Dogs… To think it doesn’t matter whether it’s a legal breed or not?!

[MsWalterMitty]

Just read about the recent child death in St Helen’s. It’s so awful!

The breed of dog has been released and it turns out it’s not an illegal breed. It’s called an American Bully XL, never heard of it so I googled it, even though I had an idea what it might look like due to its name.

Surely, whether it’s legal or not, this dog seems like a really stupid choice for a family!

The illegal dogs list is stupid.

What is also stupid is getting a dog you have no hope of controlling if it decides otherwise and putting it with a child.

I could snap my lovely dog in half as soon as look at him. He's a great family pet. 100lbs of sheer muscle with a bite that can kill in one? Not a family dog.

Googled it and one of the websites said it was ideal for families. Also I don't think it's at all helpful to anyone to call it a stupid choice. They are suffering so much right now.

Any breed can go for someone. Any dog in fact. My least favourite breed is miniature pinschers. Right bastards. But they couldn't kill my child. And I could stop an attack if they tried.

And I'm sorry but now is the time to talk about it because now is the time another family considering a dog might choose a chihuahua rather than a pit bull.

They'd had him a week and I think bought the dog off the internet

So not even raised in their family.

@MrsTerryPratchett

Any breed can go for someone. Any dog in fact. My least favourite breed is miniature pinschers. Right bastards. But they couldn't kill my child. And I could stop an attack if they tried.

And I'm sorry but now is the time to talk about it because now is the time another family considering a dog might choose a chihuahua rather than a pit bull.

Fair enough. I personally won't have a dog in the house with my child.

Yes any dog can attack but it’s never poodles found to have killed a child!!! Let’s be honest there’s a list of about 5 breeds who come up time and time again.

That list of five breeds are the most common dogs ....

Staffies, labs, retrievers...

@MrsTerryPratchett

Any breed can go for someone. Any dog in fact. My least favourite breed is miniature pinschers. Right bastards. But they couldn't kill my child. And I could stop an attack if they tried.

And I'm sorry but now is the time to talk about it because now is the time another family considering a dog might choose a chihuahua rather than a pit bull.

Absolutely right. Because every time a dog kills a child it is always a pit bull type thing. I don't care if "more Yorkshire terriers bite than any other breed" or whatever trite crap gets trotted out, it's always, always a dog like this one that causes desths.

I'm not sure that proportional. Huskies and Akitas regularly come up and aren't that common. They are very strong though.

Labs and retrievers? I honestly don’t recall any incidents of them attacking children. Is that actually true?

When I was at school my best friend's mum decided to get a shih tzu. The mum took the dog to work. It mauled a child who came in the shop where she worked. Child had life changing injuries and the dog was put down.

A shih tzu. (Sp?)

All dogs have capability of being dangerous, it's not the breed necessarily.

Oh god that poor child - I can’t believe ANYONE could look at an XL bully and think that was a suitable pet to have around any children at all.

It really should be illegal to own those too

@catgirl1976

Labs and retrievers? I honestly don’t recall any incidents of them attacking children. Is that actually true?

Thank you was going to ask this, you beat me to it ? And we’re not talking bites, talking about killing!

When has a lab killed a child ?

I agree op and am sick to my back teeth of the dog lovers trilling about "there are no bad dogs only bad owners". This bullshit doesn't help the people mauled to death (let alone other animals) in any way does it?

I'd be willing to bet more people have been killed by dogs in the UK in the last 5 years than people killed by sharks in Australia in the same time.

YANBU these American bulldogs desperately need to be added to the list. They are SO dangerous and have had newsworthy reports involving killing of children so much this year. This is the 2nd recent killing by an American bulldog of a child and I can't believe its being ignored. Why the fuck would you want an animal like that in your house!

I think anyone buying a random dog off the Internet, as an adult aged dog, and mixing it with a 17 month old child is at best naive and at worst dangerous.

However, the parents have paid the most devastating price. They don't need the world to tell them they should never have bought the dog, they will hate themselves for the rest of their lives for doing so.

Don't beat people at the worst point in their lives

@Justgorgeous

When has a lab killed a child ?

A Jack Russel killed a baby a few years back.

American bullies and xl bullies should be banned. They've been the culprits in every recent high profile attack on children. They're poorly bred, and the focus is absolutely not on temperament, just on breeding them bigger and stronger. Invariably they have names like Tank, Beast, Machete, Monster and Demon. One dog that killed a child recently had been bred from and had at least 10 puppies out there, passing on its genetics. They're the canine personification of toxic masculinity. They serve no real purpose apart from a status dog, they're not safe to be in society and should be banned.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Yes any dog can attack but it’s never poodles found to have killed a child!!! Let’s be honest there’s a list of about 5 breeds who come up time and time again.

It's fuck all to with breeding. It's all to do with fucking idiotic adults leaving babies alone with dogs.

Well Jack Russells are nasty, yappy little fuckers but @Justgorgeous was asking about Labradors - who seem to be very placid.

FWIW, the parents really do not need all the finger pointing. They found out the hard way.

We need to make it much much harder for people to buy dogs.

It’s the upbringing not the breed

I was bit by a lab as a kid but my understanding of labs is their bites tend to be single bites and quick release rather than prolonged