Mum fighting XL bully dog ban says she even trusts pet to lick baby daughter's face
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Samantha Wood/Facebook
A mum with an American XL bully has gushed about the breed and how 'gentle' her pet is with her baby.
Samantha Wood, from Aberdeen, Scotland, has a dog named Kano and trusts her pooch so much that she allows him to lick her baby's face.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime programme, Samantha shared: "I've never had any issues with my dog.
"I have a nine-month-old daughter and when I fell pregnant he was always lying on my bump and protecting me."
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And when her daughter arrived, like parents are urged to do with any breed of dog, Samantha introduced Kano to the tot 'slowly' and went on to find that her XL bully was 'perfectly fine'.
"He's so gentle with her and he loves her, he just licks her face," the mum-of-one further shared.
Samantha also hit out at Rishi Sunak's plans on banning the XL bully breed by the end of the year as said it was 'ridiculous'.
She said: "What gives them the right to say that that entire breed of dog is dangerous?
"If someone was to go out and murder someone, we don't all get judged by that.
"Some dogs have obviously not had the correct training and think it's acceptable to act that way, but the dogs that have had the correct training are being branded with this."
Samantha added that it's the owner's fault if a dog behaves a certain way, not the dog's, and that she's 'petrified' of losing her beloved Kano.
Echoing similar sentiments to Samantha, fellow XL bully owner Ellee Keegan, from Bromsgrove, Birmingham, hailed her dog as a 'big sofite'.
"I don't have any children myself but a couple of my friends have babies which he has been around on a leash with supervision and he's been fine," she said of her dog, Costa.
"He's had kids coming up to him asking to stroke him and I think he just knows when there is a child around because he is very very gentle and when kids are around, he'll just let them pet him and he's very calm.
"If I had kids I'd feel comfortable with Costa being around them."
Ellee also agreed with Samantha's comments about a dog's behaviour being the owner's fault, not because of what breed it is.
She explained: "I have been around a lot of XL bullies and they are the most loving dogs. It is the way the owners raise these dogs and it is on the owner.
"They should either be fined, sent to jail or not allowed to own dogs."
Once the new legislation goes through, American XL bullies will become the fifth breed to be banned in the UK.