Top 5 Banned Dog Breeds

Banned in Denmark, Singapore and various municipalities, the American Bulldog’s origins are in the deep south, where it was used as a farm dog. Its specialty is catching feral hogs, which can weigh several hundred pounds and wield savage tusks. When cornered, these razorbacks are nasty fighters, requiring a dog of great strength and athleticism to fight them, battling the hog into submission and holding it down until the hunter arrives. For this reason, they have a very high pain threshold. The American Bulldog can weigh from 70-120lbs., though many have been known to grow even larger.

The term ‘bandog’ has been in use since the Middle Ages and is used to describe a large dog that was let off its chain at night to guard its property. The modern bandog is not a purebred, and there are various ‘recipes’ to achieve its creation, including American Pit Bull terriers and various mastiffs. The goal is to create a dog with the size of the mastiff and the drive of the APBT. The breed rose to a certain prominence in the late 60s, when veterinarian John Swinford began breeding them. His most famous dog was Bantu – a fierce, hard dog known for his fighting prowess. Weight can vary wildly, but 80 to 150lbs is the general range. Bandogs are generally prohibited anywhere there are restrictions on its parent breeds.

The Neapolitan Mastiff or Neo, comes from Italy, where once it was used as a gladiator dog in the bloody spectacles of the Coliseum. They were also used as war dogs by the Roman legion. Today, they are generally protectors of the home. Distinctive in appearance, the largest males can top 200lbs and are covered in loose, wrinkly skin with hanging jowls. A Neapolitan Mastiff was used to portray Hagrid’s pet Fang in the Harry Potter films. They are illegal to own in Singapore, and to own one in Romania you have to be certified psychologically fit.

There are many established breeds of wolves and domestic dogs, including the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog (a mix of German Shepherd and Carpathian wolf) and the Saarloos Wolfhound (German Shepherd and Mackenzie Valley timber wolf). Perhaps the most famous was Jack London’s fictional White Fang. Due to its varied genetic structure the wolf dog is extremely unpredictable, reacting to certain situations like a wolf and others like a dog. It maintains an extremely high prey drive, and is not generally considered a good pet. There have been many attacks on humans, most commonly on small children, which they may view as prey items. It is prohibited in Norway.

The Boerboel comes from South Africa, and closely resembles a more athletic Bull Mastiff in appearance. The name roughly translates from Dutch to “farm dog”. It was bred from various native African dogs and guard dogs, and were brought into the country by European settlers, most notably the Dutch. In the late 1920s, the diamond company De Beers brought Bull Mastiffs to South Africa to guard their mines, and they contributed greatly to the modern breed. Excellent home guardians without being overtly aggressive, they are also said to be very fond of children. Easily topping 150lbs, they are banned in Denmark.

First bred in Argentina in 1928, the Dogo was taken from the now extinct Cordoba Fighting Dog, which was mixed with various other breeds, including the Great Dane, Dogue de Bordeaux and Irish Wolfhound. Breeder Antonio Nores Martinez developed his dog as a big game hunter, taking on such dangerous prey as the mountain lion. Although it was not its original purpose, the Dogo has also been used for fighting. Generally weighing in at just under a hundred pounds, it is solid white and resembles a larger Pit Bull. The Dogo is banned in at least 10 countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Portugal.