Banned Breeds

[Khamseen]

Can someone advise me please? I met a dog on a walk tonight (it came flying through the woods with no owner in sight). When the owner eventually ran up we got talking and he said the dog was 62% American Pit Bull. I have a couple of questions and would really appreciate views on them.

He said he'd got the dog from a woman (never mentioned her name) and he'd had the dog for 5 weeks. He then went on to say the woman he got the dog from had called him a few days later and told him the dog was illegal.

How would someone know the dog was an exact figure of 62% American Pit Bull?

Do I need to report this to anyone?

I've googled American Pit Bull, could he be mistaken and it's an American Staffordshire?

I'm not someone who judges dogs but I'm worried this dog may be illegal. Advice would be most welcome in if I need to contact anyone.

I would imagine that 62% PB means that 5 of the 8 grandparents are pit bull - if it's true, and the chances are it isn't. However, for the purposes of legislation a dog only needs to be considered pit bull type for it to be banned - and type isn't a breed, it's a set of measurements and basically how the dog looks. It has nothing to with temperament, or (strangely) parentage.

However, unless you saw behaviour that meant you reasonably felt that the dog posed a risk to the public, I'd leave it be. Breed Specific Legislation is a blunt tool, poorly drafted and put in place as a kneejerk reaction to some dog attacks in the early 90s.

Most of the dogs killed by the legislation have been nice family dogs. In one case, a police sniffer dog was deemed to be a pit bull type and put down, despite being incredibly well trained and of excellent temperament www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10960407/Police-forced-to-put-down-their-own-sniffer-dog-because-it-was-an-illegal-breed.html

The man is very unwise to run around telling people this sort of thing, but I'd stay out of it unless you've observed behaviour that makes you concerned that the dog's behaviour makes it significantly more dangerous than another dog of similar size, such as a Labrador. I certainly wouldn't want the death of a nice natured family pet on my conscience.

“How would someone know the dog was an exact figure of 62% American Pit Bull?”

They really wouldn’t, but, it’s the sort of rubbish people come out with who claim dogs are part pit bull... when the reality is there weren’t a huge amount in the country to start with and they’ve been banned for nearly 30 years.

“Do I need to report this to anyone?”

It doesn’t do anything useful, either the dog looks a bit like one or it doesn’t, if it’s behaviour is causing an issue, report it to the appropriate people for that and if it does look a bit like one they’d measure it, if it’s behaviour isn’t causing an issue, what’s the point in having it muzzled and on lead or dead...

There are actually loads of pitbull crosses in this country and if they don't get the attention of the DDA (someone reporting) most manage to fly under the radar.

If this dog hasn't done anything wrong, please don't report.

I am a big advocate of deed not breed.

They won't know for certain the percentage of the pit bull but sometimes it can be a bit obvious. Nose colour, ear shape, leg length and body length

Why would you report it for being a potential type? If the dog was exhibiting behaviour you were worried about, report that. Reporting a dog simply because you (or someone else) thinks it might be type is ridiculous. You would be potentially serving that dog a death sentence based on its looks

A lot of people do condemn dogs looking type.

So many innocent dogs get pts down because of it.

A dog could be a lab cross boxer, but would still be deemed of type if it fitted the measurements. Doesn't matter if the dog has never done anything wrong, or the owner can prove it's a lab cross boxer but because it fits the descriptions, it's got to go.

Horrible law and one that needs a serious overhaul

If s dog is well trained and the owners responsible, then let it be, whatever the breed. Truth to tell, I’ve come across more viscous chihuahuas and other ankle biters than I have larger dogs. Like a PP commented, deed not breed.

I've recently been watching reruns of 'It's me or the dog' from America and there have been several dogs that the owners have said were pitbulls that to my eye - no expert it has to be said - look exactly like what we in Britain call a Staffie.

I was beginning to wonder if Staffies are considered pitbulls in America and maybe in America pitbull is more of a type - I know it is here - rather than an actual breed, if that makes sense.

So maybe your 62% American pitbull owner actually has a staffie cross of some kind.

I had a dog removed thanks to BSL. He was the sweetest dog you'd ever meet, loved people, other dogs, kids, even cats. Some twat reported me after we had a row; he was staff x EBT but he got seized. He did 4 months in police kennels whilst i tried desperately to fight it. In that time he got little to no human interaction, barely any exercise & it sent him mad. In the end they didn't need to type him to destroy him, they got me under the dangerous dogs act. He literally was mentally broken & the kindest thing for me was to agree to have him PTS.

Please don't put another owner through that because some stupid law says a dog is dangerous based on looks. It costs an absolute fortune to fight & the dogs suffer. If the dog wasn't aggressive in any way, leave it be

“I've recently been watching reruns of 'It's me or the dog' from America and there have been several dogs that the owners have said were pitbulls that to my eye - no expert it has to be said - look exactly like what we in Britain call a Staffie.”

Pit bulls and staffies don’t really look hugely alike, but what happens over here is that any dog that’s vaguely staffy shaped is called a staffy and in America any dog that’s vaguely pit bull shaped is called a pit bull.

Partly because the public are absolutely awful at identifying dog breeds tbh.

Staffies are really pretty small dogs...

Original staffs are small & stocky. We have bred them now to be leggier & slightly taller, god knows why (potentially a link to fighting there). But yeah as above, we suck in general at identifying breeds. The BSL standards that the police use to identify a pit are bullshit...they have set measurements for things like head size, height, length & girth. Recently a very obvious lab cross was seized (thankfully now released) because he met the criteria. Tbh no breed is safe from BSL anymore

“We have bred them now to be leggier & slightly taller,”

Some people do, yeah, but honestly people just call any dog a staffy.

There was a dog living near me causing problems... allowed offlead even though it was dog reactive, jumping over their fence into the street to get to dogs walking past, things like that. I met at least 6 people calling him a staffy.

He’s a ridgeback cross lab, I know that because his owner told me that, but also he’s about 4 times the size of even the biggest badly bred staffy.

But he’s short coated, athletic looking and a colour staffies come in, so staffy

Oh i know what you mean...i've noticed that anything stocky with a wrinkly face is a staff round here. Oh & anything loud or aggressive sounding 🤔

I did once have a go at a bloke in asda...a lady had tied her very obviously staff outside & it was barking. Bloke didnt like it, went to the kiosk & complained that the 'pit tied up outside is aggressive' 😡 bloody idiot condemned the dog on two bloody counts!!!

Yes, these dogs were bigger than the proper Staffie size but you do get quite a lot of larger Staffies here (UK) as well. But again perhaps they come from Staffie stock crossed with something bigger.

There are so many mixes sometimes it is hard to tell.

To me an obvious Staffie has that lovely wide, slightly goofy Staffie 'smile', whereas a pitbull is a lot less smiley looking.

Why are you even considering reporting this dog?!?!
It’s people like you that will end up having more innocent dogs taken away and pts simply because of its breed!!

So what if it’s 62% pitbull or 100% pitbull? I’ve met three dogs which were “banned breeds” and they were the most loveliest dogs you could meet, yet but I’ve met some horrible Labradors and viscious little snappy dogs

Why would it matter to you if the dog didn’t do anything wrong? It’s a horrible way to go sitting incarcerated in stinking cells until they do become dangerous, when they have literally done nothing wrong. In my personal opinion it’s a form of racism for dogs. Completely judged by the way they look, the genes they carry.

Probably was part pit. You get a lot of them now. They come in via Ireland as they aren’t banned in a lot of European countries and can easily get in via the ferries late at night. To someone who isn’t used to them they probably do look like staffs and that’s why people can keep them without other people reporting much. Wouldn’t get away with it with say a doggo or a tosa. However he has got here though, still not the dogs fault and I couldn’t personally live with myself reporting that just because he looked a certain way.
If he was causing any concern for your safety however then yeah, you probably should.

How can you say pitbulls don't have a sweet smile?

Look at that face

@Soubriquet gorgeous dog

Isn't it? I just googled pit bull smile and 1000's of images appeared.

Bull breeds are one of the smiliest around

Okay, that is a lovely smile. Inll the pictures of pitbulls I've seen they seem to have slightly narrower faces than staffies, which makes the staffie smile wider and smilier, if that makes sense.