So last week's dog killer breed was.....

[CombatBarbie]

Cant find the thread from last week where a dog mauled its owner and everyone jumped on the speculation it had to have been an xl bully.... it was actually a Lurcher, normally a very docile breed.

https://metro.co.uk/2026/04/13/dog-fatally-bit-teenager-jamie-lea-biscoe-neck-pictured-27959805/

Find it strange noone is up in arms now the breed has been identified.

The details are still emerging. Apparently (according to her aunt) she was trying to split up a dog fight which by my calculations would require more than one dog and if you search her fathers profile, he has photos of XL bully types and a litter of bully puppies. He was arrested at the scene and bailed.

I am reserving my opinion for now.

Any dog can turn and attack! Although some dogs can only so minimal damage. It’s just more likely to be a dog like an Xl bully(or similar). Although some doggy people don’t want to hear that.

If lurchers killed people at the same alarming regularity as XL bullies then yes, I would most certainly be "up in arms" about the breed.

There were two 18 month old pups who belonged to the dog who attacked. Presumably none of the dogs were neutered, so I would expect this would increase the likelihood of fights breaking out. I think a lot of rescues won't rehome littermates together, so I assume related dogs are more prone to fighting. It's a very sad case.

Maybe when they've killed 20 more people we'll be more concerned.

Oh that's sad, I stupidly got in between my dogs fighting as I was worried and accidently got injured, totally not the dogs fault at all - they were play fighting/sorting pecking order and understand if they hurt each other but I got in the way, would never do it again obviously. I still completely trust both of my dogs, it was my mistake.

The pups were downstairs from what i read

I read another poster saying this on another thread. Do you have a link?

YABU. Not enough information has come out yet.

If I was frequently reading about lurchers attacking and killing innocent children, and strangers in the street, I'd pay the breed more attention. It's another breed that has been doing this with frightening regularity, so that is the one I am concerned about for now.

(Edit typo.)

It's a strange story and very sad. Hard to tell the size of the dog- could be eg a wolfhound cross- but usually a fit adult would have no problem fighting off a lurcher even a very big one.

Of course any dog can bite. From what I have read she was home alone with the dog, was bitten on the neck, collapsed and bled to death.

I would very much not take this as a reason not to worry about more dangerous breeds. Like saying that the fact you can drown in 2 inches of water means you shouldn't worry about swimming in the ocean during a storm.

Firstly a lurcher is a crossbred dog resulting from mating a greyhound or other sighthound with a dog of another type such as a herding dog or a terrier. The lurcher is not a "breed": the term is a generic descriptor of a diverse group of dogs.

Secondly - it depends what the parts that made up this exact dog - I read (prepared to be incorrect) it was a bully cross but this was based I think on the blue-merle part which is not correct.

"Shy, a seven-year-old blue-merle lurcher"

A blue Merle dog looks like an exotic black dog with patches of colors that have been diluted. This Merle coats are caused by genes, which may also affect eye colors, coats, and more.
A Merle gene is a recessive gene that occurs in dogs. If you are thinking of breeding your pet with another breed of your choice, this trait could be an issue.

Isn't there some speculation that it was a lurcher cross, anyway? If the family own bull breeds, it's not inconceivable that it was crossed with a bull breed. Likewise, she may have been caught in the crossfire of a dog fight between the lurcher cross and a bull breed.

Either way, I think that if you own a large, athletic dog capable of causing serious injury/ death then you must take that ownership responsibility extremely seriously and not make assumptions about its nature. My dd was bitten on the eye by a very small breed (a supposedly friendly family dog), she escaped with a small scar and a lifelong fear of dogs. Had she been bitten by a bull breed, at the very least she'd have lost the sight in one eye.

I say this as someone who grew up with a beautiful cross breed rescue dog with a wonderful temperament who never bit or showed aggression to anyone in her 17 years. My sister owned a Staffie who was similarly beautifully soft and daft around people. But around other dogs she was more temperamental, and dsis had to keep her wits about her.

Lurchers were hunting dogs and are often used for illegal hunting and badly treated to keep them 'keen'.

Yes, I think I read the pups were downstairs. Unless they were shut in a separate room, I'm not sure how the Dad knew they weren't part of the incident, I think they've all been PTS.

The reports I've read seemed quite muddled. The Dad says there was no history of aggression, but he's quoted as saying 'Treat them as dogs, give them their beds, be careful'. This seems quite specific and makes me wonder whether there has been a history of the dogs being aggressive territorial when being allowed on beds. I've had two lurchers who have both not been allowed on beds and sofas as they snap and growl. The latest report I read, the Dad has said a strange smell may have caused the dog to attack.

This. My family and I have had lurchers for many, many years (generations really!) and this has really shocked me. An XL Bully attack, sadly, doesn’t shock me at all anymore. Lurchers are largely a very gentle breed so something’s gone horribly wrong here. Awfully sad for the family

ETA I do think people are tempted to overlook dog breeds histories sometimes. Ultimately lurchers were bred to hunt, and they’re powerful dogs, so I think it’s not necessarily true to say they’d be easily fended off if the notion to attack a human should take them.

Lurchers are not a breed.
I imagine the usual lot will be jumping on this thread soon saying that lurchers should be added to the list of restricted dogs. Good luck with that.

TBH I wouldn't have a lurcher because they are sight hounds. I've found sight hounds instinctively hunt and see other pets as prey. So do other breeds obviously. But I would reject some breeds on that basis.
On this case, I will await any subsequent court case etc to see exactly what happened.

Yes, odd that they describe it as a lurcher cross. All lurchers are a cross.

This is very true. The specific cross would probably be more ‘helpful’ (don’t know if helpful is the word exactly but still!)

And to add, even small dogs can be incredibly strong.

The reality here is about strength. If a yorkie was biting my child I'm.fairly certain if if it the dog or my child going to die, I could physically kill a toy breed with my bare hands on the spot.

If a xl bully was killing my child I couldn't get my hands to throttle it. As shown on the garage footage with several young men. It's not easy to fight them off.

Like if a man wanted to overpower me. Generally he would be stronger and have the upper hand. My eldest is 8 stone and 5,8. When we play fight he is considerably stronger than me.

It's just basic biology and science. People who say a yorkie is as dangerous as a XL. Your saying you have low chances of stopping it before it killed your or your child? I don't even kill insects, I'm a total pacifist but if a tiny dog was ripping chunks out of a child of mine i would stop it.

I dunno, there's something so fishy about this incident 🤔

The lady died because the dog had bit her neck. Any dog could do this.

It was also not a XL Bully.

Lurches aren’t a breed and they’re traditionally bred for hunting and racing.

When you say 'up in arms', what do you mean? Are you suggesting we should ban lurchers or maybe dogs in general? Far more people die at the hands of humans than dogs. Should we be 'up in arms' and start banning humans as well?