{"topic_id":"gb_xl_bully_breed_ban","category":"gb-dangerous-dogs","context":"---\ntopic_id: gb_xl_bully_breed_ban\ncategory: gb-dangerous-dogs\ntitle: \"England & Wales XL Bully breed-type ban (Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 s.1(3); Certificate of Exemption from 1 Feb 2024; conformation height standard)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"UK Government (GOV.UK / DEFRA) — 'Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA)' (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/official-definition-of-an-xl-bully-dog), landed 2026-08-13\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/gov-uk-petwelfare/xl_bully.pdf\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-13\ntokens_estimated: 214\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"UK Government (GOV.UK / DEFRA)\"\n  title: \"Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA)\"\n  url: \"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/official-definition-of-an-xl-bully-dog\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-13\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"official web page / guidance\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: open_government_licence_v3\n---\n\n# England & Wales XL Bully breed-type ban (Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 s.1(3); Certificate of Exemption from 1 Feb 2024; conformation height standard)\n\nVerbatim C1 topic drawn from a first-hand UK Government (GOV.UK / DEFRA) source. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0; every claim below is a whitespace-normalised substring of the landed source file. No paraphrase.\n\n## Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)\n- `From 1 February 2024, it is a criminal offence under Section 1(3) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to be in possession of an XL Bully breed type without a valid Certificate of Exemption.`\n- `The conformation standard has been developed by Defra in consultation with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) dangerous dogs working group, local authorities, vets and other animal welfare experts.`\n- `The XL Bully breed type is a variant of the wider American Bully breed type.`\n- `Adult male from 20 inches (51cm) at the withers.`\n- `Adult female from 19 inches (48cm) at the withers.`\n- `From 1 February 2024, XL Bully breed types without a Certificate of Exemption, or those who breach the conditions of their Certificate of Exemption, can be seized under Section 5(1) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.`\n- `The cropping of a dog’s ears is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.`\n","sources":["gb-dangerous-dogs — Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA) (retrieved 2026-08-13)"],"source":{"authority":"gb-dangerous-dogs","title":"Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA)","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/official-definition-of-an-xl-bully-dog","retrieved":"2026-08-13","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/gov-uk-petwelfare/xl_bully.pdf"},"source_document":"Official definition of an XL Bully dog (DEFRA)","source_file":"pdf-raw/gov-uk-petwelfare/xl_bully.pdf","trust":{"authority_tier":"ungraded","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"open_government_licence_v3","display_grade":"pending"},"tokens_estimated":214,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}