In the midst of the discussion around the ownership of American XL Bully dogs, GMB‘s Ranvir Singh recounted the day her own dog startled her and her kid by’snapping’.
On Saturday, an XL Bully attacked and bit three persons in Birmingham, including an 11-year-old child, while being walked by its owner.
The victims were all injured and sent to the hospital for treatment, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman now calling for a ban on the breed’s ownership, describing them as a “clear and lethal danger,” particularly to minors.
Before moderating a debate on the matter on Good Morning Britain on Monday, co-host Ranvir, 46, talked of being a dog owner during lockdown when she got her kid a Cockapoo.
Even with this dog, who ‘looks like a teddy bear’ and is’so soft’ he went on a Strictly Come Dancing VT,’ they had to cope with unanticipated behavioural concerns, according to Ranvir.
This came as she pointed out that ‘part of the issue’ with dog attacks was ‘people who got dogs in lockdown, particularly this kind of breed [XL Bully], and they haven’t been socialised properly’.
‘There’s a thing called ‘cocker rage’ which is a real thing that Cockapoos have and they’re resource guarding,’ she explained of her own dog.
‘I’d never had a dog before. I didn’t know how to train him, and it was lockdown.’
‘And he would grab something, whether it was your glasses, your pen or a piece of kitchen roll that would fall on the floor. And he’d grab it and he’d run under the sofa and if you put your hand down, he’d snap his head round and he’d bare his teeth and growl,’ she recalled.
‘I got scared and my son, whose birthday present this dog was, cried a couple of times because he was scared of the dog. I mean, this is a Cockapoo!’ she added in shock.
GMB then brought dog trainer Kay Taiwo into the studio with her placid American XL Bully, Naija, to debate breed ownership with dog behaviourist Stan Rawlinson.
Ranvir has earlier stated that the presence of an XL Bully in the studio made her’sweaty palms’.
‘I feel rather scared about it, do you get that a lot?’ she acknowledged to Kay. I’m sitting further back now, and I feel like my shackles are coming off.’
Kay then said that being ‘in fashion’ was one of the problems the XL Bully was having.
‘Everyone wants an XL Bully, everyone’s almost breeding an XL Bully – that’s the quick, get-rich scheme now,’ she said.
Meanwhile, Stan, who feels the breed should be prohibited in the UK, returned to Ranvir’s issue regarding socialisation.
‘Lockdown meant that people couldn’t socialise their dogs during a critical period of zero to 16 weeks – the most important period of a dog’s life. Because we were locked down, those dogs couldn’t be mixed with children, with people, with other dogs, and therefore the level of aggression comes in,’ he pointed out.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
Source My Celebrity Life.