Panorama tonight

[Tygertiger]

Just awful. What is the answer though? Its already illegal to sell pets on FB and yet there are hundreds on there.

Jack’s Mum was so brave to tell her story. Utterly heartbreaking.

It was awful I can't imagine her pain.

I have recorded this and will report back when I have watched it!

Just utter scumbags. The dregs of society

I have recorded it too. I only turned it on in time to catch a few seconds of Jack’s mum speaking. She was so brave and selfless speaking out.

Can’t find this, what channel is it on?

It was Panorama on bbc1.

Oh ok just found it on catch up will watch now

The 8-stone dog who was going for the kids, and then getting punched multiple times by the owner - everything about that situation was awful!
There needs to be much tighter control and legislation around dog breeding. And those exaggerated breeds just shouldn't exist. No one needs a dog like those on the programme.

Legislation against certain breeds doesn’t work. They tried that.
We need proper controls on breeders and buyers of dogs. (And I say that as a dog owner.)

I've watched it; the dog suffering side of it wasn't a surprise - I follow the rescue featured on social media already - but I hadn't realised the links to organised crime.

Hopefully post-pandemic with puppy demand / prices seeming to drop it will feel less lucrative for those in organised crime.

What's the answer to the extreme breed features? Honestly I'm not sure, but demand leads to supply. How can we reduce demand? Fuck knows, because educating these people on the health of the animals in question clearly won't have any effect, it looks like they just don't care. It was interesting that they didn't find any owners of these dogs to interview and see what they said about their motivations for buying dogs described as "extreme", and their post-purchase experience.

As flawed as the Dangerous Dogs Act 1992 is, however, I'm perpetually amazed that they aren't using it to go after breeders of these XL Bullies as they are clearly "pit bull type"; according to wikipedia it's a breed that's mostly American Pit Bull anyway.

As flawed as the Dangerous Dogs Act 1992 is, however, I'm perpetually amazed that they aren't using it to go after breeders of these XL Bullies as they are clearly "pit bull type"; according to wikipedia it's a breed that's mostly American Pit Bull anyway.

In my experience, dogs need to be reported multiple times for aggressive behaviour before the police will show any interest.

While it might technically be illegal to own a pitbull type dog, the police aren't going to stop you in the street if your dog is walking. nicely on a lead and not causing any bother.

If people have experience of a dog being dangerous and aggressive they need to report to the police and encourage other people to do the same.

The breeding doesn't surprise me. After years of only owning rescue animals our first step into buying a puppy from a good and responsible breeder was a total minefield. It took months and viewing lots of litters and having lots of conversations with 'breeders' before we found a puppy we were genuinely happy was being bred well, for the right reasons and with the health and welfare of the dam, puppies and breed in mind. That cost significantly more than a dog from a dealer.

Most of the litters we viewed were obviously dealers or co owners. They knew nothing about the breed and had no relationship with the dam. We managed to get one outfit shut down but no doubt they are still dealing elsewhere.

While people buy dogs for looks not function and temperament and/or don't want to pay for better breeding (which costs money, time and effort) then there is always going to be this problem.

Definitely need to control the breeding, it’s way too easy for any numpty to cross breed dogs with specific traits designed to make the look ‘hard’. Realistically the dogs are too strong to be controlled if a situation occurs.
Personally I’m not keen on any deliberate cross breeding. Even the very popular and cute cockerpoo often isn’t the temperament I expected, frequently nervy, yappy and can be defence aggressive. That may be inexperienced owners of lockdown dogs though.
The xl bullies are dangerous and soon our rescues will be full of them but who will adopt them?
Ultimately it is the bastard breeders out for macho prestige and money who are to blame.
I also think Co ownership is just to get round licensing laws.
Will watch Panorama on catch up.

I've watched the show and I wish her findings had been a surprise for me :(

The fact that someone who has actually been convicted and fined for breeding, is still carrying on doing what he wants and raking in hundreds of thousands of pounds, just shows that law alone cannot fix this. These are already criminals, career criminals, laws mean absolutely diddlysquat, and there was even one chap still operating his dog breeding business from prison.

We need more than law alone. But I don't know what.

I couldn't watch it after reading the summary on the BBC news app. So cruel. I think it's dodgy to breed-but also to want-those kinds of dogs. I would never have dated in my youth a man who kept a "butch" type dog. It speaks volumes.

It's the money. The high price of puppies makes them a target for money laundering, which means the wrong people try to breed them.

The extreme breeding means they are not anything like the measurements of a pitbull and, therefore, will not fit the legal definition of a pitbull type.

But it does go someway to explain the posts on here asking why so many XL bullies are involved in recent fatal human attacks. The terrible genetics of those puppies being spread out into wider pet ownership, plus the fact that this breed attracts criminal interest means these dogs are often poorly raised and poorly treated. The result is a deeply unwell dog.

I love dogs, study dogs and more recently have done more and more work with dogs. And I wish to God they were not so popular. It is causing the species untold damage in so many ways. Thi program just highlighted one aspect of that damage.

@SirSniffsAlot i agree and it’s heartbreaking