If you own an X-L Bully (or similar breed) why did you get it?

[Kinut]

I’m not trying to cause a pile on, I’m genuinely curious to hear from owners on here.

I would guess the vast majority of owners on Mumsnet consider themselves responsible owners and their dog to be no threat. I often see it said that the dog is harmless/more likely to lick you to death/soft/great with the kids etc. but why did you opt for that breed?

You obviously wanted a family pet, and obviously care about the safety of yourself and loved ones, and you didn’t want a guard dog or to intimidate the public.

So why opt for a bully type and not another large dog with less surrounding controversy and innate risk? As I say, I don’t want a raft of insults towards owners, Im just curious as to why otherwise normal and responsible owners opt for these breeds?

You’re not taking into account the numbers of these dogs though.

20 years ago we didn’t have the amount of dogs we have now.
We also didn’t have gumtree and other irresponsible selling sites.

The number of bites/fatalities will of course rise when the sheer amount of dogs has dramatically risen.
That’s not even taking into account how many idiots got dogs and bred dogs during lockdown.

I can guarantee that in a couple of years the bully breeds will go back to being just normal breeds and it will be a different breed that is demonised and responsible for the most fatalities.

If we had stricter dog laws then we wouldn’t have to keep worrying about which breed is the most dangerous.

If you completely trust a Labrador but don’t trust a bully breed, then there is the problem.
I love all dog breeds but no dog should ever be trusted 100% which is I will never understand the argument that having certain breeds of dogs makes you less responsible because that’s implying that some breeds can never be aggressive, which we know is not true.

Every few years this same argument comes up but with just different breeds and I don’t understand why stricter dog laws just aren’t brought in.

It depends what you mean by similar to XL bullies, we have 2 staffies.

We rescued one from Battersea when she was 4 and then got the second one when he was a puppy. We had owned a dog before, but not a bully breed. We went to a rescue with an open mind about which breed we wanted and at our assessment we decided on a staffie. We did some additional research, their intelligence and affinity with children is noted in their breed standard so we thought it would be an ideal dog for us. Both of our dogs love people and have never shown any signs of aggression, when we went through our fostering assessment, social services had no issues with children being placed with our dogs.

mumto2teenagers · Today 15:20

It depends what you mean by similar to XL bullies, we have 2 staffies

Not sure most people would put Staffies the same category as those XL monsters?

Point taken but the dog doesnt know he is meant to be scary and aggressive...he has been brought up with love and respect...the owners of the day care centre adore him...he is well socialised and loves all other dogs...its heartbreaking to see other dog walkers avoiding him as they are scared of him.

All the owners of XL bullies say the same thing, though. That their dogs are big softies who just want to play, who love other dogs and are great with kids.

Until they're not. And then you stand no bloody chance.

I don’t own one because they’re clingy, not because people think they’re dangerous. I think all that is just small minded scaremongering.

I genuinely didn't realise there were people this ill informed around.
May be silly of me but all the reports of these animals maiming/ killing people I assumed the message had got through to even the most hard of thinking

myusernamewastakenbyme

Point taken but the dog doesnt know he is meant to be scary and aggressive...he has been brought up with love and respect...the owners of the day care centre adore him...he is well socialised and loves all other dogs...its heartbreaking to see other dog walkers avoiding him as they are scared of him.“
**
For good reason. The aggression is genetic. It’s nature, not nurture. Nothing you can do about it.

So has a Dachshund.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather take my chances with a dachshund

One of the biggest issues with an XL, IMO, is that you don’t get the usual first, second, third warnings that you do with other breeds.

Most dogs become reactive due to fear. XL’s are bred to be this way.
Most dogs will give a snarl, a bark or a warning ‘lunge’ because all they really want is for you to go away because they’re afraid. Most people will heed that warning sign, especially from a larger more powerful breed, and get out of its way and so no attack occurs. Most of them can be trained out of this behaviour.

XLs were bred to give no warning and were bred to clamp their jaws on tight and not let go. The risk is just too great. IMO, Rotties, GSDs, other bully breeds just don’t come close in terms of risk (although there is still a risk) and the numbers posted upthread appear to back that up.

Totally with you @Errors - and combined with their sheer size and strength, it just makes them incredibly dangerous.

People always say "well, Jack Russells have killed babies" or (as PP said) "dachshunds have too" - but they haven't savaged grown men and ripped the limbs off their bodies. They haven't needed to brought down by guns and tasers or been responsible for 60+ deaths in less than a decade.

Yes, all dogs can bite and hurt you, and yes, all dogs can kill a baby, but somehow I reckon most of us would rather take our chances against a Jack Russell rather than an XL

💯

And to refer to the fear of these dogs as scaremongering is just daft.

@Kinut too. I agree with both of you. Jack Russells can be aggressive. In fact, a friend of mine at school had one who bit her face and was put down. Never been aggressive before. Yeah, if they were bigger and could kill anyone bigger than a baby then they would be a problem dog. That’s the thing with XL bullies isn’t it, no one, not even a large man stands a chance against them. Not saying it’s ok for smaller dogs to kill babies but the dog and baby shouldn’t be left alone and an adult or larger child could disable a Jack Russell / terrier.

I have only ever had bull breed dogs. Boxers, Bostons and Staffordshire bull terriers.

I have not the faintest idea why anyone would choose to have an XL bully. They are obviously ticking time bombs. Ill bred, unhealthy, often have issues which cause pain, and they are ugly. They should be culled.

In defence of bull breed dogs such as the SBT, Boston and EBT, these dogs were bred to be able differentiate between human and dog even when in a dog fight. I've had other dogs go for mine, and my dogs would probably go back, but I can and have called my dogs off with nothing other than a verbal command. Historically the dogs bred for fighting would be culled and removed from the breeding pool if they showed any aggression towards humans. It was pragmatic, because their owners had to be able to part two fighting dogs without fear of injury. Plus, since this was primarily a working man's sport the dogs lived amongst families and children.

Bur XL bullies as with all American crap can get in a bucket.

This, but I think the same about pugs, Boston terriers, Frenchies. All bloody ugly

Agree on all of those. Mainly because I can’t stand out of breath dogs without tails 🤷‍♀️

Theres nothing cute or attractive about bull breeds though. The tiny eyes creep me out.
.

@Picklepower& @GSD20
do you think that owners with ugly dogs know that their dogs are ugly? I wonder sometimes. And it is nothing like children (before some wisecrack has something to say); who are genetically similar to us in some way, even if they are not genetically our own. All children are inherently good. Dogs can be downright ugly and are not all inherently good-tempered.

A Cane Corso isn’t similar to an XL Bully.

This is total bollocks. The number of dogs have risen, so the number of pet Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Huskies, Shih Tzus, Jack Russells etc etc have also risen. Which dog causing fatalities has soared?

Fatalities have risen in the breeds people are getting in order to intimidate others simply by their size or by behaviour... many of which are being 'trained' (in some vile and highly inappropriate ways) to attack on cue, to think that grabbing and biting peoples arms/legs is an extremely enjoyable 'game', which then leads to extreme over arousal and in some cases a slip into predatory drift, in others extreme fear then follows (if the pattern of training is to wind the dog up to bite and tug, and then use pain to end the game... you get arousal and excitement then fear. In big heavy bully breeds fear = not letting go of what I have in my mouth EVER.).

Hence we have seen some serious incidents involving XL bullies because they as an easy to produce x breed, that can be 'made' by mixing any number of easily available animals, and are cheap to house and feed... but they have also involved Belgian Malinois, Cane Corso, Malamute, general Bull terrier types, Caucasian Ovcharka...

But attacks by the other breeds are fewer because those are harder to get, harder to keep, significantly more likely to turn on their handler, harder to train than the dumb willing, eager to please bully is, and they are reported on less frequently as they're not what the media wants to serve to people.

The common denominator is people wanting dogs to intimidate people, and training them to bite/attack, that biting and not letting go is a fun game, and training with abusive methods. Fix that, but thats a far more complex problem that no one knows where to even begin!

I only have bull breeds . Have inherited my love of them from parents . I’ve had them all , different types . Bullmastiffs are my breed , I’ve had 4 myself , all rescues and all wonderful family dogs . I have seen 2 XL’s recently at the vets , both were the size of cars, both fantastic dogs according to the receptionists who don’t keep them muzzled when being seen . Vets happy to treat without muzzles and staff were playing with them behind the scenes . Both owned by women . Personally I’d not own one because I have 2 small dogs and they are just too big to play safely but don’t condone those who do. As for why people choose their breed , why anything , you just like what you like . Spaniels leave me cold but I don’t need to own one .

So you’re saying veterinary professionals/receptionists are opening themselves up to a huge legal bill by not following the law surrounding banned breeds. Putting their own staff and members of the public at risk to prove a point? Somehow as a veterinary professional myself I don’t believe that, if it is true then they should be reported to the RCVS. It doesn’t matter what my views are on the matter, legally I must follow the law and I haven’t worked with a single other vet that doesn’t.

Also, if I owned a banned breed and someone (even a vet) removed the muzzle from it I would be raging since I would be the one legally liable and it would put my dog at risk of being destroyed. Again, if this is true, it’s proving the point that the owners are idiots.

I’ve only ever met lovely Boxers and Staffies. All the ones I’ve met have been family dogs in stable home environments. I think the worst behaved one I’ve seen was a boxer who they really struggled to train the jumping up out of him - he was a friendly dog though, tail never stopped wagging. I wouldn’t go near an XL bully.

Why do you think there are so many staffies on the fatalities list?

You're talking from a 2025 perspective. A 1995 perspective would be 'why on earth would you want one of those baby eating, throat ripping devil dog massive monster killing machines?'

I think all that is just small minded scaremongering.

I assume you’re not aware how many people have been killed by XL Bullies in the last 3 years?