‘Don’t blame dogs’: American XL bully owner says ban is ‘ridiculous’ | UK News
‘It’s ridiculous. There is no such thing as a dangerous dog – there are just dangerous owners.’
Those are the words of the owner of a 12-week-old American XL bully and Old Tyme Bulldog cross puppy named Bear.
Aaron Smith-Holding is as horrified by the recent dog attacks as the next person, but he doesn’t feel an outright ban on the XL bully breed is going to solve the problem at its source.
The father-of-two believes that owners should be held responsible for their out of control dogs, rather than throwing a blanket over an entire breed and casting it aside to be shunned.
He believes the majority of the fatal and serious injury incidents in the past few weeks have occurred in situations where dogs are not being properly looked after.
‘Why would you take any animal out if you can’t control it?’ he asks.
‘It’s irresponsible owners that have caused this mess and unfortunately the breed is suffering from it.’
Rishi Sunak announced on Friday that the American XL bully breed will be banned in the UK by the end of 2023.
It comes after a 52-year-old man was mauled to death by suspected XL bullies in Staffordshire on Thursday, while an 11-year-old girl was savaged in the street in Birmingham last weekend and a boy, 10, was attacked outside his house in Walsall.
‘The American XL bully dog is a danger to our communities, particularly our children,’ the prime minister said.
’It’s clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs. It’s a pattern of behaviour and it cannot go on.’
But Aaron, who also has a Chihuahua, disagrees and believes that an irresponsible minority is ‘tarnishing’ the reputation of an entire community of sensible pet parents.
‘It’s discrimination really because they don’t know the environment my dog is brought up in,’ he said.
‘They don’t know what we do with our dog on a daily basis. Would I have a dog that’s around two young children? Would I have a dog that’s going to be around a Chihuahua? I wouldn’t unless A: I can control it and B: I can train it.’
Aaron, who lives in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, with his partner, children and two pet dogs, says he could leave someone with his American XL bully dog ‘all day by themselves’ and it ‘wouldn’t get off their lap’.
Describing his puppy’s temperament, he said: ‘He’s like any puppy, He’s just a playful, dappy dog that just wants to be loved and shown attention. And he’s shown so much love back.
‘Yes, him and my Chihuahua probably don’t get on at the moment as best as I’d want them to but they’ve never attacked each other. They go walking together.
‘An XL bully – my experience so far is that it’s just a normal puppy that wants to be loved, that’s not got a bad bone in him.
‘The fact I could put my fist in his mouth and know he won’t clench down, says a lot.’
Instead of banning dogs, Aaron believes there should be more stringent measures in place for owners taking on a pet to ensure they are both suitable and capable.
He said: ‘If you’re potentially giving a dangerous breed – and I’m not just talking about an XL bully, any dog can be a violent weapon if you want it to be – to any Tom, Dick and Harry without screening them, it’s ridiculous.
‘It really is, it’s absolute madness if you think about it. There is no screening process for having a dog, but yet a dog can be deemed as a dangerous weapon.
‘There are people out there who will do things for a fashion statement and they will say “look at my XL bully, I feed it this, I feed it that and I’ve trained it to be aggressive and attack on command”.
‘That does happen, but these people that are the owners, they are the ones that need putting away. The dog hasn’t got a voice.
‘It’s a minority of poor owners and that’s all that it is. The government is using this breed as a scapegoat to show that they are listening to the public.’
Sophie Coulthard, 39, who has a popular TikTok channel with her dog Billy also believes Mr Sunak is using the ban as political sway.
She said after the proposed ban was announced: ‘I’ve not really wanted to call out the Tory party on my TikTok, but this is a classic populist move by the Tory government because they know that they’re going to be out in the next general election.
‘They are going to do anything they can to grab hold of votes right now, which includes banning the XL bully.
‘So you need to be getting your voice out there, literally right now, across Twitter, Facebook, newspaper comments, whatever, because this is a knee jerk reaction that does not solve the problem for the long term.
‘If the government truly cared about animal welfare and public safety they would be looking at better legislation, not relying on legislation from the 90s that is proven to have not worked – many people who worked on that legislation have said that it was not fit for purpose.’
Aaron also doesn’t see how the ban will work, given the sheer number of crossbreed American XL bully dogs there are.
He said: ‘If they say it has to be a purebred XL bully then that’s what it is. I don’t agree with it but at least it’s clear.
‘But if they say any type of dog that looks like an XL bully, then that’s absolutely rubbish. The shelters will be overrun with dogs because there are so many different variants.
‘You’re telling me that the whole population is just going to have all dogs that look like an XL bully seized? That’s impossible. They will just be seizing dogs left, right and centre. They won’t have the capacity to do that.’
There have been 23 fatal dog attacks in the UK since the start of 2020, at least 10 of which involved American XL bullies – and the most recent deadly attack in Staffordshire was also by two suspected XL bullies.
Prof Carri Westgarth, professor in human-animal interaction at the University of Liverpool, said: ‘There is no scientific consensus that particular breeds are more likely to act aggressively than others.
‘Dogs of all breeds are represented in the dog bite records and we know there is wide variation in behaviour between individuals within a breed.
‘There are also genetic tendencies towards aggression within particular breeding lines, so with any breed, breeding for good temperament is vitally important.
‘Other factors such as socialisation, training methods, and health, are also significant for a dog’s risk of aggression.
‘However, the data does support the fact that large powerful dogs, including those of bull breeds, are more likely to do significant damage IF they do bite someone, and as such, XL Bullies and other large powerful breeds feature strongly in fatality lists.
‘This announcement raises many questions that must be considered. Key to the ban is the statement about looking into defining the XL Bully breed before it can be banned – however, proving a dog’s particular breed is difficult, especially when that breed is not recognised by most Kennel Clubs, and looks similar to other breeds.
‘This has complicated the application of the current legislation concerning Pitbull types, and likely will again with XL Bullies, which are also just one size type of the American Bully.
‘It also raises the question whether banning a single breed will encourage those who want to own such a type of dog turn to owning and breeding other types, as happened with the development of the American Bully after Pitbulls were banned.
‘Overall, experts including anti-bully groups agree that if dog bites are to be effectively reduced, much more intervention and legislation are needed than simply banning one breed.’
Aaron added: ‘You can run around with numbers and figures, but if you look at any attack, it’s because they are not under control by their owners and that is the crux of it.
‘Those attacks would not have happened if they had responsible owners with the right equipment while walking their dogs.
‘There are numbers there that make the breed look good and there are numbers that make the breed look bad. But what it boils down to is the owners.’
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