Something needs to be done about unleashed pitbulls/ XL bullys

[TheyareEverywhere]

We've just moved to a new area which seemed nice and a good place to raise the kids.

After living here for just a week I've had two encounters with one of those big, bulky pitbull / XL bully type dogs off lead with the type of owner you'd expect to have them - young, unable to control them, the sort who use the dog as a penis extention to intimidate people and train the dogs to latch onto things at the park.

DP got chatting to a man at the shop and apparently they belong to drug dealers from the other block down the road. Lovely.

I'm scared of those dogs and won't pretend I'm not. I know what they can, and do, do to people / kids. My DD is equally as scared of them after having one growl and bark at her at the park.

Surely something should be done about people like this, fines for having them off lead on public streets? I don't know. All I know is they're frightening and shit to live amongst 😔

AIB unreasonable?

The increase in antisocial dog behaviour is considerable. We've two problems coming together IMO.

1. dogs are now allowed in more places than they used to be
2. there are more dogs and many are badly trained

We need a reset. More 'no dogs' places, more action on irresponsible owners. Personally I favour a licence to make it easier to identify who is causing the problems.

I do not expect any government action, however.

YANBU. They all need putting down.

The owners are drug dealers as told by the owner of the shop they regularly use and congregate near. The breed is a problem. That is more than enough cause to be concerned.

You're embarrassing yourself.

I used to believe the dog fans on here who said it wasn't to do with the breed - but then I read the list of people killed by dogs and the breeds involved. For sure, if these breeds were banned, the horrible owners would use other breeds, but quite clearly, all things being equal and given very poor care, some dog breeds are far more dangerous to humans than others and it is plain daft to deny it.

I would steer well clear of these individuals and their dogs and hope to find times of day and places that they don't go, and I would read the rules and report any breaches.

You're 100% right OP

It's the same in my area. I passed an XL Bully on Friday and the size of its head was absolutely unbelievable, it didn't even look like a dog - I felt like I was passing a huge lion creature. I had my young son with me and my instincts were to pull my son close to me and get passed without making eye contact, I honestly worried it could smell my fear!

The owner was walking with the lead in his hand - had the dog attacked or even walked up to us the owner wouldn't have been able to get it onto the lead, this dog would overpower him no problem. I feel sorry for the dogs its just not natural how large they are.

You weren't there when this conversation happened. Its heresay.

Your Husband could be making it up for all we know.

As could this person at the shops who has now morphed into a shop owner.

As soon as you ban something it immediately appeals to the lowest common denominator of person. Pitbulls have been banned for years. I still see them, always owned by idiots. ‘Banning’ a breed doesn’t solve the problem. They’re aren’t enough police to deal with actual crimes, never mind the heinous crime of dealing with a —gasp- man walking down the street with a large dog.

and leave my staffy out of it. Thirteen years he’s never been anything but the sweetest, nicest boy. But oh man has he been attacked plenty of times by other breeds. The last of which was a Gordon setter, yes a sweet middle class breed none of that nasty bully nonsense. It dislocated his shoulder and he now has terrible arthritis in the joint. The dog ran over to us, we were sitting on a bench minding our own business.

YANBU. One jumped up on my 13 year old son last week whilst he was walking home from school. Fucking stupid bastard woman who was walking it clearly had no control. She’s lucky I was nowhere near. Owners and the dogs need shooting to be honest.

These dogs were obviously not bred to be family pets. All dogs can bite but only a few breeds kill children. Depressingly they all seem to be on poor estates, inadequately housed and trained. Before I get accused of snobbery, I was born and raised on a rough council estate and know many people living on such estates who hate the damn things.

@ToBeOrNotToBee you really are being argumentative for the sake of it, and it’s not making you look clever. It’s just really tedious and boring.

No mention of the man being killed?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dog-attack-killed-police-derby-b2324887.html?amp

I'm sure if all Bullys were euthanized tomorrow the Mumsnet anti dog mafia would just move on to another breed. Some people on here won't be happy until we all live in pods with no interaction with humans or dogs. Maybe they'll let a cat in with them.

@Hongkongsuey

Yes, me! it’s a huge concern.

It’s since been reported he died, @CindersAgain

@VincentVaguer I agree the anti dog rhetoric on here is ridiculous sometimes, but I’m not sure how anyone could argue there have been a disproportionate number of fatalities involving XL Bullies (what a stupid name) in the last two years or so.

@VincentVaguer

Behave yourself and come back with an opinion when the estate you live on is saturated with these dogs who’s owners haven’t got a fucking clue. And no, I don’t hate dogs, I’ve owned a few in my lifetime responsibly. Being worried about my kids safety doesn’t put me in an anti dog mafia brigade. Some people just SEE the reality around them. Also, there has been a LOT of dogs in my city who have been injured by these XL bullies, one actually died not long ago in a park near me and there was a huge uproar about it.

And it is a fair point that a lot of the people insisting there is no dog problem are unlikely to live in areas where there are a plethora of these breeds.

I think the penalties for owners whose dog attacks a person should be much much higher.

In line with gun laws - a dog can cause serious life changing injuries and can kill.
So jail time for the owner - 10 years for serious injury, life if it kills.

Also, if an off lead dog attacks and injurs an on lead dog that owner should also get a serious jail sentence. Get and wear a body cam for irrefutable evidence if it's a worry in your life.

No owner, no natter how much of a lowlife, wants jail time. Perhaps that threat would focus their tiny minds.

Of course because another breed would take over. Humans will NEVER blame themselves.

Yep, xl bullies are still quite rare, so to be responsible for such a high percentage of attacks demonstrates just how unsuitable they are as pets. Pit-bulls are banned, yet these 10 stone versions of them aren't? Crazy. I love dogs btw, just not these monsters.

@BMW6 completely agree. These breeds need to be treated like the weapons they're being used as and as such, if there's an attack the owner needs to be held responsible and jailed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ListofffataldoggattacksinntheUniteddKingdom

For those that say it's not the breed - the list of dog attack fatalities indicates breed is very much the issue.

Ofc humans are to blame for the creation of the breed, the often inadequate care and unsuitable living conditions (etc)

Unfortunately the type of people who seek out these dogs for the reason they seek them out are devoid of any accountability and just don't give a crap so long as the dog is serving its purpose IE intimidating people.

YANBU OP but unfortunately there are a group of people who think XL bullies are victims of something akin to racism, but for dogs. And for the 'it's the owners, not the dogs' argument, why are their owners always idiots who breed them in their back yard, leave them unsupervised around their children, and are unable to keep them under control in public. I've never met a single XL bully owner who wasn't a moron, tbh.

The Doggo “fur baby” types will never hear a bad word against any dog … and we’ll just get a load of “it’s not the dog it’s the owner” - completely ignoring the fact that an out of control Yorkshire Terrier will do significantly less damage than an out of control XLBully.

All dogs should be on leads in public places, unless it’s a designated area. Stiffer fines and sentences if dogs attack - some of these people need to be sent to prison. I would say “ban the breed”, but all you get then are a load of sad-faced dog owners protesting the confiscation of their killing machine.

These dogs are used as a weapon, as much as a knife or gun is used as a weapon.

I agree wholeheartedly with your comment. My GSD gets attack almost in a daily basis, and I swear that isn't an exaggeration. And 90% of the time is medium/small sized dogs that are off the lead.Unfortunately there are SO many bad dog owners and in my experience it's usually the small dog owners who are the worst, because they think they're dog can't cause much damage. Which they usually don't, physically, but mentally they cause a lot of anxiety in my dog now who just will not mix with any dog now from fear of being attacked. Now luckily he hasn't developed dog aggression because I control the situations but this easily could cause him to become aggressive. And obviously if he did fight back he would be the bad one because of his breed 🙄

In my experience in these types of posts it people who have little knowledge about dog psychology that believe this breed needs culling. It's pretty much useless trying to argue any other point on here as the notify have very strong views that won't change.