 'It's ridiculous. There is no such thing as a dangerous dog – there are just dangerous owners.' Those are the words of the owner of a 12-week-old American XL bully and Old Tyme Bulldog cross puppy named Bear. Aaron Smith-Holding is as horrified by the recent dog attacks as the next person, but he doesn't feel an outright ban on the XL bully breed is going to solve the problem at its source. The father-of-two believes that owners should be held responsible for their out of control dogs, rather than throwing a blanket over an entire breed and casting it aside to be shunned. He believes the majority of the fatal and serious injury incidents in the past few weeks have occurred in situations where dogs are not being properly looked after. 'Why would you take any animal out if you can't control it?' he asks. 'It's irresponsible owners that have caused this mess and unfortunately the breed is suffering from it.' Aaron Smith-Holding says owners are to blame for dog attacks – and not the breed (Picture: Aaron Smith-Holding) Rishi Sunak announced on Friday that the American XL bully breed will be banned in the UK by the end of 2023. It comes after a 52-year-old man was mauled to death by suspected XL bullies in Staffordshire on Thursday, while an 11-year-old girl was savaged in the street in Birmingham last weekend and a boy, 10, was attacked outside his house in Walsall. 'The American XL bully dog is a danger to our communities, particularly our children,' the prime minister said. 'It's clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs. It's a pattern of behaviour and it cannot go on.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Rishi Sunak announced plans to ban American XL bully's in the UK on Friday (Picture: @RishiSunak) But Aaron, who also has a Chihuahua, disagre){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
‘It’s ridiculous. There is no such thing as a dangerous dog – there are just dangerous owners.’
Those are the words of the owner of a 12-week-old American XL bully and Old Tyme Bulldog cross puppy named Bear.
Aaron Smith-Holding is as horrified by the recent dog attacks as the next person, but he doesn’t feel an outright ban on the XL bully breed is going to solve the problem at its source.
The father-of-two believes that owners should be held responsible for their out of control dogs, rather than throwing a blanket over an entire breed and casting it aside to be shunned.