A canine behaviourist has shared what he believes to be the most dangerous dog breeds, explaining what he believes to be the ‘recipe for disaster’.
Will Atherton explained that he’s often called for when dogs ‘go wrong’ and shared the two breeds he thinks have the potential for behaving particularly badly.
In a clip on TikTok, Will Atherton explained: “Now as a canine behaviourist, I work with dogs when they go wrong and often when they go terribly wrong.
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“And I believe the recipe for disaster is when it comes to the most dangerous dog breeds in the world, are dogs that are bred to be incredibly independent, they’re bred to be aggressive and violent towards people or other animals, and they’re bred to be incredibly large and powerful.
“And some of the breeds that fit this bill the most, fit into the livestock guardian realm.
“Breeds like the Turkish Kangal or Caucasian Shepherd, are bred to work on their own, fight incredibly dangerous predators to the death if required, and don’t like people making decisions for them.
“And although they’re not very common dog breeds, when people do have them and it goes wrong, it usually goes terribly wrong.”
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As ever when it comes to dogs, the comments were pretty divided with some agreeing that breeds mentioned can be dangerous and others insisting that they owned one of those types of dogs and had zero issues.
One person said: “No dog is aggressive or dangerous if trained properly.”
Another wrote: “why do muppets keep these potentially dangerous dogs as pets? It's beyond me.”
A third said: “I own both these breeds and for me it’s how you bring them up”
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Someone else chipped in: “Every dog can be like that [aggressive] if in the wrong hands, but the breed is not like everyone describes it, they are not aggressive, they are perfectly trainable.”
The clip was uploaded just days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that XL bullies will be banned by the end of the year, following a spate of attacks.
In a statement, Sunak said: "The American XL Bully Dog is a danger to our communities, particularly our children.
"I share the nation's horror at the recent videos we've all seen.
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"Yesterday we saw another suspected XL Bully Dog attack, which has tragically led to a fatality.
"It's clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs.
"It's a pattern of behaviour and it cannot go on.
"While owners already have a responsibility to keep their dogs under control, I want to reassure people that we are urgently working on ways to stop these attacks and protect the public.
"Today I have tasked ministers to bring together police and experts to firstly define the breed of dog behind these attacks, with a view to then outlawing it.
"It is not currently a breed defined in law, so this vital first step must happen fast.
"We will then ban the breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act and new laws will be in place by the end of the year.
"These dogs are dangerous.
"I want to reassure the public that we will take all necessary steps to keep people safe."
Claire Reid