XL bully.

[PinkSyCo]

Does anybody have one? My grown up son’s friend’s bully had pups two months ago and my son has offered to buy me one. I have seen photos and they are adorable, but their mum looks….well scary. 🥺 I have been assured that she’s not at all and have done some research, which tells me that they have had any aggressive behaviours intentionally bred out of them and are fantastic family dogs, but I am still a little bit dubious as I look after my toddler grandson 3 days a week. Can anyone reassure me that bullys are indeed good with children like I am being told.

Taking temperament out of this - OP these dogs often suffer badly as they are bred to be wide and heavy, their bones suffer.

Hi OP,

I’ve had several rescue Staffies so am not of the knee-jerk ‘these dogs are dangerous’ school at all but I would have HUGE reservations about this

Firstly, knowing the mum only gives you a very small snapshot of the puppies and their breeding. Genetics, instincts, health, temperament are baked in over many many generations on both sides

The problem with these breeds is they’ve been bred for looks above all else
Dad is an aggressive arsehole with a skin condition? Doesn’t matter if he is proven to produce muscly blue and merl pups
Mum is really anxious and has high prey drive and is impossible to train? Doesn’t matter if she has litters of 10

Most bitches with pups will look quite placid to visitors. They generally just want to sit still with their puppies and keep an eye on things.
And a backyard breeder producing litters which don’t have homes is really no better than ‘factory farmed’ puppies in any way
Unless the breeder can confidently talk to you about several generations of the pups, and why each of them was chosen to breed from, they are only in it for the money, and the puppies are a Russian roulette

And that’s before factoring in that XL bullies are a breed with VERY dubious origins
They haven’t been created to be a good family pet.
At best, they might be a good family pet in spite of all the dreadful breeding for physical characteristics to make them look as much like banned breeds as is possible without getting in trouble with the law

@ArcherDog

You cannot breed the aggression out.

Let’s think about guide dogs. There are hundreds of a scientists whose sole job is to monitor and select the right genetics. Breed the best of the best and raise them under very strict socialisation and training protocols.
At the end, you should have solid guide dogs, an excellent pairing of genetics and correct raising (nature and nurture).

And yet less than 40% of puppies graduate to guide dogs.

Because in 60% of cases their inherent traits (gundogs- tendency to chase, easily distracted, impulse control etc) show through. Sometimes as puppies, sometimes as they mature.
Nothing has happened to make this behaviour change. The instinct was there all along, suppressed. And 60% of the dogs will fail because of this instinct.

Now if this happens in probably the strictest and most rigorous selective breeding program in the world, overseen by top scientists, what on Earth makes you think Paul and Sue from down the road have managed to somehow 100% breed out the inherent, instinctive ‘Attack’ temperament that bullbreeds are wired for in just a few generations?

The pitbull that make a nice family pet and lives a long happy life is genetically an anomaly. And breeding an anomaly with another anomaly (“both parents have lovely temperaments”) does not guarantee an anomaly.

The dog that killed the little boy a few weeks ago has sired at least ten litters, despite it already having a bite history before it killed the child. It’s been confirmed that at least one of the puppies the dog produced has already been euthanised due to aggression. It took 7 bullets from a police marksman to bring the dog down after the killing. Anyone who buys these dogs as children’s pets need their heads examining.

Apart from all of the other issues raised above which I completely agree with, they cost a fecking fortune to insure and many insurers will not even insure them at all so that alone would deter me from getting one before I even looked at anything else.

Hi Sparechange thank you for your post. I think in a way I came on here hoping to be talked out of saying yes to be honest. My son was allaying my concerns last night, and when I researched about my main concern- temperament- I was getting nothing but good verdicts. Something was still niggling at me though, which is why I came to ask opinions on here, which I’m glad I did because I now feel able to make a more informative decision and, as I said upthread, that decision is no.

Apart from all of the other issues raised above which I completely agree with, they cost a fecking fortune to insure and many insurers will not even insure them at all so that alone would deter me from getting one before I even looked at anything else.

This is an excellent point (that someone else mentioned upthread) which I hadn’t thought of.

It's frightening how much misinformation is out there along the lines of the nanny dog myth and with the growing popularity of enormous, powerful dogs it's inevitable that unscrupulous breeders will sell these puppies to unsuitable homes on false pretences. It's often visiting children - grandchildren or friends - who pay the price.

I think it's sensible for people to cross the road - you have no way of telling if the owners are responsible and decent and physically strong enough to be in control of the dog and there's no point taking a chance on something capable of inflicting such damage.

There’s no way I would trust one of these in my home, mainly because they are bred by bloody idiots calling them ‘nanny dogs’ and breeding them as a status symbol. Google ‘bully owner’ pages on Facebook and that tells you all you need to know about the type of people who own dogs like this…

For what it’s worth I own a giant breed however trying to get one is like trying to pass the worlds most difficult job interview and breeders are very careful about who should own one and rightly so. That’s the difference!

It does say something when the "kennels" who breed Bullies are often named with "macho" names or even Mexican gang cartels, and all the dogs are posed so they look extra muscly - often with a muscle car in the background and a tattooed muscly "gentleman" on the end of the lead. Ticking all the "status dog" tick boxes.

Someone near us has recently bought one and is being incredibly responsible with the training. Keeping on lead and is working with a trainer. However the puppy is still huge and powerful. I wouldn’t. The dog is lovely and friendly, but still strong and heavy.

@PinkSyCo , so now that you are ready for a new dog, what breed do you really want to get?
What breeds were your previous dogs?

What could go wrong? 🤦🏻‍♀️

@GodIsAVegan RTFFT OP is not getting the dog

RTFFT OP is not getting the dog

I read all of OPs posts before making my comment. She’s not risking it, others might, hence what could go wrong.

GYFFRYUT. 😃

@Leonberger

There’s no way I would trust one of these in my home, mainly because they are bred by bloody idiots calling them ‘nanny dogs’ and breeding them as a status symbol. Google ‘bully owner’ pages on Facebook and that tells you all you need to know about the type of people who own dogs like this…

For what it’s worth I own a giant breed however trying to get one is like trying to pass the worlds most difficult job interview and breeders are very careful about who should own one and rightly so. That’s the difference!

Oh god, I absolutely detest the name ‘nanny dog’. Coined for pitbulls and spewed out repeatedly every time one of them attacks a child. Given the fact that there are hundreds of pure bred dogs on the planet, and literally billions of potential crosses, it says a lot that 69% of fatalities caused by dog attacks are done by pitbulls. Statistically the age group most likely to be hospitalised by a bull breed attack are 1-2 year olds. There are so many dog attacks on children in my area that our local paediatric hospital has a plastic surgeon that specialises in repairing dog bite wounds. If you’re going to buy a family dog, don’t buy one that’s been selectively bred to be a perfect killing machine.

@Winniemarysarah you are making massive sweeping generalisations about the 'type of people' who own bull breeds. I'm not saying they don't exist, of course you get some knuckle heads who want an aggressive looking dog. But that's not everyone. We have a bull breed (not an XL bully or a pit bull) and his temperament is lovely. He has never once been aggressive and we certainly didn't choose him because we are twats who want to look hard.

I can totally see why people are wary of this breed. They are very powerful. But it's daft to say that they are all savage and owned by wankers.

I think the issue @sausagechops66 is that almost everyone who owns a bull type tries to defend them and excuse any bad behaviour as the fault of the owners etc when in reality it’s not always true. Genetics is a huge factor in how dogs turn out and it seems to be excused time and time again in defence of certain breeds rather than it being accepted as yes X breed can be dog aggressive (or whichever trait that breed may have) so that prospective owners have a clue what they may be taking on.

For example, I have a german shepherd. I would say to anyone considering one to be sure they could cope with guarding behaviour, nervous temperaments, being generally aloof with anyone who isn’t family etc etc… I would try and encourage anybody who isn’t very dog savvy NOT to get one. The last thing the breed needs is any more bad press.

With staffs/bullies etc it feels like on every thread owners want to excuse and defend the bad behaviour too much and I read a lot trying to paint bull breeds as the perfect family pet when I think we should be discouraging anyone from getting a dog of any breed they can’t handle warts and all.

I’m glad you’ve decided to go with your gut and not get the puppy, OP. These poor dogs are another ticking time bomb, bred into deformity .

@Leonberger I fully agree with that and I would urge caution on bull breeds too because they are very strong and notoriously stubborn when it comes to training. I would say my dog is also quite stupid but not sure if that's a breed thing or just him

So I'm by no means saying they are an 'easy' breed or one that should be taken lightly. But I can genuinely say I haven't experienced aggression with mine. I have two smaller terriers (Jack Russell's) and they are far more likely to show aggression to other dogs than my bull breed.

I can only talk from my own experience and we are all fully aware that tragic incidents can happen with bull breeds but I do think their upbringing and environment plays a big part too. And it bothers me when people use the same old stereotypes to describe their owners too.

Don't know if anyone has mentioned deep pockets yet , you won't get insurance so no cover for vets bills and more importantly , no liability insurance which of course means if your dog does bite you could lose your home .

Hi, just wanted to jump on and say something about rescues as you said you have had issues finding one willing to re-home to you? (Correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not really going to comment on the XL bully side of things - as you're decided against - but have you considered rescuing from overseas? I rescued my third dog Prince from Romania and he is absolutely perfect in every way! Not sure what the deal is with visiting young children but worth a shot? I'd be happy to direct you to some rescues if you're interested, otherwise apologies for the derailing!

Another one here who is regularly annoyed by the idle repetition of the nanny dog myth. God knows how it has gained such traction given that it was dreamt up in the 70s.

No dog is a bloody nanny dog. I have gundogs with very good bite inhibition, who love people. Would I leave them unsupervised with a crawling baby? Um... No.

@fairywings55

Your reasons for buying a pup are questionable and so is the method of purchasing. For that reason YABU.

But the breed prejudice here is disgusting. I have a bull breed and I'm neither a twat nor have a small penis (obviously). What an idiotic comment.

XL bullies I don't really know about but our breed is a lovely family pet, yes he's strong and can be boisterous but he is also incredibly loving and playful. Certain bull breeds were used as nanny dogs so this perception of them being savage is false.

However I wouldn't enter into getting one lightly. You really need to think it through and be aware that you will get uneducated, prejudiced morons who cross the road to avoid you. Their loss.

The way you come across, calling people morons and the language that you use shows why it is indeed wise to cross the road to avoid certain dogs ( and owners)

I have a ridgeback at 33 kg she’s considered small for her breed, if she sees a squirrel I can just about hold her back on a good harness, she’s pure muscle and very strong. I didn’t get a boy for the reason they are much stronger. She’s an old girl now and just likes to poodle beside me.

I don’t like the look of XL bullies sorry they’ve been deliberately bred to be as muscley and as mean as possible and I think that’s brought a lot of health problems with it. But we all have our favourite looking dogs.

Hi op I know a lot of people don't agree with this but I have a extremely soft golden and we go out to the country side and the coast daily . My dog had been attacked for no reason at all just for walking past a bully on a few occasions. One had hold of his ear and ripped it . I would never own a bully I'm sorry