American Bully XL Breed

It is a criminal offence to own an XL Bully dog in England and Wales unless your dog has a valid Certificate of Exemption. It is also an an offence to:

Sell an XL Bully dog
Abandon an XL Bully dog or let it stray
Give away an XL Bully dog
Breed from an XL Bully dog
Allow for an XL Bully dog to be bred from any combination of other dogs
Have an XL Bully dog in public without a lead and muzzle

How to find out if you own a XL Bully

You can use the XL Bully conformation standard to check if your dog may be an XL Bully. This involves checking the dog’s physical characteristics such as its size and height.

If you’re not sure if you have an XL Bully dog, you should comply with all new requirements for this dog type. This includes puppies that may grow up to be an XL Bully dog.

The ban only applies to XL Bully dogs. There are other established breeds, such as those recognised by the UK Kennel Club that may meet some of the characteristics of the XL Bully breed type. These are not within scope of the ban.

What happens if your XL Bully is already pregnant

It is not an offence to allow a litter of puppies that have already been conceived before 31 December 2023 to be born. If the puppies are born after 31 December 2023, it will be an offence to sell them or to rehome them. There is a nine-week period until the ban on selling comes into force to allow puppies that were bred before this legislation was introduced to be legally sold. Puppies must not be sold before they are eight weeks old.

If you purchased a puppy before 31 December 2023 which was less than eight weeks old at that point, you will be able to collect it legally when it is eight weeks old, but you must have followed the government rules on the Ban on XL Bully dogs.