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134 J Maher et al The terms ‘bling’, ‘weapon’, ‘combat’, ‘devil’ and ‘antisocial’ have been used interchangeably with ‘status’ by the media, politicians and animal welfare charities (O’Neill 2010; RSPCA 2010) Other dog breeds (for example, Rottweiler’s, mastiffs and lurchers) have previously been described in this way (The Sunday Times 2006) although the term is now most commonly used to describe bull breeds and types (Gunter et al 2016)—as described below—when owned by young people (Maher and Pierpoint 2011).3 Bull Breeds and Types Bull breeds is the collective name for various breeds of dog of a particular type Often, but not always, the word bull appears in the name, such as the English bulldog and the Staffordshire bull terrier Bull types4 are dogs either not recognised by the Kennel Club as a breed, such as the pit bull, or which include bull breeds in their parentage While bull types are commonly associated with the status dog phenomenon, they are in fact owned by a cross-section of the public and there is no evidence to support the notion they are inherently problematic or dangerous Although ‘type’ has a wider meaning than ‘breed’, for clarity and ease of use, the authors employ term ‘breeds’ to denote breeds, types’ and their crosses Dangerous Dogs The term ‘dangerous dogs’ is commonly used interchangeably with ‘status dogs’ However, legally, the former refers to the definitions within the Dangerous Dogs Act [DDA] 1991, section one, which names four banned breeds—pit bull, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino or fila Braziliero Such dogs must be destroyed or placed on the list of exempted dogs, which requires the dog be, for example, neutered and kept on a lead and muzzled in public There are a number of problems with the stereotyping of certain breeds as status dogs and breed-specific legislation, which are explored in the responses section (see also Associate Parlimentary Group for Animal Welfare 2008) Section [DDA] describes the conditions whereby any breed of dog can be other breeds have more recently been identified as status enhancing for young people—the television show Game of Thrones is linked to a new trends in the ownership of huskies and wolf-like dogs for status and the subsequent abandonment of these breeds, which has tripled over the past four years (Times, 14 March 2015) For example, Pit Bull Terriers are not a recognised breed in the UK, they are a type (by definition a category broader than breed—see case law ‘R v Knightsbridge Crown Court ex parte Dunne; Brock v DPP (1993)’)