Anyone else just wish these xl bullies would disappear?

[Mayaamelia]

I know I’m not the only one and don’t think I am being unreasonable tbh but didn’t know where else to post this.

In the past week or so there have been five serious attacks in the UK but what we have plastered all over the news is the police apologising to a deluded xl bully owner, when he’s the one who failed to do as he’s told.
What kind of message does that send?

The other day armed police were called to Stockport because of a dangerous dog and three people were injured. There’s only one little article about it in the Star. When did this ever used to happen in this country? It’s not normal.

I just don’t see why normal, decent people should have to live in fear of these scumbags and their dangerous dogs. Nothing is being done, how can something be banned if there are exemptions?
When the dogs do attack, the owners get months in prison which is the equivalent to a slap on the wrist.

It’s like being in possession of something worse than a loaded gun or a lion. Nobody’s allowed pepper spray though - you can get 4 years in prison just for carrying it apparently.
If they at least increased the jail time maybe that would deter people from owning these dangerous dogs.

@ZippyLimeSnake do you tell them what breed of dog it is though?

Exactly and originally wanted a newfoundland screams 'I wanted a big dog' and that was the only priority.

You think I was taught that because of my dog? No I was taught that because my dog was attacked by an off lead dog whilst he was doing a poo & the owner of the other dog couldn’t control his dog nor did his dog have any recall. That’s why I was taught that as I never wanted to be in a situation again where I couldn’t get an attacking dog off of mine as that was the second time it had happened.

I had wanted a Newfoundland from a child. Do you not think if I had planned to get something big & scary a Newfoundland realistically would have been on the top of my list?

There are many shit dog owners, but if they have a labrador or a jack russel, the risk of harming others is low. If you are a good owner with a well trained XL, you are no problem. The issue is that there are barely any barriers to owning dogs from breeds which, if not properly trained, are very dangerous.

Half of all fatal dog attacks in the UK between 2021 and 2023 were XLs, and there are at most 100,000 of a total dog population of 13 million. 0.8% of dogs are responsible for 50% of deaths. XLs are especially dangerous.

If you own one, you may or may not be a good owner. But most people would say they were good owners, so it's simply not worth the risk around children.

That said, the absolute risk of a dog attacking a human is pretty low.

Yes as most people do tend to ask. Not had any issues thus far. But then again, I don’t tend to do play dates at home, I usually prefer going out as means less tidying once everyone has gone!! I do tell anyone who comes in that I have a dog as I’m happy to place him in another room if they want but again only one person has ever asked me to actually put him in another room whilst they were here and he was here to fix the boiler and said to me he is scared of dogs in general 🤷‍♀️

If you wanted a Newfoundland since you were a child why fgs did you end up settling for an XL just because there was a presumably cheap one just up the road?!

You’ll never win here @ZippyLimeSnake no matter how you answer the onslaught of questions you’ll be wrong.
I’ve got an American bulldog cross who I’ve exempted. Got a DM on here once telling me to kill myself, which was nice.

Why couldn't you have waited then to get a Newfie, known for being calm, easygoing and most importantly not responsible for nearly half the serious dog attacks in the country?

Why did you go for the nuclear option? Because your irresponsible breeder friend lived close and gave you a good price?

It's all in the statistics though, no one is being mean for the sake of it.

He was definitely not cheap 🥲

A cat is physically incapable of inflicting the same amount of damage as an XL bully. A bully can easily easily kill a person.

My head is going

Newfoundland to XL bully
Newfoundland to XL bully
and repeat
It's quite the leap

I should have known when I replied to the post. However didn’t expect to get this many replies to my post! I don’t mind peoples opinions but the ones that make comments like that I won’t respond to.

YANBU they should have all had to been destroyed when the ban came into effect. The people saying ‘it’s bad owners’ are just as idiotic as the Americans crying about guns don’t kill people, criminals do

I haven’t read the whole thread so it may have already been mentioned, but over half of the XL Bullies in the UK are descended from a sire in the US named Kimbo, now dubbed ‘Killer Kimbo’ because of the atrocious personalities of his progeny. Kimbo has a very high coefficient of inbreeding (~32%) and the results of his matings have had awful consequences. Have a search about it, it’s awful. Also if you do own an XL Bully, I’d suggest tracking its heritage to see if Killer Kimbo lies within it.. sometimes it is just the dog.

No one would have a problem with owners having this breed of dog if the risk was to the owners only, but it's that it puts others at risk that is the problem. If zippylimesnake and others want to have these dogs knowing the awful damage they can do, fair enough if the dog was to only ever attack them, but it's often others who have to pay the price, some of them children.

People feel extremely strongly about this breed as you will now have come to realise

Unlike lots of other large breed dogs, bullies were specifically bred at the genetic level to fight, tenaciously, without* *inhibition- pit bulls will actually get themselves extremely harmed when attacking and still not stop, and without prior warning.
Yes, of course not all pit bulls will attack, but you're still introducing a massive risk into your home, and into everyone else's life, that is completely and utterly unnecessary. Of course people will judge accordingly.

Expensive mistake then.

Or would you buy him again tomorrow? I'm guessing yes.

I do like dogs, but I would happily see agressive and dangerous breeds be put to sleep. I also agree with other posters who say that there should be stricter rules around dog ownership and some sort of licencing process.

I also think that too many people have dogs who have very little idea on how to actually look after and train a dog.

Why didn't you just wait to get the breed you wanted?

As I said up thread

Newfoundland to XL bully
Newfoundland to XL bully

Why just why?

I'm a dog lover and have a medium-large breed (huskies) but I agree with others, I would never own a breed I couldn't physically overpower (huskies aren't that strong and I could hold all 3 of them back with relative ease as a 9st woman)

We have an XL around here who does seem lovely but is always muzzled and on a flat (not extendable) lead with a high viz vest on, I've said hello to her and she just wanted scritches, but I have to admit I wouldn't say hello to one that wasn't muzzled, thankfully they seem uncommon where we are, I've only met that one and one other.

I've done some reading about the genetics of the XL bullies and there definitely seems to be some problematic lineage, out of interest do you know your dog's pedigree @ZippyLimeSnake ? Did you know about the killer kimbo lines before you got him?

We've got a cane corso locally who seems more iffy (with dogs at least, I've only ever seen it when I'm walking mine so haven't said hello to it) than the muzzled XL

Staffies don't worry me in terms of people attacks, they have more dog aggression but all the ones I've met have been lovely with humans, but they're also quite small dogs (properly bred ones are anyway), albeit strong

There is literally no point in claiming that your dog is safe and friendly. All the dogs who attack have been considered safe and friendly until they do attack.