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Original poster

Police patting an XL bully

143 replies

Unsurprisedyetsurprised · 03/05/2025 09:11

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!!

OP posts:
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WinterMorn · 03/05/2025 12:33

Rummly · 03/05/2025 11:11

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.

Show quote history

You don’t have clue what you are talking about.

WinterMorn · 03/05/2025 12:35

Unsurprisedyetsurprised · 03/05/2025 11:34

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.

It’s hard to believe that you work in a dog rescue given the way you speak about dogs.

MyOliveHelper · 03/05/2025 12:39

WinterMorn · 03/05/2025 12:35

It’s hard to believe that you work in a dog rescue given the way you speak about dogs.

Show quote history

I wouldn't be. Our local rescue says that people shouldn't be bothered about breed at all if they really want a dog. They should just trust who they match them with as they are experts.

hattie43 · 03/05/2025 12:41

Give over , police pat dog on head , nice to see I would have thought .

Rummly · 03/05/2025 12:42

WinterMorn · 03/05/2025 12:33

You don’t have clue what you are talking about.

Edited
Show quote history

Dogs. I’m talking about dogs.

drivinmecrazy · 03/05/2025 12:44

Divebar2021 · 03/05/2025 11:48

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.

not helpful to the debate, but silver labs are the bane of my life.
where I live they are rampant.
we have a Weimaraner and am regularly asked if he’s a silver lab.
fecks me right off 😝

WinterMorn · 03/05/2025 12:45

Rummly · 03/05/2025 12:42

Dogs. I’m talking about dogs.

Show quote history

Yep….and you don’t have a clue

NeverDropYourMooncup · 03/05/2025 12:45

Interesting writing voice.

You didn't bump into your kid's old teacher on a night out recently, did you?

FrogsLoveRain · 03/05/2025 13:11

To the PP upthread who seemed to insinuate the police should have done something about it there and then I don't think appreciate the amount of coordinated effort it took with the SW police to seize the dogs it did.

There were videos on FB. The police went in heavy handed as they didn't know what trouble would arise. Police dog vans. Police riot/ Maria vans for the stereotypical XL owners who were out in the street fing and blinding at the police. Plus c6 police officers. I really wouldn't have been surprised if firearms vans were lurking nearby either if it all got out of control. It was a large scale effort were multiple homes were visited.

Then there were all the FB posters who were commenting "hope u r OK hun. Lucifer is like a baby. He wouldn't hurt a fly" etc etc.

Hopefully, the officers stroked him then went back to their station to run checks on the dog - then added him to the next list of police seizing if they have concerns.

TheHappyBug · 03/05/2025 13:22

The dog ban has been going on awhile now, perhaps the dog has already been assessed and falls just short of the criteria.

Hence Smug McThug parading it around knowing he is untouchable.

notnorman · 03/05/2025 13:36

It’s mainly based on height at the withers. I had a right game measuring my staffy cross to check whether he was tall enough (he was 1cm too short)

also- agree with the police playing the long game.

notnorman · 03/05/2025 13:37

NeverDropYourMooncup · 03/05/2025 12:45

Interesting writing voice.

You didn't bump into your kid's old teacher on a night out recently, did you?

🫣🤣🤣

SalfordQuays · 03/05/2025 14:10

Did you go over and ask the police why they’d done that OP?

MrsSkylerWhite · 03/05/2025 14:12

blueirisesinspring · 03/05/2025 09:21

lol at these

have you reported it - to the police?

how do you know it’s an XL bully - probably same way you know what an elephant or a cat is Hmm

Quite

AlmostSummer25 · 03/05/2025 14:18

Frequency · 03/05/2025 09:31

You cannot tell a dog is an XL bully on sight, so no, the police did not know what it was. Like the pitbull, an XL bully is a crossbreed categorized by a set of measurements, so unless you have measured it, you don't know either.

Some of them may be borderline, due to measurements and what not.

But some of them unmistakable.

AlmostSummer25 · 03/05/2025 14:24

Rummly · 03/05/2025 10:55

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.

Nope

I wouldn't agree with the police being able to take away any dog they decide as an excel bully (or whatever). Some of them are thicker than mince, and I would not want a dog being taken away by them.

HappiestSleeping · 03/05/2025 14:37

Rummly · 03/05/2025 11:11

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.

Show quote history

You are actually proving something different here. The ban of pitbulls stated that they should be neutered in exactly the same way that XL Bully's should be, so you'd think they would have died out by now, and yet their numbers have increased. The fact that there are more pitbulls now than there were when they were banned and yet the number of attacks (especially fatal attacks) have reduced, could be taken as evidence that they were not as dangerous as they were once thought to be. It could then be extrapolated that XL's may not be either.

As it happens, I don't necessarily subscribe to that as, while there is a lot to be said for the problem being mostly the owner and not the dog, the frankenbreeds are not helpful.

Breed bans do not work, regulating breeders and the outlets to stop people buying badly bred dogs from Facebook etc would be far more effective.

RanchRat · 03/05/2025 14:44

Some people are very fond of dogs and like to pat them.

CamillaMacauley · 03/05/2025 15:04

blueirisesinspring · 03/05/2025 09:21

lol at these

have you reported it - to the police?

how do you know it’s an XL bully - probably same way you know what an elephant or a cat is Hmm

Yes, I asked if she’d reported it and yes I meant to the police. Personally I wouldn’t have done but I also wouldn’t whinge about the police “not doing anything “ if i hadn’t reported it. Shit or get off the pot. 👍.

Maybe the dog has been reported before and isn’t an xl bully, it’s ok saying it’s obvious but there’s fairly strict measurement criteria i believe for a dog “of type”. Maybe he doesn’t meet the criteria and the police know this. Or maybe the police haven’t a clue and it hasn’t crossed their mind it might be an xl bully. Who knows? Oh, the OP would if she reported it and actually discussed the situation with the police.

Herewegoagainandagainandagain · 03/05/2025 15:11

Report it instead of whining about it. Take a photo as evidence next time you see it. 🤷‍♀️

What will actually be achieved just posting about it?

Rummly · 03/05/2025 15:30

HappiestSleeping · 03/05/2025 14:37

You are actually proving something different here. The ban of pitbulls stated that they should be neutered in exactly the same way that XL Bully's should be, so you'd think they would have died out by now, and yet their numbers have increased. The fact that there are more pitbulls now than there were when they were banned and yet the number of attacks (especially fatal attacks) have reduced, could be taken as evidence that they were not as dangerous as they were once thought to be. It could then be extrapolated that XL's may not be either.

As it happens, I don't necessarily subscribe to that as, while there is a lot to be said for the problem being mostly the owner and not the dog, the frankenbreeds are not helpful.

Breed bans do not work, regulating breeders and the outlets to stop people buying badly bred dogs from Facebook etc would be far more effective.

Show quote history

Pitbulls have had to be exempted and, if they are, they have to be muzzled and leashed, don’t they?

Interesting about the increase. Where do the numbers come from?

bugalugs45 · 03/05/2025 15:42

Unsurprisedyetsurprised · 03/05/2025 11:34

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.

You know 600 people ? Like all by name ?
Give over . Proper village mentality here, glad I don’t live there!

HappiestSleeping · 03/05/2025 15:47

Rummly · 03/05/2025 15:30

Pitbulls have had to be exempted and, if they are, they have to be muzzled and leashed, don’t they?

Interesting about the increase. Where do the numbers come from?

Show quote history

Yes, the rules for pit bulls were exactly the same as they are for XL's. Neutered, muzzled etc. So one would have expected them to have long since disappeared as the ban was instigated in 1991.

Figures come from the government list of registered exempted dogs. It is curious that there is no additional exploration into how these instances came to be since it is illegal to import or breed. The only legitimate instances would be pit bulls over 35 years old, and they would be a medical marvel. Also, there will be unregistered dogs too, especially as they are no longer in the public consciousness.

I can't find the link immediately, but I researched it after a previous thread on here regarding banned breed, also to put forward the view that banning a breed does not work.

Ultimately, and not to minimise the experiences of anyone affected, the instances of attacks are so few in the grand scheme of things, the government have other things to deal with that are higher on their list of priorities, so banning breeds keeps the masses quiet sufficiently for them not to give it any further attention.

Rummly · 03/05/2025 16:00

HappiestSleeping · 03/05/2025 15:47

Yes, the rules for pit bulls were exactly the same as they are for XL's. Neutered, muzzled etc. So one would have expected them to have long since disappeared as the ban was instigated in 1991.

Figures come from the government list of registered exempted dogs. It is curious that there is no additional exploration into how these instances came to be since it is illegal to import or breed. The only legitimate instances would be pit bulls over 35 years old, and they would be a medical marvel. Also, there will be unregistered dogs too, especially as they are no longer in the public consciousness.

I can't find the link immediately, but I researched it after a previous thread on here regarding banned breed, also to put forward the view that banning a breed does not work.

Ultimately, and not to minimise the experiences of anyone affected, the instances of attacks are so few in the grand scheme of things, the government have other things to deal with that are higher on their list of priorities, so banning breeds keeps the masses quiet sufficiently for them not to give it any further attention.

Show quote history

Thank you. I found an FOI that shows that there were then 3,079 pitbulls on the exempted list in Feb 2024. So there aren’t many (there were then 38,424 XL Bullies on the list).

Presumably, then, the number of pitbulls must have gone down a lot from pre-ban numbers.

No doubt there are quirks in all this. But I don’t believe you can say that pitbull attacks and killings haven’t been effectively curtailed by the ban, or that pitbulls may be less dangerous than thought.

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