Karter lives in Somers Town within the government’s new rules

AN XL Bully owner and a dog trainer have claimed there has been “fearmongering” at the Town Hall after a call to ban the breed from its housing estates.

Mo – who runs a “Fam Bully” training group – challenged Labour councillor Awale Olad to come down to one of his free Saturday sessions to find out more.

Last week, Cllr Olad urged cabinet councillors to make Camden the first local authority in the country to refuse to allow tenants from keeping the dogs.

National government has imposed tough sanctions on XL Bullys after a series of incidents which in some cases have been fatal attacks.

It is now illegal to breed them or sell them on, and they must not appear in public without a muzzle. Only those who applied for an exemption are allowed to keep their pets.

Mo, who is a trainer from Somers Town, said the bigger problem was the owners not the dogs themselves. He didn’t want his full name in the paper fearing he would be singled out for reprisals by the council, although a dog he has trained, Karter, is pictured.

“I think some form of dog licensing needs to be brought back. There needs to be some sort of test about whether you should be able to own a dog, and if you are prepared to do the proper training,” he said.

“There is a certain demographic, mainly the working class, that like to have a muscular dog. But a lot of the working class, believe it or not, prefer to have a properly trained dog and they are actually the ones that know what to do.”

Mo added: “The worst trained dogs you will see in Camden are up Hampstead Heath. I’ve seen them shredding each other to bits. What I see up there is a lot of people who have not set any real rules or boundaries. Some don’t even have a recall [a safety command].”

Mo said aggressive dog behaviour was often a reflection of outdated techniques by owners “that might have worked in the olden days or in the army”.

He said: “They don’t speak English, but I can make him understand things in beatbox, and also sign language. I’ve taught dogs to understand Hindi.”

He suggested people frightened by big dogs should be aware that “a dog will react from your energy alone”, adding: “That’s why this fear-mongering is so damaging.”

Last week Cllr Olad had said he feared owners were not follow­ing new regulations, adding: “One lives in my neighbourhood, and I’ve never seen it muzzled outside its property. It’s such a menacing thing to see.”

He had suggested XL Bullys had been bred to “fight bulls” and responsible for too many deaths.

This week, Cllr Olad said: “I appreciate the strong sentiments and emotional attachments owners have to their XL bullies. Whether they are responsible owners is mostly immaterial when tenancy conditions preclude dogs classed by law as dangerous from residing in council properties. I am certainly not convinced that these dogs are safe or sound. I hope the council enforces a ban completely.”

Cllr Awale Olad

Mo offered to train up any owner of an XL Bully that may have come into contact with the councillor for free, but added: “We need land that we can use in order to make responsible outdoor training widespread, so we can shine as a borough not be the first to ban the dogs on estates.”

He called the New Journal after reading about Cllr Olad’s request. “The councillor is saying this dog was bred to fight bulls. That’s like 200 years ago mate. These dogs are now bred to be more companion-based,” he said.

He spoke about the impact on 42-kilo Karter since the new regulations came into force, adding: “People who knew him before he had to have the muzzle are now dubious to say hello because of the muzzle, which is wrong. A lot of these dogs are no longer getting the chance to exercise fully, because they aren’t being taken outside like they used to. Karter doesn’t want to go outside because of the muzzle. It’s very sad.

“There will be another dog that will become the devil dog. Back in the days it was the Dobermann because of The Omen films. And then it was the Rottweiler. The Pitbull. The Staff. XL Bullys are the new staffs.”

Karter’s owner Henna Begum, chair of the Churchway tenants association, said: “The government ruling says you can’t re-home, you can’t breed, you can’t sell them. So that means the councillor is saying you are going to be evicted or you are going to have to kill them. Does he understand the impact that would have on families? This dog is not just a dog to me.”

She said she had to pay £95, at Christmas, for the cost of the government’s “exemption” fee, an insurance payment and in July she would have to spend hundreds of pounds to “have his balls chopped off”, adding: “My rent and council tax is going up. I pay £45 a week for heating. If you want to get votes, do something about the things that matter to people.”

A Camden Council spokesperson said they would be “reviewing our approach in partnership with the police”.