AIBU to support a full ban on XL Bully dogs?

[SunMoonandChocolate]

I recently watched the BBC Panorama program 'Dangerous Dogs: Is the Ban Working?' It honestly turned my stomach to hear about some of the awful attacks that they covered, and to my horror, I found that these attacks by dangerous dogs (mainly XL Bullies) are actually increasing, rather than decreasing.

When you think that dogs classed as 'dangerous' are supposed to be muzzled while out and about, and kept in an area of your property from which it CANNOT escape, I can't help but wonder how this is happening. Although of course we all know really, that the main reason for these attacks is blind arrogance on the part of what appears to be a lot of the owners, who stupidly think that they can control these big dogs. There are the macho moron's who think they're big and clever to own one of these dangerous animals, and delight in weaponising them to frighten people, but the fact is, that this sort of person rarely has any knowledge of how to train any dog properly, let alone one that is far stronger than they are. Then there are those who say 'Oh, they're a really gentle, loving, dog and wouldn't hurt a fly', so they don't take the precautions they should, and then when their dog decides to attack, they have no idea how to control it.

Only last night yet another 19 year old girl lost her life to a dog attack in Essex, and while I know some people will say that we don't yet know if it was an XL Bully, it's likely it was, as the vast number of fatal dog attacks are discovered to have been by this breed.

It has now got to the point, where has been so much on the news about life changing and fatal attacks by XL Bully dogs, that I am now terrified in case I see one whilst out and about on my mobility scooter, as I would have absolutely no chance of defending myself, or getting away. So I have now launched a petition on Change.org, in the hope of getting enough signatures that we can actually get this brought before parliament again, and finally get these dogs banned once and for all. So if you'd like to sign it you can find it here:

https://www.change.org/BanXLBullies

I did try posting about this earlier, but it was taken down for breaching some rule or another, not really sure why, so hopefully I'll have more luck this time.

There will always be irresponsible people who flout the rules and this will be the case regardless of the extent of the law.

I have a real soft spot for large bull breeds so we’ll never see eye to eye on this but in terms of public safety it would be more beneficial to deal with irresponsible dog ownership on the whole (an equally impossible task I’m aware).

Many of these dogs you want to see dead will be much loved family pets, not being bred, not posing a risk to the public. Breed specific legislation has only pushed ownership of certain dog types underground so to speak, meaning that they are more likely to be owned by the wrong sort of person and tragic incidents follow this.

@SunMoonandChocolate, petitions are only allowed to be posted on the petitions board. That's likely why your post was deleted.

Are they not already banned? Not allowed to breed them, sell, re-home etc. so they should be died out within a decade.

The petition wants them added to a list of dangerous dogs, and to be banned, has that not already happened? The petition is vague in what outcome it wants.

They are a type, a type you can 'make' by crossbreeding perfectly legal dogs so, like the pitbull 'type' ban, they will never not exist, as long as people want to own them. Breed specific laws do not work, we've been banging this drum for a very long time now...

Legislation on who can own a dog, who can train a dog, how you can train a dog, how a dog can be kept - these DO work, but they also cost more money and look to the dog hating/dog fearing public like a soft approach. They don't win votes.

The poor girl in Essex was a lurcher not a XL bully

The report I read stated that a lurcher killed the 19 year old. I was surprised at that, wouldn’t have thought that a lurcher could kill an adult human.

I have reported a few sales posts on pets for homes where they are breeding the XL with dobermans. This is a HUGE mistake, I have a Doberman but would not ever recommend crossing with one of those monsters. You’d get a bloody velociraptor! Sadly I think they all need culling now, it’s not their fault they were bred that way but the risk is too high.

The problem is there isn’t a genetic profile for the XL Bully, they judge by conformation. The Dobermans much finer build and features drags the cross to the safe side of the law

Yes

No YADNBU.....way too many people including many innocent children who have no choice to live in a home with them, have lost their lives to attacks by this vile breed.
A complete ban at LEAST in homes where children are present, should have happened ages ago.
Signed.

Very embarrassed about my username given the topic! But wanted to post to explain as people are often confused about what a lurcher is.

It's basically a mongrel - a cross breed. Any sort of dog that is a cross between a sighthound (greyhound, whippet or similar - sighthounds are "pointy dogs" generally) and any other breed, is a lurcher.

So this lurcher could well have been, for example, the product of an XL/greyhound cross..... Google tells me that early reports suggest it was a bulldog lurcher, meaning it was half bulldog... Or possibly more than half.

"Lurcher" is a very vague term. And many types of lurcher make nice family pets, but it isn't a given.

This incident is horrific and tragic, and it also illustrates the limitations on breed-specific bans. Because it's so easy to cross breeds, make new breeds, etc etc.

I agree we need different legislation to make people safer. But doubling down on the XL ban is not necessarily the answer, because a new dangerous breed could very easily then spring up to take its place.....

Oh look another post.

And no, the girl killed last night was caught in the crossfire of a fight between 2 dogs, 1 a lurcher.

And yes, to the previous poster, lurchers can kill, any dog can kill if they catch a major blood vessel.

Although generally the larger breeds

Yes they should cull every last one of them. They are a horror movie on legs.

I'd hate to see innocent family pets taken away and destroyed. Not every bully type dog is to blame and not every owner is irresponsible.
However alot of them are! It seems like in alot of these cases warning signs were already present. Either attacks on neighbouring dogs or locals being afraid of out of control dogs.

A beloved lurcher killed someone , think family pet slept in the beds.

People loose all reason over dogs.

I think we need much tougher laws all around on them .including putting responsibility on parents who allow their DC exposure to these killer nanny dogs.

Surely bringing back licences would be a good move.

@nopenotplaying when you reported did anyone listen

Yes. I do recall reading about a woman in America being killed by a pack of Dachshund mixes and a few years ago a baby being mauled by a Patterdale Terrier.

That is exactly what it should mean but people are still flouting the rules.

My mum met an XL bully puppy a few months ago. Puppies should not exist. People are still breeding from them. It certainly is not for the love of dogs because people who love dogs don't breed them when not allowed and risk them being PTS because of their breed.

People complain about a breed specific ban being hard to enforce because breeds are not always well defined. Would a ban on dogs, or indeed any animal, capable of delivering larger than a certain bite force be less ambiguous? It feels like we all know what the risky dogs are, and certainly a vet would be able to make a clear judgement, much easier than labelling by breed.

No you are absolutely not being unreasonable and can’t believe some of these responses.
This breed of dog is extremely dangerous and simply shouldn’t exist. They’re not normal dogs, they were bred to kill by sick sociopaths. They literally are worse than lions, but people think it’s perfectly acceptable to own dangerous animals as long as it’s in the form of a dog.

I don’t mean to worry you, but there have been so many non fatal attacks that don’t all make it to the news. I’ve seen a few local attacks briefly mentioned on Facebook. At one point according to the Daily Mail there was about 40 attacks in one weekend in Yorkshire alone.

I just cannot believe the government seem to be doing nothing about this. The breed is not being banned because how can something be banned if there are exemptions?
I also can’t believe the attitude of thousands of weirdo dog worshippers on Facebook - a baby dies and the comment section is riddled with the same old idiotic cliches “it’s the owner not the dog” etc.

So yeah, I will be signing your petition. I’ve considered starting one myself but didn’t know how to go about it. Instead what I like to do is moan on the internet tbh, even though it doesn’t really achieve anything. I did make a post about these dogs from another account a while ago if you want to have a read, it was comforting to know there are other people who agree with me: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5186617-anyone-else-just-wish-these-xl-bullies-would-disappear