The owner of an XL Bully dog says the ban on the breed is “wrong”, after her dog was attacked and left covered in blood.
This comes as the deadline passes for owners of XL bully dogs to apply for certificates of exemption to keep their pets as a ban on the breed comes into force.
Casey Wilson, was walking 11-month-old American XL Bully, Nova, around Blackburn when she was attacked by a cat.
The 26-year-old shared pictures of Nova, covered in blood after the attack. Casey said Nova was unable to defend herself as she was wearing a muzzle, which is now a lawful requirement.
She said: “I was walking Nova on the lead on the way to the park when a cat had come from the side bush and threw itself at my dog.
“The cat had latched itself onto my dogs muzzle. I had to let go of my dogs to grab the cat off my dog.
“Nova was shaking her head, trying to get the cat free from her face. Once I got the cat off, it ran back and scratched the side of my dog's face.
“I was hysterical seeing blood all over my dog’s collar, lead and face.”
Casey said Nova was covered in scratches, which she covered in antiseptic cream.
According to Casey, the incident made Nova afraid to go on walks.
She said: “I couldn’t take Nova out for around five days because when I showed her the muzzle she would pull back and hide.
“Nova didn’t want to hurt the cat but all dogs [should] have a right to defend themselves. The muzzle [acted as] a swinging post for the cat to latch on to."
Casey wanted to share her story to show how helpless her “dangerous banned breed dog” was in the situation and to criticise the new laws surrounding XL Bully dogs.
She said: “I felt the need to share my experience of what happened as I wanted people to know that my “dangerous banned breed dog” was helpless over some cat.
“I was lucky it was just a cat and not a dog. I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
On February 1, it became a criminal offence to own an XL bully in England and Wales without a certificate. Casey believes the new restrictions are “wrong”.
She said: “Nova has an amazing temperament and I trust her with my life. She is not aggressive.
“I honestly think the new restrictions are wrong and need to be reconsidered.
“I am dreading nova spending her summer and future on a short lead, with a muzzle around her mouth. She’s only just getting use to the muzzle and it breaks my heart.
“Her poor little life has changed forever.”
XL Bully owners had until the end of January to apply for certificates of exemption to keep their pets.
According to the RSPCA, the government last week said 30,000 dogs had been registered, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been contacted for an updated figure.
The latest deadline follows restrictions which came into force at the end of last year which mean the dogs must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.
Breeding, selling or abandoning the dogs also became illegal as of December 31.
Dr Samantha Gaines, dog welfare expert at the RSPCA, said there are concerns that owners will have failed to apply for certificates in time or at all.
She said: “There’s been a lot of communication from Defra around the need to ensure that people do go through exemption but I think there will be some individuals that are not aware of the ban, and there are obviously going to be some that just decide not to take their dogs through registration either.”
Dr Gaines said there have been reports of owners struggling to comply with the restrictions that came into force at the end of last year, particularly the requirement to muzzle their pet in public.
“In order for a dog to get used to wearing a muzzle it is really, really important that it is introduced in a very slow, gradual way…but for some dogs, they have really, really struggled with it,” she said.
The measures were introduced after a rise in dog attacks over recent years.
Until 2021 there were about three deaths a year, but there have since been 23, many linked to XL Bully type dogs.
People with dangerously out of control dogs can be jailed for 14 years and banned from owning animals, and their pets can be put down.
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