Should we ban XL Bully breeds?

You can’t help but be horrified by the recent news about the young girl attacked by a Bully breed dog in the UK. Looking at the videos the dog was completely over aroused and dangerously out of control. This is not the first bite incident with a dog of this breed, two years ago a young lad in Wales was killed by an XL Bully named Beast. Calls to ban the breed have understandably been quick to follow the attack. But is banning the breed the answer?

What is a Bully breed dog?

Bully breed is a generic term used to identify a variety of terrier-type dogs such as American Pit Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers, Bullmastiffs, Staffordshire Terriers, Boston Terriers, Boxers, and our cute little French Bulldogs. The American XL Bully is the largest variation of the created from cross breeding. They are large, powerful dogs and the largest can weigh 36- 54kg.

What is the current law?

The [1]Dangerous Dog Act is an act created by the government on the 25th of July 1991, to prohibit a person from owning a dog belonging to certain breeds that had originally been bred for fighting. It also makes it illegal to sell, breed, give away or abandon one of these dogs. In addition, it is a criminal offence for the owner or person in charge of the dog to allow the dog to be ‘dangerously out of control’ in a public place or be in a place where it is not permitted to be.

In the UK there are only 4 dogs that are banned, Pit bull terrier, the Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, and Fila Brasileiro. It is illegal to own, breed from, sell or give away or abandon one of these dogs. If you have one of these dogs the Police can seize it even if it’s minding its own business and no complaint has been made about its behavior. Interestingly, how a banned dog is determined is based on looks rather than any kind of DNA evidence and is widely criticized for being too subjective. The British Veterinary Association and many charities and dog organizations are against [2]Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). Suggesting that just because a dog is bred for fighting doesn’t mean they are inherently dangerous and can be brought up to be trained to be reliable companion dogs.

Hard to insure

While not on any banned list it can also be difficult to get insurance for some breeds considered dangerous, German Shepherds, Cane Corso’s and Huskies are among them.

Which dogs bite the most?

Hannah Molley, dog behaviourist and advisor to the Government told GB News, JTRs, Shihtzu and Frenchie’s cause more dog bites to children. Obviously, the number of dog bites is directly relative to the popularity of the breed and the amount of damage done in such an attack is relative to the size of the dog.

But in March 2022 a Husky mauled a small baby to death in an unprovoked attack, but so far there have been no calls to ban Huskies or these other breeds.

Any dog can be a weapon

What is being left out of the conversation around Bully breeds and dangerous dogs is that any dog can be weaponized, and this is done with training methods. The kind of people who want a status dog are unlikely to train in a humane way and are more likely to use gadgets like prong collars, e-collars, and other brutal training methods. This will put any dog in a high state of arousal, create pessimism, anxiety, and hypervigilance around movement. Brutality also creates conflict of emotion, where a dog wants to be with people, but they worry about what people moving means for them.

Essentially this creates so much stress for the dog that they become a ticking time bomb, a child running pushes a dog over the top and they react by chasing them down.

Could this also contribute to the increase in dog attacks on other dogs, the hypervigilant, stressed dog notices movement or hears another dog coming and is overwhelmed and launches an attack.

Celebrity trainers

This is only going to get worse as owners look to self-styled celebrity dog trainers on social media. Often people who use gadgets and domination tactics to try and push a dog into a state of submission. It looks like a quick fix, but all it teaches a dog is their human is scary and unpredictable. There are no skills there that a dog can use in the wider environment.

Personally, I don’t feel that BSL will have any meaningful effect on the problem.  But these dogs need to be registered and accounted for and their well-being monitored. The problem here is anyone who wants a Bully breed to boost their profile is unlikely to worry about any kind of legalities.

All that will happen is legitimate owners will face having their dogs removed and possibly destroyed because it’s always easier to go after a soft target than the real criminals.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/banned-dogs

[2] https://www.bva.co.uk/take-action/our-policies/dangerous-dogs-act-1991-and-dog-control/

About the author

Louise Kirby is a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour coach and works with clients on a 1-2-1 basis at home. specialising in reactivity and difficult walks. Training is force-free and fun for you and your dog. If you would like more information please send a message.

What do you want your dog to do?

Ignore what I don’t want reward what I want, does this work?

This is a common methodology you hear in dog training and it has some merits, because we don’t want to add punishment into a behaviour routine. But, what if, you dog isn’t offering behaviour that you can ignore, and they also aren’t offering anything you can reward. If you find yourself in a situation like a crazy meltdown at another dog, it’s not possible to ignore it and it’s unlikely that your dog is going to be able to offer anything you can reward. Even if they were able to take food in this situation, they will be so highly aroused that there will be no pairing of reward and required behaviour.

So, what do you do, how do you get through to your dog in this situation?

When you’re training a dog, it’s traditional to focus on what you don’t want your dog to do. You don’t want them to jump, bark at other dogs, pull on the lead. Everything is geared toward controlling these output behaviours. Often working in the moment or when it’s all kicking off! This is where it gets difficult to ignore and reward.

Flip this mindset

Let’s flip this mindset, rather than focus on what we don’t want our dog to do, lets decide what we do want them to do. Your dog is jumping at visitors, so what would you rather they did. My guess is sitting calmly on a boundary while you visitors or deliveries come in. So instead of creating additional excitement at the door telling your dog to get down and manhandling them to stop the jumping, we grow the skill of sitting on their boundary.  

Emotional drivers

There are also emotions driving the jumping at people, barking at other dogs, and pulling on the lead. These emotions can be excitement, frustration, or anxiety. So, look at the drivers and give our dogs an emotional power boost, if the behaviour is driven by anxiety then work on your dog’s confidence, if it’s frustration then help them with impulse control and tolerance.   When training your dog, decide what you would rather they were doing and build the skills to perform this in any given situation. Work for the moment and not in it. What I mean by this, don’t wait until the event is happening and try and train there.

About the author

Louise Kirby is a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour coach and works with clients on a 1-2-1 basis at home. specialising in reactivity and rebuilding difficult walks. Training is force-free and fun for you and your dog. If you would like more information please send a message.