If I could change one law it would forever and always be The Dangerous Dog Act 1991.
This law has brought nothing but pain and suffering to those who have responsibly owned dogs because of a few people who chose not to train and control their dogs properly.
I understand the idea behind the legislation was to reduce the number of large, powerful breeds designed for fighting, but unfortunately, all this law has managed to achieve is the destruction of innocent dogs owned by responsible people who don’t want to deal with the persecution or risk of having their dog seized. The people who were irresponsible with their dogs and caused them to be dangerous have gone out and gotten a different breed of a similar style, leading to a vicious cycle of banning more breeds.
The most recent amendment of this legislation was at the beginning of 2024 when XL bully-type dogs were added to the banned breed list. And that, right there, is the crux of the problem, XL Bully is not a breed it is a type, and therefore, any dog that fits the size and description is subject to prosecution. XL Bully-type dogs only started to become popular in the UK after Pitbull-type dogs were banned when the legislation first came into force in 1991.
Since the ban came into force at the beginning of 2024, making it illegal to buy or sell XL Bully types, the sale of Cane Corsos has increased. ~ For those that don’t know what a Cane Corse is, they are basically a bigger more powerful pitbull or XL Bully with an arguably stronger instinct to guard/fight as their bloodline has not been corrupted by the pet industry yet ~
There are over 50,000 registered XL bully-type dogs in the UK, and still, the police seized nearly 2000 suspected banned breeds and destroyed over 800 of them (double that of the same period in 2023). There are no statistics to say how many of the 10,924 dog bites that led to hospital admissions in 2023/24 were caused by XL Bully types. However, it is known that 7 people were killed in 2024 by XL Bullies, even being generous and saying that multiple dogs were involved in each attack that is still on 0.028% of the XL Bully population in the UK. Just to put that number into perspective, 12.1% of the population died due to COVID-19 in 2020, and no one wanted the temporary lockdown to reduce those numbers.
Some dogs that are seized either through fault or no fault of their own (as all the dangerous dog act required for a dog to be reported is for a person to “feel” threatened by the dog) end up sitting in a police-approved kennel for months or years. Only to either be destroyed or returned to the owners with exemption conditions – such as keeping the dog on lead and muzzle in all public spaces (if the owner is found to have broken these conditions the dog will be destroyed). For many dogs, the stress of the seizure can cause the dog to lash out – branding them as dangerous – or completely withdraw into themselves.
Save Our Seized Dogs – Putting BSL to Sleep UK is a Facebook page that fundraises for the owners of seized dogs as the bills can be in the thousands to get seized dogs back.
https://www.facebook.com/share/15gsUU9ER5/
There is a reason why almost all of the animal charities in the UK when asked about the Dangerous Dog Act say that it is unfair and ineffective, and poses a concern to animal welfare, with dogs being abandoned and unnecessarily euthanised.
There are much better ways to combat the growing issues of irresponsible owners, that does ot punish those who are doing right by their dogs. Including: promoting and educating people about responsible breeding and ownership, and judging dogs on their actions, not their breed.
The responsibility needs to be put on the owner, not the dog.
The Dog Standard 