Kent woman suffering with PTSD after puppy killed by XL bully in 'horrendous and horrific' attack
A woman from Kent has spoken of the terrifying moment her 11-month-old puppy was attacked and killed by an XL bully.
Tracey Ground, from Whitstable, was on a walk with her husband and two Dachshunds just over a year ago when an XL bully came over a garden wall and attacked her and her puppy.
She said: "I picked up my puppy and it knocked me to the ground and dragged myself and Stanley along the ground attacking us both and sadly my puppy was killed.
"It was horrendous and horrific and I relive it a lot. Unfortunately, I've suffered from PTSD since then."
Ms Ground said her husband was injured in the attack trying to "release Stanley from the other dog's jaws" but there was nothing they could do to save him.
Not long before the attack, Tracey was diagnosed with cancer.
She explained: "This traumatic event was ten times worse than any of the treatments and things I went through with cancer and just mentally has scarred us for life.
"It used to be that walking was my release from the day, stress-free, happy thing to do now both my husband and I find it so, so stressful to walk our dogs.
"And the fact it was so close to home, we can't walk down the street, we don't want to revisit the site where it happened and I'm fearful of it happening again and certainly feel something needs to be done so that no one else has to go through what we've been through."
Ms Ground says she finds it stressful to walk her dogs now
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is currently pushing for a ban on American XL bully dogs, saying they are a “clear and lethal danger” – particularly to children.
The cabinet minister announced she has commissioned “urgent advice” on outlawing the dogs after she highlighted an “appalling” attack on an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham.
Pippa Apps, founder of Best Behaviour School for Dogs, explained: "The bully XL has been selectively bred for power and strength. It's a mixture of the English Bulldog, the American Bulldog and the American Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
"It's also closely related to the pitbull so basically it's a guarding breed built for power and strength. They're not innately dangerous but they have a very high propensity to be aggressive...
"I would say more so it's the hands of who they're owned by and whether they're a) not receiving training or even worse they're actually trained to be guard dogs."
Speaking about a possible ban on the breed, Tracey said: "I think it's a step in the right direction, I don't think it's the only thing that needs to be done.
"I think the penalty and the punishment to the owners of these dangerous dogs needs to be looked at as well and reviewed.
"I know there's lots of responsible dog owners out there that have these dogs and they're very happy at home with grandchildren, other pets and are a family pet but unfortunately I think the recent numbers really do reflect that there's also a lot of very aggressive dogs of this breed out there that are being used as weapons really and are attacking people and something needs to be done to stop that."
Trevor Cooper is a solicitor who has dealt with dog attacks over the years.
He believes there should be "breed-neutral” legislation that looks at the owner of the dog instead of banning a breed.
He said: "Dogs don’t come with labels and it will of course take some dogs out of the public domain but it would also enable other dogs to remain in the public domain that we’re not quite sure whether they come within that definition.”
The Dogs Trust also believes "adding another dog to the list of banned breeds is not the right approach".
A spokesperson said: "The increase in popularity of this type of dog has made them a valuable commodity and resulted in a rise of irresponsible breeding and ownership.
"However, banning them will simply make room for another type of dog to fill the space left by XL Bull types, and the cycle will be repeated.
"The Dangerous Dogs Act, with its list of banned types has been in place for over 30 years and is clearly not working.
"That’s why Dogs Trust wants to see the current dog control laws overhauled and replaced with one law that allows for early intervention, has a focus on the prevention of dog bite incidents and includes measures that deter and punish owners of dogs whose behaviour is dangerous."
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