People are more afraid of XL Bullys after compulsory muzzles came in, the organiser of a walk near Sheffield said.
Sixteen of the legally-restricted dogs were taken around Rother Valley Country Park to show just how good natured they are - even with a cage clamped over their face. It was organised by Olvia Walker who decried the “horrible ban that has happened to our babies.”
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00:00 [chatter]
00:15 [chatter]
00:35 I'm Charlie Smith and this is Tinker, she's a six month old XL bully.
00:39 We've come to the walk today because we want to meet other like-minded dog lovers
00:43 that understand we are a good breed and we are friendly
00:47 and there's lots of other people here today. We're all going to walk as dogs together,
00:51 make some lifelong friends and be able to walk as dogs together without any
00:55 negative views or people frowning at us. We're pretty used to
00:59 people crossing the streets now against us so we want to make some
01:03 friends, especially Tinker, she's only six months old so she really wants to make
01:07 some friends don't you?
01:09 [chatter]
01:15 Sit, no, sit.
01:19 So we're here today just because as you can see she's blind
01:23 so for us socialising her is really important. With the ban it's become
01:27 even harder because she's got a really good sense of smell but this stops
01:31 the sense of smell so we want to make sure she gets used to the mud
01:35 as much as we can and just basically try and... it's her own way of
01:39 socialising isn't it? You can't, you're not allowed to do it any other way.
01:43 Sit, sit.
01:47 [chatter]
01:51 [chatter]
01:55 [chatter]
01:59 I'd be fine, I'd be absolutely fine because I think
02:03 the dog owners have got control of the dog anyway and you know your dog, you know your
02:07 personality with your dog. It's like any dog, any dog can nip
02:11 or bite in the same way. I understand why people are
02:15 more concerned about these because they are strong and there's been a lot of bad press
02:19 about them but I do think that the bad press is the reason why people are so nervous
02:23 now. I think it's really unfounded, you know, my two are really, really
02:27 friendly, you can see the kids love them, they absolutely love the kids.
02:31 Yeah, and I just...
02:35 I wouldn't have an issue at all.
02:39 Since the ban's come into place, I think
02:43 we've all found it very difficult. I mean, it's hard for a dog to be muzzled, like
02:47 my dog gets travel sickness, she's got to wear a muzzle in her car, it's really difficult
02:51 travelling, we have to like stop every ten minutes, give her a quick break of travelling.
02:55 It is really difficult for us all, I mean we find it hard to exercise
02:59 our dogs as well because we can't be off the lead. I mean we are looking at it as being some
03:03 really amazing people giving up their fields for us to rent to be able to take a dog on a walk.
03:07 We are really lucky and grateful for that, there's a lot of people, Rather Valley
03:11 are letting us come today which is amazing, I mean I know we're not taking them off the lead
03:15 but we're still all getting out walking as dogs, giving them some good exercise.
03:19 When the restrictions were coming into place, I've always practised it which I'm lucky because puppies
03:23 are really good, they take it on very well. But I did have a dog who just recently
03:27 passed away but he had to wear a muzzle and at ten years old never wearing one, it was very
03:31 difficult for him, he's never had to wear a muzzle before, it was something that he found
03:35 very difficult and not being able to walk off the lead, it's quite hard
03:39 for older dogs unfortunately. It's a little tragic when that's happened
03:43 and obviously those dogs in those situations
03:47 have been in a particular kind of situation, you know I think that
03:51 if a dog hasn't been looked after or brought up or if it's been in a
03:55 bad situation and it's fear aggression or whatever that reason was, I mean
03:59 I know that there was a really tragic incident where somebody
04:03 had been trying to intervene with puppies and it had been a tragic accident at the end
04:07 of that. I just think that all of these situations can be
04:11 totally avoided with the right training and control
04:15 and upbringing for these dogs in the same way that it would for any dog.