Sunday April 23rd 2023
Blossom, an American XL Bully, trained by Midlothian Dog Trainer Nick McMechan.
This View has been written by Midlothian Dog Trainer Nick McMechan.
In 1991, Section One of the Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA) banned the owning, sale, breeding, giving away and abandonment of four Dog Breeds in the UK – the Pit Bull, Japanese Toso, Dogo Argentino and Filo Brasilerio.
I’m Anti-BSL, I’m against this Breed Specific Legislation. It just doesn’t work and it doesn’t take much research to find that the DDA, now over 30 years old, has had no effect whatsoever, apart from the needless culling of a number of Dogs, just because they looked like a Pit Bull.
It’s been well documented in the media that the Act was a knee jerk reaction at the time to the rising number of serious and fatal dog attacks. At the time, the Pit Bull was the centre of it all. Now, it’s the American XL Bully. Indeed in the last week there have been a number of media reports about the attack on a 3 year old boy and in the last couple of years, the sadly fatal incident of 17 month old Bella-Rae Birch who was killed by an American XL Bully brought to the home only a week before.
So, why am I saying the Breed should NOT be banned?
First of all, let’s look at what this Breed is. The American XL Bully was bred from the Pit Bull, American Bulldog, English Bulldog and Olde English Bulldog to create a Breed with a much lower work and prey drive than the Pit Bull. The intention was to create a powerful, muscular breed that’s suitable for the family home.
What’s going wrong?
There are four reasons in my opinion
1. Wrong Socialisation. I could easily write an entire book on this subject, never mind an article. Let’s get it down to great socialisation means happy ignorance of other dogs. (more on this in another article)
2. Wrong Breeding. It would be easy to buy an American XL Bully for £2k and sell a litter for over £10k. There’s huge profits to be made and this is absolutely the wrong reason for breeding. A good breeder will care for the breeding lines (temperament and health above all else) and will care for the homes the Dogs go to. When you buy a Pup from a good breeder you should feel like you were hauled through a tough interview
3. Wrong Training. And, possibly no training. Buying any Dog is a commitment that will last longer than a decade and employing a great trainer will give you a lifetime of pleasure with your Dog.
4. Wrong Home. Simply put this is a summary of all four of the above points. The Dog needs to be in a suitable environment where its needs can be fulfilled to help it live a long, happy and calm life.
When we look at the above reasons, all four of these going wrong in combination (or even some of them) can have a significant detrimental effect on the well-being of the Dog and we have seen recently in the media that the outcomes can be fatal. There have been 9 fatal attacks involving the breed in the last year alone. If these dogs had been well socialised, well bred, well trained and placed in good homes its extremely likely that all of these sad fatalities would never have happened
However, banning the breed won’t work. We have decades of data demonstrating BSL doesn’t work. And, if the breed is banned, what will be the next breed, and the next, and the next…then what?
So, what must be done?
This may be controversial but I’m all for Dog Licensing. I remember very well the excitement as a young Boy when my Mum and I went to the Post Office to purchase the License for our first ever Dog, Shelley. From memory, it cost 37.5p
Licensing, if applied well could control all the significant factors well. It could also fund additional Dog Wardens to control these factors. After all, what’s the point in having these laws if they can be simply be ignored – have you seen the amount of dog poo lying around?
The population of Midlothian is estimated at c100,000 and projected to continue to rise over the next decade. Dog Ownership in the UK is c30% and has risen significantly in recent years. So, there’s likely more than 30,000 Dogs in Midlothian. And, only one Dog Warden. This fact astonishes me. Licensing could pay for more Dog Wardens. Along with great Dog Licensing Laws and processes we could see a dramatic improvement in the welfare of Dogs and prevent these terribly sad fatalities ever happening.
Finally, Blossom. Blossom was an American XL Bully I helped train. Blossom was an absolutely wonderful Pup who trained extremely well and a Dog I’m proud to have trained. So well, she is one of the best Dogs I’ve trained with. She’s a testament to a Dog who was socialised well, trained well, bred well and ended up in a great, loving home.
Please, don’t ban Blossom.
Nick specialises in Loose Leash Walking and Reactivity as well as everything you would expect from a great Dog Trainer. You can find out more here: eskvalleydogtraining.co.uk
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