To report my neighbours XL bully, it is ruining my life

[TheLangyers]

I’m 14 weeks pregnant. Me and my partner currently live on quite a rough council estate as we are saving up for a house deposit. Won’t be able to move for another couple of years.

Our next door neighbour has an XL bully. I am usually a dog lover but feel really uneasy about these dogs. My mum was a dog walker for a few years and I got bit by a pit-bull and repeatedly witnessed incidents involving them. My childhood best friend was left with lifelong facial scares after her rescue pitbull randomly decided to bite her face off during a game of fetch.

The XL bully hasn’t personally attacked us yet but it’s been involved in several incidents. It’s been known to get in fights on the local field with other dogs on the estate but owner insists it’s always the other dog’s fault. She leaves it unattended in the front garden, gate is usually closed but it could easily jump over. My partner doesn’t understand the danger that these dogs present and often encourages it to come over to stroke it when we go out. Our walls are very thin and I know from overhearing domestic arguments that it’s bitten the owners autistic grandson before when they’ve been playing.

She often walks 2 minutes the road to another friend’s house and doesn’t bother muzzling or leashing it for this as it’s a short walk. It just runs down the road in front of her. For proper walks it’s on a leash but no muzzle as it “doesn’t like a muzzle.” She often moans to be that she’s suspicious that people on the estate will “snitch” on her so she tries to walk early morning or late at night.

Being pregnant I’ve been a lot more cautious and try to only go out when my partner can give me a lift - I can’t drive. However an incident today has left me terrified. I was on the road in front of our house at lunchtime cleaning the car and they come out to walk to the friend’s house. It jumps on my back trying to be friendly and lick me - this dog weighs 70kg. I froze and was terrified and she didn’t pull him off, she just kept shouting its name until it ran to her and they left.

It’s really starting to ruin my life and my partner doesn’t care as he just thinks it’s a funny, goofy big dog. He always brings up my parent’s cockerpoo as an example as occasionally nips at people when it is guarding food but the difference is that a cockerpoo isn’t capable of killing a healthy adult, and a cockerpoo usually will bite once then back off. XL bullies generally are genetically wired to try to kill and could turn at any moment.

I’ve now fallen out with my mum too as she’s very worried about mine and the baby’s safety and she says we should look at private renting somewhere else until we can afford to buy. This annoyed me as we only pay £500 a month rent at the moment and if we were to move to another private rental it’d be hundreds
more and we would lose a load to our savings to moving costs. I don’t see why we should have to do this. My mum says I’m putting money over my baby’s safety and has become angry at me. I feel like I can’t win.

I want to report as she’s breaking the law letting it out unleashed and unmuzzled but I’m concerned that the neighbour would know it’s me after the incident today and make my life hell. She is somewhat unhinged, nice enough on a shallow level, will invite you in for a cuppa and chat to you etc bit get on the wrong side of her and she’s as rough as a bears arse and will get family members to bang on your door etc. Police have been called before when she’s had disputes with another neighbour about rats in the garden. I hate confrontation and really don’t know what to do.

any advice appreciated

Agree. They are just disgusting through and through. All should have been seized and destroyed.

Not only should these dogs be put down, so should their owners.

Continue to be friendly to her and report the dog in a few weeks. She should suspect everyone who sees it un muzzled not just you. I would have serious words with your partner about encouraging it to jump the fence. I can see your Mum's point of view but it is your home and it's not your fault the neighbour is breaking the law; reporting her should be enough for now.

Totally agree. A tendency can become genetic traits/characteristics really quickly in dogs, because of the short life and (with backyard breeders) breeding cycle. To use an annoying tech metaphor, it's not a bug, it's a feature.

Do the 'he's a big softy' fuckwits not realise that every single owner of a dog who went on to kill said the same thing? They might be thick, but no XL bully owner says to themselves 'he's going to kill a child and I'm ok with that.'

They're stronger than humans (you can see it in their musculature); they lack the powers of reason, but have sharp teeth and massive jaw strength to compensate for the lack of opposable thumbs; one (more?) of these qualities is shared with their owner.

It is a shame you threw in the snappy cockapoo into the thread op, some posters are just out to deliberately stick the boot in. Crap behaviour but that sadly is what some people like to do, be wind up merchants 🙄

Do have the ring door bell set up on your phone, tell your dp to pull his fucking boots up and start to prioritise the safety of you and your baby, born or unborn.

For all those who love their fucking fur monsters please do understand how genetic traits do have a huge influence on behaviour, you can not train out predisposition from genetics. You can mask them, you can encourage good behaviour but you can not stop an xl bully once it goes on the attack.

They are breed as extreme fighting dogs, to a) fight against another xl bully, to keep going to the point of death of its opponent and b) to keep going fighting even whilst it is terribly injured by its opponent. HTH

The owners are often euthanized by the dog.
The dog is then euthanized ... two birds with one stone?

It’s understandable you’re worried, especially being pregnant and after the incident today. If the dog is an XL bully in the UK then the law requires it to be muzzled and on a lead in public, and the owner must have a certificate of exemption, so letting it run loose down the road or approach people isn’t allowed. If you’re uncomfortable reporting directly because of neighbour conflict, you could consider making an anonymous report to the council dog warden or via the police non-emergency line (101) and simply describe what you’ve seen — an unmuzzled XL bully being walked off lead and jumping up at people. They won’t usually disclose who made the report. In the meantime, it may help to focus on practical safety steps: avoid interacting with the dog, ask your partner not to call it over anymore, and try to keep distance if the owner comes out with it. You shouldn’t have to move house over it, but you also shouldn’t feel unsafe outside your own home, and reporting unsafe handling is reasonable if the owner isn’t following the rules.

Yes but would you like to be the test dummy for that potentially split second difference between an XL bully jumping on you and jumping on you then attacking you?
In that moment it matters not who is at fault, the dog or irresponsible owner, all that matters is you have been jumped on by a dog which if it attacks could have potentially fatal consequences.
I love animals but would be - rightly - petrified if an XL Bully jumped on me, and I don’t know many people that wouldn’t. And the OP is pregnant so such stress could be even more dangerous for her.
Like many PPs, I know of a child who was mauled out of the blue by an American Bulldog breed (who had an unstable and abusive owner). It was horrific and the girl needed hospital treatment afterwards and is still scarred. This happened in the girls home and an animal loving adult who was not a naturally aggressive person had to kick, hit and wrestle the dog away, then its owner took it to be destroyed but disappeared afterwards, threatening to commit suicide, despite the fact she had been witnessed abusing the dog herself in the past.
An all round nightmare for everyone involved which took a long time to recover from.
Countless similar experiences just on this thread prove that these dogs, driven to hunt and kill and with the power behind them to do so, are too much of a risk to be domestic pets.

At least we can own Staffordshire bull terriers in peace now...

This is true lol. But tbh, not keen on any dog which is bred for jaw strength and tenacity - ie can cause significant injury if frustrated.

I just don't know why you would ever risk it unless for other reasons. Most of the owners I know did have other reasons - usually intimidatory and/or compensatory.

You should move as soon as possible. If it jumped on you now, imagine it jumping on you eight months pregnant. A fall onto your stomach in the second or third trimester can be serious for your baby even if the dog doesn’t attack.

And your partner is encouraging contact with it.

It will be more expensive but it will be so much better for you and your child to feel safe in your own home.

I wouldn’t normally encourage watching videos of these nasty attacks, but in this case I think you need to send him some links to videos of unprovoked attacks from these dogs to watch so he can understand the horror of the situation. Surely once he sees this it will get his protective instinct up and he won’t want you or your future baby anywhere near them.

Perhaps your partner is thinking a baby is safe (in a pram or whatever). But what about a two year old? Who might copy dad and pet the dog? He’s just trying to avoid hassle and conflict and not thinking this through

My first dog was a rescue staffy and probably the best dog I’ll ever have. Back then I was assured she’d eat my 6 yr old but there’s always a new breed in the headlines.

Just seen them again walking to the neighbour’s house with dog unleashed and unmuzzled. I WFH and can see and hear them out of the window from my office, I’m not obsessively stalking I promise! At one point she turned back to get something from the house and the dog was just roaming around the close. Beggars belief

She has this lovely sign on the entrance to her property

I work from home too so unintentionally see everything anyway. I look onto farmers land that my cats like playing on, so hyper vigilant now after seeing someone walking an XL bully there. I can see anyway, but can’t help being paranoid and looking out for it especially.

Haven’t seen them back since they caught me recording them. If they do come back… the farmer has said he will eliminate the problem himself

You’re not alone though OP. I know it probably feels horrible being in a less desirable area and dealing with this, my area is beautiful countryside, extremely safe and now we have these idiots here too putting everyone at risk. Giving it a couple more days and then I’ll be reporting to the police too. Keep trying to record anything you can anyway, if they only get a stern talking to this time, hopefully any footage after that will give the police the push they need.

Blimey OP, report it before it jumps a fence and kills a kid!

Here is the link to anonymously report to Crimestoppers - it’s so easy I can’t comprehend why you haven’t already done it. https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously

She has - @TheLangyers said she reported it this morning.

Omg you poor thing living next door that. I would be gone!

You say she was visited by police. Are you sure it's definitely an XL bully and not an American bulldog? Did the police come back? You say the dog has bitten the grandson. I might be wrong but i thought they didn't stop at "just" a bite. I thought they carried on

She can't legally get another one. When the ones around now have died that is (in theory) the end of XL Bullies in the UK.

Op if you can hear her...she can hear you.
I hope you did it anonymously and didn't tell your partner the fact he loves the big old soppy t rex ...is good cover for you .

As pp have said there is something wrong with the type of people who want this dog.

Id love to understand the pyscology behind it and esp people who have DC and get one.
It's almost using their own kids to prove how great these devils are.

If anyone ever moved with that next to me I'd get reinforced prison like steel fences with alarms and spot lights.

Thank you for the link. Here are some exerpts from it:
'When a dog bites down on something and holds on, refusing to let go ...'
'A dog determined to hang onto the tugger will clamp down with their jaws ...'
'(bully breeds) were bred to have powerful biting jaws that could hang onto prey ...'
'… a state of mind, where the dog is determined to hang on at all costs.'

And from freedictionary.com:
lock v.tr. 3. To fix in place so that movement or escape is impossible; hold fast:
lock n. 5. a. Sports A hold in wrestling or self-defense that is secured on a part of an opponent's body.
b. A secure hold; control

This is what people mean when they talk about dogs locking their jaws. They aren't talking about mechanical locking mechanisms.

I agree with a lot of the posts that any dog can attack given the right circumstances. But for me it comes down to the size of the dog not necessarily the bread.

The damage that a larger dog can do is so much greater than a smaller or medium sized dog. That goes for Collies, German Shepherds, Great Danes, Labradors etc an attack from any of those could be fatal.

But yes OP report and/or move ASAP.