Can you provide a home for XL Bully Lily who is currently at Berwick Animal Rescue Kennels before December 31 deadline

From December 31, owners must keep them on a lead and muzzled when in public. It will also be an offence to breed, sell, advertise, exchange, gift, re-home, abandon, or allow XL Bully dogs to stray.

It follows a number of attacks involving the breed – although a number of owners have said the dogs, despite their appearance, make lovable pets.

This means that XL Bully Lily, currently being looked after at BARK, may have to be put to sleep.

And although the team are doing all they can to find an owner before the end of the year, they still need to follow their vetting rules. This means two-year-old Lily requires a home with a very secure garden, no children and an owner with previous experience of large breed dogs.

BARK manager Jan Ross accepts something needs to be done to help prevent attacks, but she believes the most important factor that needs to be addressed is the wider issue of responsible dog ownership.

She added: “My heart breaks for poor Lily, who has been with us for a year, and now we’re having to look for a suitable owner to miraculously appear in eight weeks, during which time she needs to settle.

“BARK, as do many other rescues, offer lifetime back up. For Lily, after December 31 all that means is we would have no option to put her to sleep.

“Currently, there is no option for a rescue to own an XL Bully dog and safely and responsibly re-home them, their only option is to put them to sleep. How can that be right?

“What about the litters that will inevitably be born in the next five weeks. Do they get torn away from their mothers before they are ready to go, causing all sorts of behavioural and health issues, in a bid to re-home them by 31st December, or do they expect the breeder to responsibly keep numerous XL Bullies?”

To discuss the possibility of being Lily’s new owner if you think you meet the criteria, call BARK on 01289 306299.

Details of the full list of measures announced by the Government and the official breed definition can be accessed at www.gov.uk/government/news/xl-bully-type-dogs-to-be-banned