Panorama - is the XL Bully Ban working

[SaltandPepper22]

Discussion thread.

Personally I can’t understand why they weren’t all just rounded up and destroyed - all of the exemption nonsense just muddied the water.

I do also agree though that there is a problem of ownership; no one should be allowed to have these dogs but there needs to be tighter controls on dog ownership in general.

I would like to see:

• A full ban of any bully type breed
• A maximum weight restriction for any domestic dog
• Restrictions on which dogs can be domestic pets and which are for work only e.g., Rottweiler only for police dog handlers
• Restrictions on size of dog you can own based on the size of your property
• A mandatory training course for new dog owners
• A return to licensing with a points based system for infringements

And obviously, the funding to make sure the above happens! We are apparently currently spending millions rounding up and housing all these XL Bullies, we have the money.

Other sources quote entirely different numbers/breeds.

For 2023, your source states 6 out of 154 or 22 out of 154 if cross breeds are included.
Either way it's considerably less than a quarter.
Let's not also forget the fact that this is not the nature of the breed, which is entirely different from what you are trying to suggest. The failures of owners in these cases should also be taken into account, not just the dog breed.

Just watched it -

1. why dont we just apply this to ALL bull breeds? Bull breeds all have bull fighting ancestry? Why is it only the big versions? It is a behavioural thing
2. why dont they just do it by DNA test?

The measurement thing in the official definition was insane, a Bully dog who is 20 inches tall is dangerous but the one next to it or its littermate is only 19.5inches so he isnt dangerous 🤦🏼‍♀️🤡

Doing this by size, look and feel is farcical....

I completely agree - genetic testing would be quite easy as well considering over half of UK XLs are bred from one particularly vicious dog called Killer Kimbo (I wish I was joking!)

You want Britain to ban the British bulldog?

Have you ever met a chihuahua? If they were bigger, they would be more lethal than an XL.
Little devils that want to bite anyone apart from their owner.
Little dog owners tend to brush off the bad behaviour of their dogs, as they can just pick them up and stop it.

I did laugh at this. Chihuahuas definitely can have 'small dog syndrome' though some are quite sweet. A gentle giant is far less likely to bite, though a chihuahua bite doesn't inflict much damage (I have personal experience)

Although a chihuahua can’t kill you.

If they bit your jugular artery, they could.
The point was that we should not brush off super aggressive behaviour from small dogs just becasue they are small.

Fair point ! It is crazy when you put it like that. I guess what i am saying is I think staffies are just as dangerous. Luckily we have already banned pit bulls.

What I dont understand is that we accept that dog breeds have drivers in their DNA that on the whole will come out because they cannot help it;

• Border collies will herd people and pets
• Rerrievers will retrieve
• Lurchers will chase
• Beagles/scent hounds are exceptionally nose-led and independednt when they have picked up on a scent
• Cavalier KCS desires to be near its owners all the time - ultimate companion breed

These are all examples of traits that have been deliberately and sucessfully bred into dog breeds. Ones that we accept will need managing whether it is a worker or a pet.

But when it comes to dangerous fighting history dogs it is suddenly it is "the owner not the breed" .

breeding clearly shapes behaviour in all these other breeds... and it’s inconsistent to say it suddenly doesn’t matter for dogs with a fighting history!

Staffing arent as dangerous as pitbulls. That's a ridiculous thing to say. Terriers generally have a high prey drive but that's all terriers. People should understand the breed they have. All this ban thing is absoluteky ridiculous while people think it is ok to have a dog with poor recall off the lead.

I have just read that yesterday a Staffy type viciously attacked a KC spaniel at the local garden centre in front of the KC owners young children. Thanks to quick intervention by onlookers the poor dog was eventually released from the jaws of the Staffy and was immediately taken to the vet for treatment. The police were called but as the victim was a dog rather than a human they were unwilling to take action which I beleive is very wrong.

These dog on dog attacks are happening daily across the country. Something needs to be done urgently to stop people owning and breeding dangerous dogs.

Many think my suggestions up thread are extreme, but the reality is that it will need extreme measures to stop a whole variety of issues caused by 'pet' dogs.

Not as dangerous as pitbulls but still dangerous with its breed traits.

We don't ban heroin and then say "but don't bother banning fentanyl because it's isn't as bad as heroin" 😵‍💫

Or "drug driving is dangerous but we've already banned drink driving so don't worry"

Nowhere near as dangerous. Not even close.

What are dangerous are untrained dogs of any breed.

To be clear - I am not disagreeing with you that untrained dogs are dangerous.

Staffies Just arent as dangerous as pitbulls though. Nobody who knows dogs would say that.

Still dangerous enough to warrant heaviy restrictions and/or ban though.

Sounds like we will just have to disagree. And that's ok!

This is exactly why campaigners have been saying section 1 of the DDA is pointless.

Yes, I'm genuinely confused that the dog isn't muzzled. Muzzles aren't cruel and muzzle training is important for dogs. I'm an experienced dog owner (and yes, I work all of my dogs with a professional K9 trainer, have a big house with a big yard, don't let them off leash in public, etc), and my dogs are absolutely muzzle trained. They've never shown any signs of aggression but it's good for them to be comfortable with the muzzle for any kind of emergency vet appt, situations that may make them nervous, like a workman coming over the house, etc. It's for their safety as much as anyone else's and they absolutely do not mind wearing their muzzles. We use the nylon slip muzzles rather than the cage style, so they don't look scary. I also keep muzzles in the car in case I get pulled over for any reason; I wouldn't want a police officer (I'm in the US so this isn't unlikely here) to see them, get nervous, and potentially use a firearm on them. The muzzle shows that everyone is safe and no one needs to rely exclusively on my ability to control them. I'm a huge proponent of muzzle training for dogs.

Have you tried adopting a dog lately? It's difficult for even good owners my mom was rejected because she lives by a "main road" its a standard 30mph road she has lived on for over thirty years and never lost a dog to she has 6ft fencing double front door sturdy 6ft gates wanted a small dog was told no so she imported one

Other people are rejected because they work a couple of days in the office and wanted to use a dog walker on days they were out rejected because one person works full time one works a couple of hours a day because they dont want the dog to be left alone EVER not even for a couple of hours

Utter nonsense

Sadly I have to agree, I am sure there are many responsible xl owners out there but there does seem to be a certain kind of person attracted to owning one