Faye Winter labelled calls to ban the controversial XL Bully “disgusting”.
Faye Winter says its the owner, not the dog
The former ‘Love Island’ star slammed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s suggestion that the breed - which has been responsible for a string of headline-grabbing attacks like the one that lead to the death of Jonathan Hogg, 37, in after being mauled by one of the dogs in Greater Manchester - as she believes “there is no such thing as bad dog” as she blames the owner, instead of the pooch.
The 28-year-old influencer told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I think it is disgraceful that we’re looking to even ban the breed at all. I think if we ban the breed we’ll have bad dog owners moving on to other breeds, there is no such thing as a bad dog.
Faye - who has a golden retriever named Bonnie and volunteers with Guide Dogs UK - admitted there were problems like “overbreeding” and being “in the wrong hands” but thinks its better than to get to the “root” of the issue instead of issuing a blanket ban.
She continued: "Is there overbreeding? Yes. Are dogs in the wrong hands and can they become aggressive? Absolutely. Can they be weapons? Yes. Do we need to licence them? Yes, I do think we do.
"But we need to get to the core root of the problem and that is the owners of those dogs. You don’t see loving families with those dogs that have the same issues. You see people that walk around the streets using them as weapons. So yes, I am definitely on board with not banning the breed, I don’t think it’s a fix I think it’s a temporary solution until – I’m gonna say – the idiots out there find other dogs. And it’s a shame because these dogs should only ever be loved, they’re not there to be a weapon."
"Do you know the amount of dogs I meet that are absolutely beautiful that are XL Bullies they are the hard jawed dogs. I let Bonnie play with all sorts of dogs – my sister’s got a Saint Bernand which is a massive dog and it’s a misconception of dogs and it’s so easy for them to not be socialised well because other people don’t want their dogs socialised with them, they don’t want to be put in a situation and it is a vicious circle."