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.

Retired police dogs are still incredibly well trained, they'll have had around six years service. If they don't stay with their handler then I don't think they just pass them on to anyone who fancies a dog and lives in a 1st floor flat.

I'm not keen on big dogs, or smart dogs like collies with lazy families at all. And XL's and Corsos are just horrible things.

Can you always see him when he’s chasing squirrels? I run inthe woods too and the amount of times some arsehole dog comes barrelling up to me with the owner nowhere in sight is incredible.

Mastiffs generally are fabulous dogs for families. They do need someone who is confident with big dogs and consistent training but so do all dogs. You do need to getting the right type of mastiff for your family circumstances/exercise level, but that also goes for all dogs.

@SaltandPepper22 the approach of North Rhine-Westphaliain Germany is all dog owners with a dog of 20kg plus irrespective of breed have to take a competency test!

Makes sense to me!

There needs to be a sense of proportion. You want to ban all bull breeds, to include french bulldogs, and all large dogs, including dogs that are very docile eg great Danes. Where would you draw the line?! Would greyhounds, also extremely placid, but large, be banned? Shall we ban and euthanise all dogs by your logic??!

Far more people are murdered by people than by dogs. That is where we should be focusing.

But no competency test can negate the dog turning on someone. These breeds really need a total cull. They are utterly hideous too. I don't know why anyone would risk it. There are far better dogs around.

Why would you want a toddler to get in a fight with a dog? I'm afraid a toddler wouldn't be able to fight a duck, so should we ban ducks?

Ducks, a reckon a toddler could take.

swans and geese now…

What happens to the working rottweiler when it retires, if it can't be homed domestically?

Why a weight limit? Do you think weight is the same as mass strength?

I'm against XL bullies being kept as pets, or bred. But it's a bit of a stretch to say all bull breeds should be banned.

I agree with licensing. All dogs should have to have a scannable QR code on their tag that the police can access to check for a valid licence. And I agree with mandatory training to a point. We took classes when we got our first dog and they were a waste of time. We hired a 1:1 for sessions in our local woods for our others which was more effective and useful by far.

We were in a cafe for lunch at the weekend, the table next to us had a monster bully type dog that they could barely control.

Had the GC been with us we would have left.

If I ever get rescue dog I want a greyhound, we have access to a private field. So quick couple of sprints around/across the field then home to chill/sleep on the settee.

They are lovely dogs. Very docile and contrary to popular belief, very lazy!

Just to reiterate the point that large doesn't mean dangerous. Greyhounds are not aggressive.

Yeah, I think being in the police would seriously curtail my rottie’s daily sleep quotas!!!

But not every “bored GS” can be a police dog - many start training and fail to meet standards needed, (often for being too friendly and not aggressive enough) just like many puppies don’t make it as guide dogs or drug detection dogs or whatever service. What happens to them? Destroy perfectly healthy intelligent loving dogs? That’s immoral.

Are rotties used in the police? I’ve never seen one. Gsd, malinois for catching bad guys- would a rottie be quick enough for chases?

then spaniels and the like for drugs and whatnot.

isn’t Rottweiler specialty guarding? Not much use for that in police work.

Our local police force was advertising for a home for a dog recently.

because it was “too nice”

had passed all it’s initial training with flying colours, but when it can to chasing and bringing down bad guys it failed.

some lucky soul is going to get a lovely dog trained to within an inch of it’s life. However it is a malinois cross so they’ll need to know how to keep it up.

I've just watched this on iPlayer and I actually felt sorry for the dogs in the kennels - it would be kinder to put them to sleep. No family needs one of these dogs and there should be a ban on them being in a home with children under 18. There's a local woman who's always posting pictures of her baby with her XL bully, presumably to prove how docile and friendly it is. It makes my blood run cold

I agree, our family use to know a ex racing greyhound rescuer and I use to help walk them. They were perfect for lazy teenager me. Greyhound deserve so much better.The tales he told us made me cry.

Greyhounds are great, they just like to cuddle and sleep. I think they're very misunderstood.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewzw812dd1o?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ5JT1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFGVm5VQlpMUHFFZ2FmZWxTc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsob5_xzYL213PkENr1QZbmNrRXl63SG8YU4fLArO5IwYJDEm84RMImdD1dC_aem_5uGjVQrrxYlUWjVqY71tUQ

These beasts are like ugly lions. There is no way they should be walking around our streets, in our neighbours' homes. Abominations. Just kill them, I really don't understand the point of this.

Dog ownership has increased massively in the last 10 yrs and I don’t think we have enough space in certain areas to exercise them off lead without conflict. I do a lot of walking and I’m tired of bumping into reactive/aggressive dogs who have no recall. I’m even more tired of the owners or walkers of these animals. They have no clue about taking responsibility of a predator whilst out on these walks. I’m tired of listening to the excuses of “he’s nervous” or “he’s in training” or “you surprised him”. Train them in a secure field away from other people until they’re safe to be exercised in public areas. Can’t afford it? Don’t buy a dog. Long and/or retractable leads are no use for reactive medium or large dogs; stop using them.

Why the weight restriction OP?
Some large breeds are extremely docile by nature, eg St Bernards, Newfoundlands, Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds.

I think there should be a license fee to own a dog and regulations to adhere to. (Funded via yearly license fee) Vets should have a duty of care in reporting dogs not licensed/ meeting regulations. Regulation around selling and onus on sellers to do appropriate checks. House /garden size should be a factor. Certain breeds not around children under 12.

I think, given the amount of money spent on this already, some kind of genetic testing plus behavioural assessment would work. All dogs falling into the certain criteria (appearance, weight, etc) should be rounded up and tested. Those with XL bully genes/ behaviour issues put down. Those that are ok released back to their owners.