XL Bully "just wants to play!"

[PumpkinSly]

I was in the local park today with my 4 and 6 year old children. We have a medium sized dog ourselves. She's a bit of an old lady now so just potters about having a sniff. There was a couple with a baby walking their huge XL bully dog around the park. The first time we crossed their path the dog was on a lead but their dog was pulling strongly on the lead to try to investigate either my dog, or my children. The owner was all too willing to "let the dog say hello". I'm not comfortable with huge dogs approaching my kids or my dog so I moved everyone along very quickly and didn't engage with the dog or the owners. The next time we crossed their path the dog was off lead. It wasn't acting aggressively but it bounded up to my DD. My children were playing in a small wooded area of the park where there are felled trees for them to climb. I was helping my 6 yr old DS on one bit of the logs, while my 4 yr old dd was playing a few meters away. The dog bounded up to her and she was visibly scared. The owner was making comments about how much the dog loves kids and how playful he is etc, but to me it was a huge powerful dog that was scaring my child and it shouldn't be approaching kids at all. I told the owner that his dog shouldn't be allowed to approach children and to get it on a lead away from my kids. The owner went absolutely ballistic. Telling me that he just wants to play with them, that he loves kids, that I was prejudice against American bully dogs because of the news, that his dog is friendly, that my children should be better educated in how to handle dogs who approach them in a friendly way, and that I was an irresponsible dog owner because my dog was unsupervised while my children were playing. It's true that my dog wanders around doing her own thing but she is 11, she doesn't go far, I can always see her having a sniff about, and her recall is very good. The XL Bully became very energetic in response to the owners outburst and charged at my DD knocking her the ground. It wasn't aggressive, just boisterous and spurred on by the atmosphere and the owners response to me. The owner then grabbed his dog and left very quickly, while I was left to sort out my distressed DD. AIBU to think the owners of these massive dogs should have better awareness than to let them approach kids? Was I wrong to tell the owner to get his dog away from my children? The dog was at least three times the weight of my 4 year old, if not more, it was at least as tall as her when on all fours, and she was clearly scared by this dog because as soon as she realised it was there she called out for me and backed away.

I grew up with dogs (working gun dogs, mostly Labs and some Springer / Cocker spaniels) and although I don't own one (as an adult, I'm a cat person!), I like them and am perfectly comfortable around dogs of all shapes and sizes.

The first time I saw one of these XL bully types was on the Tube in London a few years ago and I was utterly taken aback - the damn thing was about 3' at the shoulder and built like a Charolais bull.

Now, the dog looked perfectly content and relaxed and the owner didn't look like a complete idiot, but even I was mentally mapping how to get off the train, as it was standing between where I was sitting and the exit.

God only knows what something of that size would look like to a small child.

YANBU. I love dogs, but no way I'd let one of those horrible fuckers anywhere near my children.

We saw a bully-type dog (not XL) on school run this morning. He was inside a car, so no danger, but was staring at us as we walked past the vehicle. My son (who loves animals and dogs) noticed it and said what a scary looking dog it was (he wasn't wrong, it also had one bloodshot eye which didn't help the slightly menacing air!).

I just don't get it.

You are most definitely not being unreasonable.

In my opinion, dogs should always be on leads, regardless of their breed.

YANBU. I have a lively very young Labrador who adores kids, used to make a bee-line for them. We are training her hard to calm down and focus on us all the time (easy with a greedy treat motivated lab). She’s not allowed off lead when small kids are about because she would probably knock them over or steal their ice cream.

Basic common sense dog ownership. Your dog shouldn’t be off lead unless recall is perfect and they won’t knock kids flying. Nothing to do with breed.

No idea why dog owners think parents would be happy with a strange dog bounding up to them. If roles reversed and they didn’t want their dog approached and your children did so, you’d also be called a terrible parent. Can’t win.

@Iheartmysmart really that should be an offence with prison time. Are people really OK with it escaping into a primary school? I'd make it my mission in life to get it destroyed tbh.

And anyone should call the police if a dog jumps up / puts its paws on them. It is illegal, clearly assault not playing and out of control.
If a man started hugging and kissing you it's assault not oh he's so friendly. And dogs are a billion times worse, I'd rather 100000 old men kissed me than 1 dog jumped at me.

If a dog charges towards me or even comes up to me I'd be screaming get it away from me get it away fuck fuck I'm going to die get it away oh my god oh my god fuckget it away help police.
If it touched me I think I'd actually die of a heart attack, they usually stop about ametre away and its still utterly horrifying an it takes days for cortisol levels to calm down. Shaking for hours after, on the edge of tears. And that's without them touching just running up like they might

Also just to note as I said before the ops dog I could walk past without a lead no problem as it shows no interest in people walking by and doesn't bound up to them. If an off lead dog us under control and close to owner I just deep breathe and cope.

They certainly are.

Me and my son were at the park in the summer. He likes to play football so we do it just outside of the playground fencing where there is an old building we use as a goalposts. People walk near to this bit to get to the grassier area of the park. I was aware of two bulldog type dogs minding their own business off lead whilst the owners were watching their kids who were in the playground. I've seen the dogs loads of times and they just sit there without fuss.

This time a cocker spaniel off lead ran up to them and was barking and wound them up so all three ran and ended up going in circles around my 6 year old snapping at each other with him in the middle. I shouted to put their dogs on a lead and spaniel owner responded 'they don't need to be on a lead in this bit you stupid bitch'. Charming dog owner! I'll just accept your poorly behaved dogs scaring the shit out of my son then

Idiot. Actually if they are in any way out of control they do need to be on a lead by law.
We need enforcement of this with large fines. Not just bullies, all dogs.
You only have to read these threads to see nothing else works, dog owners will not see reason or care even about other rational nice dog owners, and basically would be happy for people who don't like dogs to be house bound.

Personally I wouldn't want to work with them.

There was a dog expert on TV a few weeks ago. He works with difficult dogs, and also is a behavioural expert who offers forensic evidence in court and is often consulted by police. He said that he wouldn't of anywhere near them - used to at first, but the more he gets to know about them the less he trusts them. Said it is the only breed he won't work with. Too unreliable, too powerful, too reactive. He wanted them banned.

I was on a bus yesterday - one of these monsters got on, off lead, without it's inebriated, stoned owner-
It went up to an older lady and her small, quiet dog, and it looked like the little dog was in serious danger.
The woman was clearly terrified, curled around her pet, trying to protect it, and the XL owner sauntered on and found the situation 'funny'.

As he reeled, he extended his arms, saying
''Wot's my dog gunna do!'' over and over, while his scrawny arms were outstretched in a challenging manner.

The bus driver didn't move off.

Thank goodness the woman appealed to other passengers for help- and she even asked the XL owner to please let her off the bus with her clearly terrified dog-

The wanker could barely drag his horrible dog away, and off the bus.

Had it been leashed, it wouldn't have got on the bus in the first place.

It is all about sad inadequates who have zero intelligence or respect from others being able to terrorise people with their untrained dog.

How can people arm themselves against these things- they turn rogue so fast.

@BellaAndDave I'm so sorry your beautiful dog was killed by one of these revolting dogs.
A Labrador is a large, strong dog.
The fact he was killed by one of these brutes shows how dangerous they are.

I wish we could ''Carry'' like they do in some states in USA.

That is the only thing to stop an attack, and several rounds at that.

They go after any animal or child , older person or horse with an almost ''Turned on'' lust .

I hope the government makes the law watertight, so the 'crosses' of these aggressive dogs are banned as well.

Pets for homes have hundreds of the bloody things, crapping out puppies - and they have huge litters.

If you are a farmer- I think they have the means top protect livestock from predators.

A farmer I know broke a dog's jaw when it was worrying his stock in lockdown- a hefty kick- but that was a labradoodle type, with an XL, he'd have no chance of kicking it away, it would get more ''turned on''.

I despise dog owners who think that it is all parents' job to make sure their children are fine with being approached by strange dogs. Even worse when it's a dangerous breed like this.

Whilst they should have had their dog not approach your kids especially if the kids were fearful your outburst was because of the news and that's why the owners reacted that way.
You don't get to tell a grown adult to put their dog on a lead especially if yours is not.

Dogs don't have a lot of places to be free so keep your children in the playground if they are scared of bigger dogs

It's actually very sad how the news can poison people's mind. I have friends with XL bullies are they are so doopy and friendly.

I also constantly get stares from people because they suspect my dog is a XL bully when she is lab/staffy mix which is equally as annoying

There has been another attack this week in which people required hospital treatment
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/out-control-xl-bully-destroyed-8829829

Oh please not another dopey and friendly post.
Parts of your post and this attitude are exactly why this is now a problem and I say that as a dog owner and dog lover.

It's assault if a dog jumps up on you...have you been drinking?
Call the police on someone for this and I hope you get done for wasting police time or harrassment

My cousin was stabbed and died in the street last year, it took police and an ambulance 35minutes to get to him because of idiots like you wasting police time calling them on dogs

Your OPINION on a dog breed you have never met and only read the news on means NOTHING to me or anyone else with common sense.

My opinion is based on MEETING these dogs not the news

I won't be arguing with you or anyone else over this

Well you clearly are arguing and clearly very angry about it all
whether you chose to accept it or not these dogs are responsible for a slew of deaths and life changing injuries.
It’s risible to suggest it’s just at the hands of poor owners when other adults couldn’t deal with them.

but you crack on with this deluded anecdotal narrative

I think this comes from the anthropomorphisation and moralisation of dogs. Even dogs that bite or kill aren't evil or bad. They're literally just dogs.

It's their behaviour that is either safe and acceptable, or isn't. Safety occurs in the context of the breed/type. In this case the dog's behaviour was neither safe not acceptable. The onus is on the owner to ensure that their dog cannot behave in this way. It's not about whether the dog loves children, wants to play, or is a good dog. People who defend their dog in these terms are universally inept dog owners and likely to have an unsafe or antisocial dog in my experience. The two things go together. Noone else gives a f*ck about a dog's intentions (if such can even be attributed to a dog), only its behaviour actually matters.

Of course YANBU. Sounds like a frightening experience.

I do personally think we need dog wardens now out in force with the power to destroy animals who get a "red card" (or whatever system of warnings and thresholds) even when serious harm hasn't (yet) occurred.

They are shitty dogs for shitty people.

Ahh... dear old Stan, convincing the world he's an expert. He's never been near a bully of any type, he's advised courts a few times over run of the mill collie snaps at kid type cases, I mean... so have I, so have many trainers/behaviourists.

He also hasn't worked hands on with dogs for at least the last 20 years or more and much of his expertise is entirely in his own imagination. But he's a bully and forthright at getting his face in the papers and on trashy tv shows.

So sorry about your poor dog @BellaAndDave . That must have been devastating.

And the owners of the other dog should have been prosecuted imo.

Any half-decent owner will have trained their dogs so that they don't do that, or so that they can call them back when they approach other people.

I've had 3 dogs, and every one of them could be stopped in their tracks by a stern shout of "wait" if they approached anyone. The only time it ever failed was with the two lakeland terriers on a couple of occasions when they were chasing a rabbit or a fox (we live on the edge of open countryside, where there are lots of rabbits).