Dogs bred for fighting are causing carnage on Britain’s streets
Shepherd dogs herd, retrievers retrieve and pointers point. So what do American Bully XL’s do?
A seven-year-old girl playing in a Liverpool park was rushed to hospital on Monday with severe injuries after being mauled by a dog. She, unlike others, has escaped alive – though horrendously harmed. Last year Britain experienced the highest level of fatal dog attacks in four decades. The vast majority of these deaths were caused by one breed, also believed to be responsible for the Liverpool attack: the American Bully XL.
The most important thing to understand about dogs is that breed matters. This is obvious from any cursory look at the difference between a Great Dane and a Dachshund. But breed isn’t just relevant for physical traits; dogs were bred for specific tasks and behaviours. Shepherd dogs herd. Retrievers retrieve. Pointers point. Fighting dogs fight. It isn’t their fault: it’s what we bred them for. And American Bullies are descended from dogs bred for fighting.
American Pitbull Terriers, the American Bully’s foundational breed, are responsible for between 60-70% of all dog attacks in the US. The ancestors of these dogs were cruelly bred to fight in dog fighting pits – horrific violence that could last hours. Only the most vicious, winning dogs would sire the next generation. This meant creating a breed that was highly aggressive to other dogs, that doesn’t give warning before attacking, that bites to kill and doesn’t let go.
The American Bully XL (a variant of the American Bully breed) is essentially a larger and more muscular pitbull. This new breed has been recently imported to Britain from America, where it was created by crossing American Pitbull Terriers with a small number of larger dogs to achieve huge sizes. Whereas a typical American Pitbull weighs around 20kg, Bully XLs regularly reach anywhere from 50-60kg. Significant inbreeding has also been documented, due to the breed’s recent creation (and small gene pool) as well as the drive for increased size. Britain is now home to a dog that’s inherited the fighting behaviour of the American Pitbull but is three times its size.
It’s no surprise that only two years after their rise in popularity, American Bullies are now the breed most frequently seized by the Met police for attacks on people and other dogs. As a result of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, despite the increase in human and canine populations, dog attacks and fatalities had been remarkably low for decades. It has taken 30 years for a new dangerous breed to be imported and sold in Britain.
The law has been frustratingly slow to catch up. Pitbull-types are banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Despite originating from the American Pitbull Terrier, there is a belief that American Bullies are legal to own in the UK. However “pitbull-type” is arguably a much broader category than breed, encompassing crosses as well, and American Bullies are simply a particularly huge and muscular Pitbull cross.
It is difficult to see why government guidance has not been updated to reflect this new variant of an already-banned breed. Instead, current guidance is based on an outdated definition of “Pitbull” from the 1970s – ignoring 50 years of subsequent breeding. This update would be quick and easy to make.
Alternatively, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs could simply add the American Bully as another banned type. Either of these actions to save our children and our dogs from violence and mutilation should be made without delay. The government must act.
“It is not the dog, but the owner”
Yes, but some dogs are much harder to control/train than others, and a prime target for people who wants to buy some respect. A drivers license kinda deal should be implemented, especially for dogs with the strength (and/or agressiveness) to become a danger
Certain dog breeds need to be made extinct. Any pitbull or similar breeds need to be put down.
Those damn Border Collies
All you need is a license program for dogs. If you’re an irresponsible bum or you are incapable of properly training and looking after that dog, you can’t have one.
Dangerous Dogs Act needs to be amended to include these hell hounds.
In 2022, in the whole of UK, 10 people died due to dog bites. You can ban anything if you set a bar this low, from cows to carpets.
UK, illustrating once again why BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) does not work, unless you specifically think “people get hurt by dogs registered as a banned breed, and not dogs in general” is the problem. It has been shown time after time around the world that banning specific “dangerous” breeds [is not an effective method to reduce dog injuries](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306151/).
[What is effective in reducing dog injuries](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35393286/) includes training for owners and strict rules regarding how dogs are kept, as well as actual enforcement action when the rules are broken. Practically all dogs involved in serious attacks have a history of aggressive and/or predatory behavior. But strict rules are never popular, and enforcement is expensive. In comparison BSL is a cheap way to “do something”. Jay!
Dog bite injuries are a very real problem, and children are especially vulnerable. This makes it even more important to have effective policies to reduce them, which BSL is not.
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Dogs bred for fighting are causing carnage on Britain’s streets
Shepherd dogs herd, retrievers retrieve and pointers point. So what do American Bully XL’s do?
A seven-year-old girl playing in a Liverpool park was rushed to hospital on Monday with severe injuries after being mauled by a dog. She, unlike others, has escaped alive – though horrendously harmed. Last year Britain experienced the highest level of fatal dog attacks in four decades. The vast majority of these deaths were caused by one breed, also believed to be responsible for the Liverpool attack: the American Bully XL.
The most important thing to understand about dogs is that breed matters. This is obvious from any cursory look at the difference between a Great Dane and a Dachshund. But breed isn’t just relevant for physical traits; dogs were bred for specific tasks and behaviours. Shepherd dogs herd. Retrievers retrieve. Pointers point. Fighting dogs fight. It isn’t their fault: it’s what we bred them for. And American Bullies are descended from dogs bred for fighting.
American Pitbull Terriers, the American Bully’s foundational breed, are responsible for between 60-70% of all dog attacks in the US. The ancestors of these dogs were cruelly bred to fight in dog fighting pits – horrific violence that could last hours. Only the most vicious, winning dogs would sire the next generation. This meant creating a breed that was highly aggressive to other dogs, that doesn’t give warning before attacking, that bites to kill and doesn’t let go.
The American Bully XL (a variant of the American Bully breed) is essentially a larger and more muscular pitbull. This new breed has been recently imported to Britain from America, where it was created by crossing American Pitbull Terriers with a small number of larger dogs to achieve huge sizes. Whereas a typical American Pitbull weighs around 20kg, Bully XLs regularly reach anywhere from 50-60kg. Significant inbreeding has also been documented, due to the breed’s recent creation (and small gene pool) as well as the drive for increased size. Britain is now home to a dog that’s inherited the fighting behaviour of the American Pitbull but is three times its size.
It’s no surprise that only two years after their rise in popularity, American Bullies are now the breed most frequently seized by the Met police for attacks on people and other dogs. As a result of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, despite the increase in human and canine populations, dog attacks and fatalities had been remarkably low for decades. It has taken 30 years for a new dangerous breed to be imported and sold in Britain.
The law has been frustratingly slow to catch up. Pitbull-types are banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Despite originating from the American Pitbull Terrier, there is a belief that American Bullies are legal to own in the UK. However “pitbull-type” is arguably a much broader category than breed, encompassing crosses as well, and American Bullies are simply a particularly huge and muscular Pitbull cross.
It is difficult to see why government guidance has not been updated to reflect this new variant of an already-banned breed. Instead, current guidance is based on an outdated definition of “Pitbull” from the 1970s – ignoring 50 years of subsequent breeding. This update would be quick and easy to make.
Alternatively, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs could simply add the American Bully as another banned type. Either of these actions to save our children and our dogs from violence and mutilation should be made without delay. The government must act.
“It is not the dog, but the owner”
Yes, but some dogs are much harder to control/train than others, and a prime target for people who wants to buy some respect. A drivers license kinda deal should be implemented, especially for dogs with the strength (and/or agressiveness) to become a danger
Certain dog breeds need to be made extinct. Any pitbull or similar breeds need to be put down.
Those damn Border Collies
All you need is a license program for dogs. If you’re an irresponsible bum or you are incapable of properly training and looking after that dog, you can’t have one.
Dangerous Dogs Act needs to be amended to include these hell hounds.
In 2022, in the whole of UK, 10 people died due to dog bites. You can ban anything if you set a bar this low, from cows to carpets.
UK, illustrating once again why BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) does not work, unless you specifically think “people get hurt by dogs registered as a banned breed, and not dogs in general” is the problem. It has been shown time after time around the world that banning specific “dangerous” breeds [is not an effective method to reduce dog injuries](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306151/).
[What is effective in reducing dog injuries](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35393286/) includes training for owners and strict rules regarding how dogs are kept, as well as actual enforcement action when the rules are broken. Practically all dogs involved in serious attacks have a history of aggressive and/or predatory behavior. But strict rules are never popular, and enforcement is expensive. In comparison BSL is a cheap way to “do something”. Jay!
Dog bite injuries are a very real problem, and children are especially vulnerable. This makes it even more important to have effective policies to reduce them, which BSL is not.
Dog of Peace