XL bully dog ban 'hasn't worked', owner says

An XL bully owner says the ban on the dogs has not worked, two years after it was introduced following a rise in dog attacks.

Dog trainer Steve Constantinou, from Coventry, who has three XL bullies, said his dogs' lives had "forever been changed" and the ban had instead put more pressure on responsible owners.

"I think we've got to the point where we're blaming the breed rather than blaming the people who should be responsible owners," he said.

The government banned the breed in 2024, with owners only allowed to keep their dogs if they followed strict regulations, including neutering them and registering them.

Under the legislation, it is a criminal offence to own or possess an XL bully in England and Wales without a valid exemption certificate.

Constantinou said the rules, which include keeping the dogs on a lead, had made his life more difficult.

"Because I can't release my dogs off lead and my dogs are rather large, it means I need to run them as much as possible to get that extra energy out," he explained.

"Now every morning I walk my dogs for about five miles."

The dog trainer has access to a private field where he can let his dogs off the lead but said the cost of this also added up, to about £300 over the month.

"That is a massive amount of money to be spending extra that I don't need to," he said.

The curbs followed a number of attacks linked with the breed, which was added to the list of dogs banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Constantinou said his pets had a "normal life, normal existence" before the ban came into force and had noticed a stigma following media coverage of the breed.

His biggest dog, who was five, would love to play fetch, he added.

"It hasn't worked at all," Constantinou said of the ban.

"The only thing that it's done has put pressure on good responsible dog owners because there are so many dogs that were not registered and the majority of these are the ones that end up being out of control.

"The only people that suffer through this ban are the people that are trying to do the best things for their dogs."

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