Overview
- One private operator now runs seven specialist kennels holding more than 500 seized XL Bully dogs, with sites often at full capacity.
- Police report a sharp rise in dangerous dogs kept in kennels and say housing costs jumped from about £4 million in 2018 to roughly £25 million in the first year of the ban.
- Kennel teams say calls spike during school holidays and they are frequently deployed after serious attacks involving XL Bully-type dogs.
- Abandonment rose after the 2024 restrictions, with the RSPCA recording 21 XL Bully abandonments before the ban and 129 in the first six months after it took effect.
- DEFRA says it is assessing whether current dog-control rules protect communities and is working with police, local authorities, vets and rescue groups to monitor the ban’s impact.