You may know that in the UK, American XL bully ownership is subject to Draconian restrictions including wearing a muzzle when in public and on a lead. It is also illegal to breed, sell, advertise gift and exchange or abandon or let an XL bully dog. The law has been in force since December 31 of last year. That’s the background.
It didn’t take long for something to happen which in some ways undermines the new rules, which are probably welcome by the vast majority of people in the country bearing in mind the disturbing history of this breed in attacking people.
RELATED: Training American XL bully dogs to be weapons
Casey Wilson lives with an XL bully puppy of 10 months of age called Nova. She likes to go out for walks. The first time that Casey took her out for a walk wearing a muzzle she was attacked by a cat around her face. The cat wouldn’t let go and had to be torn off by Casey who was scratched herself.
I’ve seen a picture of Nova on the Yahoo website. I can’t show it here as Google Adsense would deem the photo to be a ‘shocking’ image. So, I’ll describe the injury in words. The right side of her face over a large area and down her neck was very bloody after the attack. Casey says that there was a lot of blood. She was shocked.
Nova has since been withdrawn and reluctant to leave the house according to Karen Brian, Casey’s mother who was with her at the time of the attack.
Comment: as mentioned, it didn’t take long for something controversial to happen on the back of this new law which is itself controversial because a lot of experts say that the UK government should not be targeting a breed of dog but individual dogs and people.
Ironically, the XL bully was originally bred by an American to be docile (link to the story). He made that clear in a video online. Equally clearly something has gone very wrong and it’s to do with the owners of these dogs who often want them to be aggressive and who give them steroids and generally train them up to be aggressive guard dogs and status symbols.
Although I am in harmony with those people who agree that the restrictions are the best thing to do, this is essentially about humans and how they have behaved towards this breed. This is a human problem. No question about it. Unfortunately, the dog is the victim and in the case of Nova a victim twice over because she was reluctant to wear a muzzle and when she finally allowed it, she was attacked and couldn’t defend herself.
The report indicates that the cat attack was unprovoked as the cat simply came out of nowhere and jumped at Nova.
RELATED: Semi-feral cat can beat a mean Dobermann by attacking from behind and above
P.S. The cat must have been acting instinctively and attacked Nova as he/she felt that she was a threat and had encroached on her territory. It is all normal feline behavior. You wonder if the cat realised that Nova would be unable to defend herself. The cat may have been a female defending her kittens. They are immensely committed and fearless. Nova is also not full-grown as I understand it.
