The press are currently endlessly headlining with the need to add the XL Bully to the Dangerous Dogs Act due to the numerous deaths attributed to this type of dog. Is this realistic or practical? I do many TV and radio interviews but lately there seem to be a lot of people interviewed with no clue about the law.
UPDATE 16th September 2023 – Rishi Sunak announced ban on XL Bullies. Join my FB page for advice https://www.facebook.com/mydoghasbitten
The American Bulldog comes in many shapes and sizes. They are not recognised as a breed by the American Kennel Club or the UK Kennel Club. Breeders have developed, only over the last few years, different “types” determined by size.
On 16th September 2023 after another fatal dog attack attributed to XL Bullies, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced he has urgently asked for the XL Bully to be defined and banned by Xmas.
In my work as an expert witness in Dangerous Dog cases, I have assessed quite a few dogs of the XL Bully type. Owners stating they are this type of dog. They have varied in height, weight (anything from 35kg to 65kg) and head shape amongst other things.
For there to be a ban and the type of dog added to the current list of 4 prohibited breeds, a detailed description of what one looks and moves like must be created. This needs to be robust enough to withstand court challenges as anyone that owns a dog of a banned type can use an independent expert to also measure and test the dog to see if they agree with the police opinion. This is why Rishi Sunak says there has to first be a definition.
Already there has been a huge increase in dogs being sold, dumped or abandoned and I think this will continue until next year as the ban creeps closer.
From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bully)
The standard American Bully type is a medium-sized dog with a compact bulky muscular body, heavy bone structure and blocky head. Male dogs must be 17 to 20 in (43 to 51 cm), while females must be 16 to 19 in (41 to 48 cm).
The “pocket” type is a smaller variant, with full-grown males under 17 inches (43 cm), but no less than 14 inches (36 cm), at the withers and females under 16 inches (41 cm), but no less than 13 inches (33 cm), at the withers.
XL
An XL type is determined by its adult height, with males between 21 inches (53 cm) and 23 inches (58 cm) at the withers and females between 19 inches (48 cm) and 22 inches (56 cm) at the withers.
Classic
The classic is a lighter-framed dog than the standard, but falls within the same height range. These dogs do not display the exaggerated features often found in the other varieties, and arguably display clearer American Pit Bull Terrier/American Staffordshire Terrier lineage.[6][better source needed]
Non-standard sizes
Outside of the breed standard, dogs shorter or taller than the named variations have been bred. Smaller dogs are sometimes called “Micro”, and larger ones are called “XXL”, but neither are recognized by the kennel clubs as legitimate varieties.
The DDA currently prohibits 4 breeds, the most mentioned one is the American Pit Bull Terrier. To decide if a dog is “type” which means in law “having a substantial number of the characteristics of the APBT” starts with the police looking at a dog and believing it might be type. The dog is seized and trained officers observe the shape and movement and measure various parts of the dog. This leads them to decide if the dog is type or not. There is no legal definition of what “substantial” means for this law. Each expert and force decide what standard they will use.
If the police say no it isn’t and there was no incident, the dog is returned home. If Police say it is, the matter must go to court for the court to decide and to allow the dog to be “exempted”. This means the dog is added to the DEFRA Index and must be neutered, insured, muzzled in public, never off lead and other conditions. Only then is the dog legally a banned breed and legally owned. An owner can use their own independent expert to examine the dog and decide whether to challenge the typing of the dog in court if the expert disagrees with police.
There is no DNA that can identify a Pit Bull or any of the prohibited breeds. No papers (as these breeds are not recognised in the UK) can be used to ID the breed in law. Only the look, movement and measurements of the dog play their part in whether the dog has enough characteristics for police to decide the dog is “type”.
This means any dog, of any lineage and parentage could grow to look like a banned breed. The reality is that hundreds of thousands of pounds and often even more of public money is spent by Police seizing and kennelling dogs, going to court, sometimes losing the argument and the court says the dog is not type.
Apply this to the XL Bully. The same issue, with no DNA or breed recognition, means the same argument would arise. Anyone who thinks it is as simple as “ban XL bullies” is wrong. To add another undetermined breed to the DDA would achieve nothing. It would be the same issue of arguments over how close the dog fits a description. XL Bullies would not just disappear.
The worrying factors this year are that many of these fatal and serious attacks by dogs decided to be “XL Bullies” or American Bulldogs seem to be attacks on their own families or friends. Usually it turns out the owner has been breeding the dogs and often has several. There have been criminal activities by the owners in some cases too.
Dogs need training, they need owners who will not allow them off lead in public when they cannot control them, who get help when they have problems and who care for the dog appropriately.
I have said for years that ONLY a full investigation into fatal attacks will discover the reasons and if there are common causes. Currently only simple assessments are done, no proper fact gathering, dogs often dead before experts can test them. I have tried approaching forces, NPCC, government with lip service responses and no interest in setting standards for this type of investigation.
Note: I am aware of the Met shooting of Marshall and Millions, described as American Bullies and the ongoing criminal and IOPC investigations. As I have involvement in this I cannot comment at this time.
DogLine UK (Safepets) 
Is it true that the “public spaces” part INCLUDES in your own car??
Unfortunately yes. It was challenged in High Court when an exempted Pit Bull had his muzzle removed in a car as he was sick and the person had to go back to court. The case was appealed and lost and ended up in High Court. They upheld the principle that a car is a public space.
I have just seen a post on Facebook from someone stating they have just received their certificate of 3rd party liability insurance from dogs trust and it specifically states it does NOT cover exempted dogs!! This is extremely concerning if true, as surely there are many currently exempted pit bulls who rely on this insurance at the moment?! Where else can someone get insurance for an exempted breed??
There is a lot of misinformation on fb.
Dog Trust offer 3rd Party liability insurance as a perk of membership.
What confused people is they told owners they are not issuing a certificate of insurance for dogs other than the current 4 banned breeds. Someone took this as saying they will not issue certificates for XL Bullies and therefore will not insure them and spread it on fb and people then corrupted the story further. This is not true. They are just saying they will not issue one now as they are not banned. Therefore they are covered like any other dog is.
Once the breed is banned and the court grants exemption Dogs Trust need to be told for them to issue a certificate for that dog and to continue cover for a banned breed.
Thank you for clarifying!
Can I ask, I’m trying to do some “maths” on how long it would take the DLOs to properly assess every dog that may want to be assessed…how long does a proper assessment take?
So far I have:
– 100 DLOs across the U.K.
– 260 working days (with no holidays and doing nothing else)
– 2 dogs per day for a proper assessment (inc travel time and paperwork)
-400,000 dogs needing assessment (given the fact more than 578,000 people have signed the petition and an assumption that the majority of those have dogs they are worried may fit the new “type”…but this is an assumption)
So far that equals more than SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS! 🤨🤨🤷♀️
This is why we hope/expect there will be some form of “self-certification” involved to deal with the sheer numbers. Some forces have just one DLO, some have 3 or 4. I think they technically would need to do the course again as there would be a whole new standard to learn about to be able to challenge anyone they think has an XL Bully.
All a bit of a mess really and the “by Xmas” timescale to produce the standard for the type of dog I don’t think is realistic. However let’s see what they come up with.
Considering the government don’t yet know what it is they are trying to ban, I’d love to know how the purported “XL Bully’s” that have been responsible for “all these” attacks are being typed?! Or is it just based on what the owner calls the dog?! Because I had never heard of an XL bully until a year or so ago.
Considering more people have died in the last 5 years being attacked by cows (32 between 2018 & 2022!) than by dogs (29 in the same time frame) and around 4,000 people a year get injured by cow attacks, which is about half as many as people getting bitten by dogs (and given how few people come into contact with cows vs how many people come into contact with dogs I’d say makes the cow the much more dangerous and aggressive creature, yet we aren’t banning them!), is it not more accurate to say we have a massive media scaremongering problem rather than an “XL bully” problem?!
As an expert witness, do you actually see more XL bully types involved in incidents over other breeds?? Do you believe they should be banned? And do you think there is any chance this won’t go ahead, considering how many people have signed the petition, and how many experts are against it?
It is not the most convenient platform for us to respond on here. Please come to our facebook page where many people are contributing ideas and sharing information on the proposed ban. https://www.facebook.com/mydoghasbitten
I’m not on social media 😦 one final comment though. I’ve seen a lot of concern over insurances, lots of trainers and dog walkers saying they won’t be able to continue working with XL bullies after the ban as their insurance doesn’t cover them. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but every exempted dog HAS to have 3rd party liability insurance, and as far as I can tell, that insurance is on the dog, not the owner, as every individual dog must be issued it’s own certificate…so surely, much like with the AA breakdown cover where you can either cover a person or a car, if that dog is covered then it doesn’t matter what insurance any person working with the dog has, because they are by default covered by the dogs insurance?? What other cover is needed to work with the dog other than 3rd party liability??
I have spoken to Brooks Braithwaite who underwrite a lot of dog insurers. They have an exclusion for exempted dogs in most policies. They have confirmed that if someone wants to ask for their cover to be extended for those dogs, they can send their risk assessment, explanation and any other Info to them and ask for cover to be extended to include exempted dogs.
But what would you need cover for, as the dog has to be insured by law, if anything happens you would claim on the dogs insurance, not your own, no?!
I don’t think it is that simple. The insurance is taken out on the dog in the name of the keeper. Speaking to insurers about all this, they say that if the dog is not in the control of the keeper, they may not accept liability. That is no different to any other situation where the owner has insurance but the dog is in the care of someone else and not even in their own home. This is not an uncommon refusal to cover by several insurance companies. The actions of someone other than the owner can be a reason a company says they will not accept liability.