A local animal rescue centre has spoken out about plans to ban XL Bulldogs.
Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre say they're worried the ban will lead to them having a centre full of XL Bullys, which will mean less space to rehome other dogs in need. There's also concern owners will simply abandon their pets.
Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre say they're worried the ban will lead to them having a centre full of XL Bullys, which will mean less space to rehome other dogs in need. There's also concern owners will simply abandon their pets.
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00:00 A local animal rescue centre has spoken out about plans to ban XL bulldogs.
00:06 A ban's just not going to work. And I can understand why it would seem initially like it would work,
00:12 because it does sound quite sensible on the surface of things.
00:15 But anyone who knows the sector will understand that actually the ban on the dog is not the area where the problem is.
00:23 Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre say they're worried the ban will lead to them having a centre full of XL bullies,
00:30 which will mean less space to re-home other dogs in need.
00:34 There's also concerns owners will simply abandon their pets.
00:38 People are worried about XL bullies, people are worried for XL bullies. It's just sent everyone into a tailspin.
00:46 The Prime Minister announced the government's plans to ban the American XL bully by the end of the year.
00:52 Rishi Sunak said the breed is a danger to our communities, following a spate of recent attacks involving the breed, including here on Merseyside.
01:03 The Dangerous Dog Act 1991 bans the breeding, sale and exchange of certain breeds.
01:10 Currently, four breeds are banned in the UK. The Pit Bull Terrier, the Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Dilla Brasiliero.
01:19 Dogs will need to go into kennels while they're assessed. Where those kennels exist, all the rescues are chocker already.
01:27 Then they've all got to go to the courts to actually confirm that's a dangerous dog or not.
01:33 The courts can't cope already with the amount of work that they've got.
01:37 So where is the capacity going to come from? Where is the funding going to come from?
01:42 I mean, at that point, the whole plan is going to fail.
01:45 The government's looking to add the XL bully to this list. But an issue with banning the bully is it's not a recognised breed by the Kennel Club.
01:55 The centre is giving advice on how XL bully owners can prepare for the ban.
02:00 So what you need to do is make sure that your XL bully is neutered, microchipped.
02:06 It will need to be on a short lead, no longer than 1.5 metres in public places at all to at least get used to that.
02:15 And the most important thing is to muzzle train your dog so it's comfy.
02:19 Just have a muzzle in the room, bit of cream cheese on it so it'll eat off the muzzle and just start getting used to it in a happy way.
02:26 Eventually, if it comes in, these dogs are going to need to be muzzled in public.
02:31 You want your dog to be as comfortable as possible.
02:34 Other things, see if you can get third-party liability insurance in place.
02:39 It might get more difficult, but be checking that out now.
02:43 And then behavioural issues, work on those issues.
02:48 It's just not an option. I mean, everybody needs to do basic training with the dog.
02:53 It's not a luxury. It's absolute essential.
02:56 But when you've got a strong dog, it's super essential.
02:59 In this scenario, it could be the difference between you keeping your dog or not.