow - that's quite scary.

Sounds like the guidance should be based on bloodwork then - not sizing.

A few weeks ago South Wales police did several suspected XL Bully seizing operations from people's homes. Some were XL, some weren't and returned. But they all looked similar- so you can't always tell just by looking.

It’s utterly bizarre that you feel so strongly about this but when you had the opportunity to raise your concerns you brought them to an anonymous, generic internet forum rather than speak to anybody involved who could put your mind at rest 🤷‍♀️

There's another dog in the area that is totally out of control but quite small so probably doesn't meet the size guides. He is like a demon dog and not neutered. He's always leashed but his prey drive is so strong and he has no attachment to his owner.

We strongly suspect he is a sibling because he looks very similar to my BIL dogs who are nearly identical to each other. He's just smaller than them both.

That dog needs to be euthanized. There is no hope for him at all. They seem to walk him but what he's used for between walks I dread to think.

Would you say they are all chihuahuas?

Yorkies make me nervous. I'm sure other people too. Surely our disposition shouldn't influence legislation

It’s a small village with less than 600 people live here. That’s it. We all know each other. This isn’t some random person I saw on the street - this person is known to me and the village (in part because they’re a little scumbag). He was incredibly proud when he bought it a few years ago and dragged it into the village pup daily until he was asked to leave (because it kept lunging at other dogs).

And I work in a dog rescue so I know XL Bullies as we had quite a few dumped pre-change in laws. The characteristics, one you are familiar are with them, are as easy to differentiate as Great Dane and a Cocker Spaniel.

@MyOliveHelper I know they all are. I bred them. We own both the bitch and the stud and have met both of the bitch's parents and the stud's mother and seen all their paperwork.

The breeders of both are heavily involved in showing their dogs and are part of the local breed clubs.

The little one looks like a chihuahua. The bigger one looks like a crossbreed, which is impossible. We often get asked what he is crossed with, and told we've been ripped off when we say he is a purebred chihuahua.

Yeah well that's my point, IF they were planning to ban XLs, they'd need a pretty solid idea of what constitutes an XL on a genetic level.

If I was in charge of banning chihuahuas, all of those pups would be in the ban, because they're from a line of chihuahuas. Even if they couldn't go to Crufts.

Perhaps they should have shot it instead? What do you want the police to do?

We have one near us that is always unmuzzled and drags its owner about. It’s been reported and nothing has been done yet.

Do their jobs and assure the law is abided by?

It’s literally what they are paid to do…

I’m a police officer and I wouldn’t know an XL bully. It’s not as if we would get a training session where the points of the breed would be highlighted. Do they have specific colour ways for example. I saw a very hefty dog this morning who I was suspicious had some mastiff in the breeding but no it was just a fat silver Labrador so shows how much I know. If you report it then someone does in fact have to consider the question even if they don’t appear to do anything.

What's to say they weren't gaining further info from the owner? Have you reported it?

Maybe the police don’t think it’s an XL bully?

I work with dogs like you and have met a few registered XL’s but I honestly don’t think I would know one for sure if I saw it in the street.

But how would you prove they were chihuahuas if I denied it? That's my point. Neither of them meets the size requirements, and as I said, no dog is 100% of any breed, even pedigrees were crossbreeds at some point in time. A DNA test of mine would have varying degrees of Chihuahua and other ancient (or more modern, maybe) breeds.

Wherever you set the limit, on DNA or measurements, you are going to exclude genuine pedigree chihuahuas and include innocent breeds with little to no actual chihuahua in them.

On top of this, DNA testing for dogs is expensive, time-consuming, and unreliable.

Variations within breeds are bigger in relatively new crossbreeds like the XL Bully.

Well this is why I don't agree with a breed based ban at all, really, because IMO, it doesn't deal with problematic dogs. But yeah, if I was in charge and had to go with this plan, I'd need DNA and some sort of ancestry where possible. That would be the most accurate but still very inaccurate way of doing it.