The American Bully XL, or “XL Bully”, dogs have been in the news recently, following a horrific incident in Birmingham this week. It has now reached the top levels of politics, and the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman MP, has ordered an urgent review into adding these dogs to the list of Banned Breeds in the Dangerous Dogs Act. But what is a Bully XL, and should they be banned?
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The American Bully
In the UK, Pit Bull “types” are banned – and they can be seized and removed, even if there has been no aggression or complaint received. However, the American Bully is a type that, while derived from the American Pit Bull Terrier, is of a stockier and heavier build. The “XL” denotes the largest strain of the type, weighing up to 80kg.
You’ll notice I refer to them as “types” not a breed – this is because here in the UK they are not a recognised breed; but also because there is such substantial variation between individuals that here in the UK (where Pit Bulls are banned) it’s unclear how many of them are “purebred” (if that is even a thing) and how many are mixed breeds that have been bred to resemble the American breed.
Why do some people want them banned?
Put simply, these dogs have the capacity to be incredibly dangerous – they are very large, very powerful, and are sometimes said to have a “high prey drive”. Dogs of this type are responsible for half of all the deaths from dog attacks in the UK since 2021, despite the fact that they make up a relatively small percentage of all dogs.
Certainly, other breeds seem to be prone to aggression (Chihuahuas, for example, are notorious!) but the difference is the sheer capacity for damage that the the Bully XL has.
And logically, if we have banned Pit Bulls, aren’t Bully XL’s just an attempt to circumvent this law, bearing in mind that they are basically a modified and even bigger Pit Bull?
I can understand the reasoning. And to those who say that “aggression is a behaviour, not a breed”, and that “variation between breeds is greater than within breeds” I agree, but ignoring the fact that we can (and have) bred for behavioural characteristics in many breeds devalues the argument. Yes, there is more variation in height between men than there is between men and women, but on average men are still taller. These statements can be true and yet misleading.
It is perfectly plausible that there is a population of dogs out there who have been deliberately – or poorly – bred by crossing the most aggressive and least bite-inhibited dogs to produce even more dangerous offspring.
Problems with this approach
As you can imagine, there are also strong arguments against this approach. In fact, breed specific legislation (BSL) is unpopular generally with vets and animal welfare charities because it’s such a broad brush, and the evidence that it works is basically absent.
What actually are these dogs?
First of all, let’s look at the US American Bully breed standard. It specifically states that
“Despite its powerful appearance, their demeanor is gentle and friendly. This breed makes an excellent family dog… Aggressive behavior towards humans is uncharacteristic of the breed, and highly undesirable. Disqualifications: Viciousness or extreme shyness.”
So are these aggressive versions we’re seeing here in the UK really American Bully dogs? Or are they something else, bred to look like their American counterparts? Are these “status dogs” that have been deliberately bred and trained for aggression?
Why are so many of them behaving like this?
How many of these dogs have been illegally imported or mutilated (many appear to have illegally cropped ears)? As a general rule, I suspect that if you’re willing to mutilate your dog to make it look “fiercer”, you probably don’t have your dog’s best interests at heart when training it. So how many of these dogs have been poorly trained – or even deliberately trained to express aggressive tendencies because it makes their owners look more macho (or even for criminal “enforcement” purposes)? And how many of these dogs are those that were bred for that and then dumped onto poor unsuspecting families who didn’t know what they were getting?
In addition, the numbers have dramatically increased since 2021 – so how many of these are under-socialised lockdown puppies who just have so much more capacity to cause damage than other breeds and crosses?
Practical issues
The next problem is that as these are a “type”, how do you prove what’s a Bully XL and what isn’t? What specific features will you use? It can be really subjective, as it currently is with Pit Bulls, and would potentially remove happy and emotionally balanced dogs from the population, while leaving the cross-bred hyper-aggressive ones because they didn’t quite match the proper measurements! That hardly seems fair on the dogs or their owners.
And finally – would a ban even work? If these dogs are being bred and/or illegally imported for the wrong reasons, then surely people will keep on breeding the worst of them, whether it’s illegal or not?
So should they be banned?
Personally, I think there should be a lot more control on large dogs (over 40kg, say) in general. Perhaps a system of mandatory insurance, training, or even bringing back the dog licence. But although I don’t particularly like these dogs, and I agree that they have the capacity to be incredibly dangerous, I’m not sure that banning them as a breed would be either right or effective. And until we can answer all the questions I’ve asked above, I don’t think more BSL is what we need: we need better enforcement and strengthening of the laws against cruel aversive training, mutilation, and dangerous dogs (of any breed) that we already have.
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