"Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just announced that he's ordered urgent work to define and ban American bully XL dogs in light of the recent spate of attacks, "so we can end these violent attacks and keep people safe". He says it's not currently a breed defined in law, adding this "vital first step must happen, fast". "We will then ban the breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act."" This comes after what seems like incident after incident in regards to this breed. Finally the right call has been made or is this more due to the ownership of these dogs not training and controlling them better?
Like humans some dogs can't be trained to behave. Seems for a lot of people they get one as a status symbol for protection. They aren't a family pet.
Obviously ownership. But those classed as dangerous seem to become a Status symbol. Rather than a pet or companion for some.
What happens to people who already have one as a loving family pet that's never hurt a soul? Do they get to keep it? Or do they have to have it put down?
I'm sure Dishy Rishi will have thought it all through, planned in great detail before he made his announcement.....
That's the problem for me, people who get a dog to make them "look hard". I disagree that one couldn't be a family pet. Trained and treated correctly, they 100% could have the right temperament to live in a family. Whilst not XL Bully's our neighbours (a family of 5) have 3 rather large Mastif type dogs. They bark at passers by and jump up at the fence, but I'm assured they're very well trained and are "as soft as a brush". Don't get me wrong, I don't want to test that theory, but they do seem to have a good temperament. The chap next door has said they're good with his kids (ranging from about 10-16 yo) and admitted, they do serve a security purpose too, though more for how they look rather than act. Honestly though, I genuinely think some people would buy an alligator if they could, to make them look hard.
If it was up to me I'd ban Staffys, Rottweilers, Pitbulls Pretty much every injury or death caused by dog attacks come from these
Why anyone would want to keep any dog like that is beyond me. 100s of lovable domesticated breeds to pick from yet these owners want one capable.of killing a child.
I have a Rotweiller, she's the nicest, cuddliest most lovable dog I've ever owned. A large, large proportion of dogs that attack, haven't had any training whatsoever and are usually treated poorly. It's not the breed that's the problem, it's the owners of them. My argument would be to make everyone apply for a license to own any dog. Every breed over say 30kg needs to have documented training. Anyone found to be illegally breeding or anyone purchasing one that's been illegally bred or not trained should be massively fined, banned from owning any animals. The illegal breeder should be jailed, immediately. People are the problem, not the dog.
My understanding from reading this elsewhere is that when a breed is banned under the dangerous dogs act, they are not put down but must be muzzled, neutered and leashed in public.
After 40 years on the post i wouldn't have a dog given, but seriously ive never blamed a dog after being bitten it's NOT the dogs fault. The owners are responsible for looking after them and the dogs are in their own inviromant, NOT all dogs are vicious ( usually the smallest lol ). Ive been told to kick it or hit with my bag but used to say ' I'll hit you first'. After a while ( and more then a few bites) you get used to each other, but the best one is 'Come in it won't hurt yer' a bite later and it's ' Well it's never done that before' lol.
Yes there will be some that are. I'm not talking about them all but there will be some families who have them and love them.
I had a staffy gor 16 years and he would let anyone in the house. So friendly with everyone including other dogs. He was really big and did look scary to others. I have a friend with a rottweiler who is the same but his Yorkshire terrier has to be locked in the kitchen when visitors come as he bites. Sorry but the bans need to be for the owners.
"People are the problem, not the guns." It's daft when the NRA say it and it's daft here. We already ban four breeds of dog here, there's enough evidence to support a ban on these as well.
I'm not sure I agree with "it's the owners not the dogs" but even if it's true, there's obviously no way of guaranteeing that owners will train the dogs correctly so they need to be banned. Nobody needs to own a dog with that capability for harm.
Not all dog attacks come from bad owners though. They really don’t. Most maybe, but some breeds are just much less trustable. Staffy’s have a bad reputation but they are an intelligent, trainable and loving breed in the right hands. Pit bulls, not so much. And so they’re banned. Things like Japanese fighting dogs (Tosa) are also banned - they aren’t suitable as pets at all. If the evidence is compelling re XL Bullies (which isn’t actually a real breed currently) then they aren’t worth the risk. Banning them won’t mean all existing dogs are destroyed. The problem being that there will be an even bigger draw to have one for the status and the backstreet breeders will make a mint. And it isn’t just kids. A grown man was killed by 2 XL bullies yesterday.
The people that are most likely to chose one of these dogs are - in the main - precisely the people that shouldn't have a dog in the first place.