Anti-XL bully ban campaigners have questioned the application of the law after police chiefs called it a huge burden.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council stated millions of pounds are being spent on veterinary bills and kennelling for seized dogs.
This comes as the ban’s implementation reaches its first anniversary, amid reports that no police forces have yet reported a reduction in XL Bully incidents.
Dog training expert and author Jo-Rosie Haffenden said: “This absolutely ludicrous cost is not going to keep the public safe.
“It hasn’t so far. It’s not going to change anything.”
Haffenden’s major concern is that, in response to rising costs, authorities will do away with exemptions and destroy more dogs.
She said: “My biggest worry about this is that there will be some ridiculous knee jerk reaction, and we’re going to go back to 1991 where we said there is no exemption register.
“If the police say that dog is an XL type, it needs to be put to sleep, which would be, it just be so incredibly inhumane for everybody concerned.”
The first Dangerous Dogs Act was introduced in 1991 and was amended to include XL Bullies in 2023.
Researchers and experts described the 1991 act as draconian.
Sophie Coulthard, founder of Don’t Ban Me, Licence Me campaign, argued that extra costs were a result of inefficient regulation.
She said: “If the police were able to focus their attention on the owners of dogs who were behaving aggressively or dangerously then it would be a more effective use of their time and has the potential to keep people safe.
“Instead, the ban means dogs are judged on what they look like which is not an indicator of aggression. This is wasting police time and money and shows that the ban was a knee jerk reaction with no long-term thought from the government.”
Haffenden proposed a similar solution: implementing house arrest.
She said: “I think it’s something that we should have done a long time ago, and actually it’s already in the legislation.
“We wouldn’t even need to change the legislation in any way, shape or form. It would only be guidance to the police.”
Under this plan, if a dog is being assessed on whether it is an XL Bully, instead of it being kept in kennels, it would be kept at home.
The dog would be subject to the same conditions as certified XL Bullies: it would have to stay at home and, when outside, wear a lead and muzzle at all times.
Haffenden added: “Hopefully, if we did house arrest, we could start getting experts in and less of us, because we have a much larger time frame to do it in, because the dogs are at home.”
Since the XL Bully ban came into force at the start of last year, reports show that dog attacks have risen.
In December, a High Court judge dismissed a challenge against the ban from campaigners led by Coulthard.
Join the discussion