How is it possible to get an XL bully?

[goldgoldd]

Is there still a way people can get XL bully?

I thought it was illegal now to buy/sell/rehome the breed, but someone on my street seems to have acquired one. Is there a genuine way to do this or not?

I hope they take it for walks on a lead and with a muzzle, and that they don't have DC living with them.

The chavvy families will be doing it low key.

People sell them on Facebook.

You buy a puppy from two legal breeds or two legal crossbreeds, that grows up to be illegal.

Same way you get a pitbull.

The law bans by height/appearance, not by DNA.

Or buy just buying from dodgy people happy to flout the law - as the ban required people to self-register, and has never done any house to house nationwide dog-hunt for XL bullies that are unregistered, they are still out there and will only come to the attention of the law if someone makes a complaint about them.

The only way you can make a legal XL bully now is to apply to the courts for an exemption - eg, you buy a puppy, genuinely thinking it is a legal breed, lets say a Cane Corso or an American Bulldog - it grows up to fit the criteria for XL Bully, you get a dog legislation officer to evaluate your dog and you attempt to get the dog exempted - you may lose the dog in this process.

Backstreet breeding, obviously.

I guess they could legally rehome one that had been abandoned - hopefully there would be a lot of hoops for them to jump through first though, from property inspection through behavioural skills, to the legal requirements.
(Edited to add: More likely, obviously, through a back street breeder.)

Fyi

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ban-on-xl-bully-dogs#:~:text=It's%20a%20criminal%20offence%20to,dog%20or%20let%20it%20stray

There are loads of illegal XL bullies being bred.

You're correct it is. Is it definitely an XL Bully? If so, report it to the police.

Before you report it please make sure it is actually a XL bully. My neighbour got reported for owning one and it was distressing for the dog when they seized it, luckily he wasn’t an XL bully and was returned but the police said it’s happened a few times since the ban came in because people are scared of them.

Can you report it to the police anonymously? If it has been sold or given to new owners and/or doesn't have an exemption certificate it will be illegal. I wouldn't want one living near me so I would do this if it were possible.

It certainly looks like one. She was standing outside with it and it had a muzzle. They live in a flat without a private garden. They have children too. Doesn’t fill me with confidence. Very weary when going to my car now.

There's no way of making sure though, that's the problem. XL bully is a "type" rather than a breed, so the only way to tell is to get the dog evaluated by the police.

Nope, can't legally rehome them...

In theory anyway.
In reality, you'd have to either, hope no one notices, muzzle it and act as if it is exempt, or you would have to go via the evaluation/court process to exempt.

No reputable rescue is going to rehome, they've had to keep any XL bullies they took in and failed to rehome pre-ban.

The problem is there's no magical database of XL bullies - only the ones who are legal and exempted. There's nobody going round knocking on doors and making sure people don't own them - they're relying on people being honest.

I see lots of dogs on social media and IRL who probably fit the criteria of XL bully - none of them are ever muzzled or on a lead. We don't even have the police presence to deal with burglaries or other serious crimes, they're not going to be interested in illegal dogs until they do something wrong.

All it takes is 2 morons to breed them and 1 moron to buy them. So minimum: 3 morons per postcode. If there's one thing we aren't short of, it's stupidity.

Report it and let the police decide if it’s of type .

Even worse, you only need two morons as I bet loads of people out there still own intact male and female bullies...