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?

Oh look ANOTHER anti dog thread 🙄😴

Frothers are frothing!

@Lowkeyana

a golden retriever can do as much damage to a small or vulnerable person as any other breed.

This simply isn't accurate. If a small or vulnerable person is being attacked by an XL bully then even carers or passers by are not physically going to be able to wrestle away / overpower that dog to save the small or vulnerable person.

That is not necessarily the case with a retriever or similar due to the sheer power of the jaw and muscles in general of a breed like an XL bully.

If you can't acknowledge the physiological differences between breeds that lessen or increase risk factors, you aren't able to have a proper discussion about this rooted in reality.

I have a mini xl bully, she is a rescue. I have always had English bull terriers, grown up with them so used to strong dogs. We took her on knowing she had umpteen health problems, best thing we ever did, she is the light of our lives and worth every penny that she now costs us! However, I agree that all dogs should be leashed unless in a designated area. At least once a day while we are out walking and another dog with terrible recall bounds over to us. I don't care if they are friendly, you have no idea if mine is and even though shes a miniature and very friendly she is so powerful. The biggest problem with these kind of breeds is that they are not exercised enough. Ours is walked 4 times a day! 2 'big' walks and 2 little ones. Luckily we work mainly opposite shifts so it works out. I won't say it's not the dog it's the owners, these are powerful animals and I dont think I could cope with a normal sized one.

Then they get banned too... we can't just let them be because it will happen again.

Will also add, she is walked regularly with other dogs. We meet a group of people with a range of dogs but they were wary when we first stated joining them and I dont blame them one bit. She has won them over though. They take a lot of work and tend to be bought by people who just want them as a status symbol or to breed 😔 they do not put in the work. Would never buy one and our next dog is going to be a greyhound!

Yes the man was dead at the scene if you read the first link further down the page

I dont really understand your point? My comment is aimed at people claiming the breed is lovely and its just the bad owners. Its totally irrelevant. Either way, they are a threat, as they are used as weapons, or sometimes just unpredictable. Their sheer strength makes them dangerous.

We don't just make everything legal because "criminals will find a way anyway". Banning the breed will reduce the number of casualties.

Yes they do ban certain knives, and ban you from taking them out in public. Of course criminals take them out anyway. So do you think we should legalise being able to hold knives on your person out in the streets? Or would that maybe lead to a rise in knife crime?

Pet dogs should be restricted to certain sizes and types. Nobody actually needs one of these powerful breeds 🙄 let the meatheads walk toy poodles/bedlingtons/ckcspaniels instead if they want a dog so much. I like cats, but I wouldn't expect to keep a mountain lion.

Most breeds have dog have killed, maimed or have the potential to. Even s terrier can easily kill a small child.
Are you suggesting we ban dogs as pets?

What worries me is how overbred and undertrained the 'dog de jour' is. Whether that's a staffie, a french bull dog, a pug, a chihuahua - it's not good for the dog, and it's not safe for society.

Um, I very much doubt that a ckcspaniel or a miniature poodle has ever killed someone 🙄

TheyAreMyBhunasPete
My point is there are a lot of dangerous things that can kill. We can’t just ban everything that can kill or has killed. I don’t blame the breed at all. Any XL bullies I have met have been good natured dogs, but any I have met are not owned by idiots. Same for pit bulls.

I think it’s horrendous when anyone gets mauled or killed by any animal but I despise the fact the dogs are automatically euthanised. It should be the owner/handler who gets punished

Anything on here could be made up. If that bothers you why use an anonymous forum?

The point remains that the vast majority of deadly dog attacks in recent years have been American/XL bullies. And it usually is a certain "type" who own them. It's a combination of factors.

We could say the same about cars ….

@TheyAreMyBhunasPete you can’t ban everything.

How many things do you propose we ‘ban’ and even if we did ban xl bullies how would it be enforced and by whom? The new breed takes over.

We are the problem here, what’s going to be done to prevent it happening again to stop us from creating something that is potentially unstable (nothing).

Boerbels are equally strong, bred for hunting lions, there are calls to ban them in other countries but you don’t hear so much about them in the U.K because complete idiots don’t tend to own them (yet).

Makes me laugh when people try to claim that these foul, ugly things are just misunderstood fluffy bunnies and that your average hamster is more dangerous.

Genes matter. That's why certain breeds are banned in this, and other, countries. It's not just down to the owners.

No but they all bite and can cause very serous injury. A child I looked after was bitten on the face by a chihuahua x jrt mix and is now disfigured and was lucky not to lose her eye
If you want to ban dogs that have killed you would need to ban many (most) large breeds

So from 1980 onwards.

1980-1989. Alsatians (7 in one attack, how awful ) Jack Russell, Rottweilers (2 of them.)

1990-1999. Alsatian, Bull terrier of some description, another bull terrier, Rottweilers (3)

2000-2009. Doberman, SBT, American bulldog, Rottweilers (2), American pit bull terrier, Rottweiler, Rottweiler, SBT and a Jack Russell (one fatality ) Alsatians (2) Pit bull terrier.

2010-2019. American bulldog, Neapolitan mastiff, pit bull terrier, Bordeaux bulldogs (2) one American bulldog, one mongrel (one attack and fatality, not four) Jack Russell cross, Bullmastiffs (2) SBT (2), bull mastiff x presa canario, bulldog type, pit bull terrier (2), pit bull terrier, Alaskan Malamute, Alsatian/German shepherd (police dog), SBT, pit bull terrier, American bulldog, Lakeland terrier X, bull breed, SBT x pit bull, SBT x bull terrier, American bulldog, SBT, German shepherd, SBT, SBT (2), Bulldog X, unknown, American bulldog.

2020-present. SBT mastiff X, chow chow X german shepherd, SBT X, American bulldogs (2), American Bully XL, American Bully XL, British bulldogs (3), husky, American Bully XL, American Bully XL, American Bully XL, Rottweiler, Cane Corso, American Bully XL, American Bully XL, American bulldogs, American bully XL X cane corso, unknown breed (8, one attack) American bulldog.

So we have:

11 Alsatians/German shepherds
10 Rottweilers
2 Jack Russells and one X JR
9 SBTs and 4 SBTs X
9 American bulldogs
4 ‘bull breed’ and two bull breed X
7 pit bull terrier and 2 pit bull X
7 American Bully XL and one American Bully XL X
3 British bulldogs
2 Bordeaux bulldogs
1 Cane Corso and one cane corso X
1 Lakeland terrier X
1 Neapolitan mastiff
1 mastiff X
1 chow chow X
1 husky
1 mongrel
8 unknown breed (in one attack.)

So when you look at number of dogs rather than number of attacks, and group them this way:

Bull breeds (SBT, pit bull, American Bully, all bulldogs, all bull breeds) we have 48

Then Alsatians / German Shepherds account for 11. That’s slightly skewed as seven attacked one poor child in the early 80s and obviously pushed the total up considerably.

10 Rottweilers

2 mastiffs, although there’s one crossed in the bull breeds above.

Two Jack Russells and one JRT X

One Lakeland X with a bull breed.

I honestly don’t know why people keep saying ‘but any dog can be dangerous.’ I think what they mean is that any dog can BITE, which is obviously true. But look at that. That isn’t a skewed list from the last couple of years. In the last FORTY THREE years, in this country there have been NO fatalities involving retrievers or Labradors, or spaniels, or poodles, or greyhounds or even the much hated cockapoos. No mention of collies or Pomeranians or basset hounds or Chinese crested.

I know there are lovely examples of the above breeds. And I know some of the breeds thought of as being a ‘nice’ family pet aren’t always: I knew an awful retriever. But when we are talking about fatalities, about grown men killed and unable to fight back - yes, sorry, it is the breed

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just because something is perceived as ugly, doesn't make it unworthy of being, or love.

I deal with dogs everyday at work. From the sublime to the ridiculous. The ones that are the most apologetic for their existence are the bullies.

So a bite is as bad as being killed?

It's a continuum and there is middle ground you know. Minimising risk is the aim and the risk of death can be minimised by limiting size/type. You're never going to be able to eliminate bites, but these creatures who are responsible for deaths are easily dealt with.

Yes, ban cars, peanuts, grapes, hamsters, toddlers, corned beef cans because they can all be dangerous 🙄

Only this isn't what we're talking about here.

I think you're anthropomorphising here.

But who caused the problem? We did.

@MoiraRosefan @Suzi888 we absolutely can keep banning things. Laws get changed and added and removed regulsrly as society changes/certain things get more popular. If there is a rising pattern of people people killed by a certain breed, something needs to be done about that. The argument of "but they will just breed another!" is illogical. Shall we legalise machetes because "they will just find another way to kill!"? No, you ban things that are causing increasing threat. In this case, bully breeds.

@Suzi888 Boerbels aren't mauling people left right and centre. No need to ban as of yet. Electric scooters have been around for years, only recently made illegal due to increasing numbers.

@MoiraRosefan It doesn't matter that it isn't the breeds fault. I get that. But you can't be having animals walking the streets the even the owners can't control. It's dangerous.

And? It should be dealt with. Fila Brazilieros are currently banned in this country. How many Filas killed or maimed people in this country last year?