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A dog owner who posted a bizarre XL Bully rap singing ‘No Rishi can’t put me down’ refuses to muzzle her 40kg hound in public – and was once convicted under dangerous dog laws.
Mandy Hughes – whose TikTok videos protesting new laws banning XL Bullies have gone viral – has vowed to go to prison than apply for an exemption for her six-year-old bulldog Elsa.
Footage of the 57-year-old singing lyrics including: ‘Don’t you put no muzzle on me, stop putting the blame on me’ have racked up half-a-million views.
Ms Hughes, from Allithwaite in Cumbria, rapped in remixed version of Jack Harlow’s Lovin on Me: ‘Why you putting a ban on me? Stop putting the blame on me.
‘I’m a Bully baby, I might lick you to death. I’m no ‘kill a baby’.’
Mandy Hughes – whose TikTok videos protesting new laws banning XL Bullies have gone viral – has vowed to go to prison than apply for an exemption for her six-year-old bulldog Elsa
Mandy’s dog else is an American Bulldog but due to her size she fits the criteria to be banned
Mandy raps ‘No Rishi can’t put me down’ and ‘I’m a Bully baby I might lick you to death’
From January 31, it will be illegal to own XL Bully-type dogs without an exemption after a slew of fatal attacks across the UK.
While Elsa is a Johnson American Bulldog, her size and dimensions meet the legal criteria for her to be included in the ban.
But Ms Hughes, whose social media accounts refer to Elsa as ‘the only American Bulldog in the village’, refuses to apply for a waiver.
She told Mail Online how children, including her two grandchildren, 10 and five, love playing with her muscly dog.
Ms Hughes said: ‘There’s so many different dogs, innocent dogs, that fit those government measurements.
‘I refuse to get an exemption because I’ve got DNA that shows she’s not an XL Bully.
‘Why should I? We have always been insured and been legit.
‘If I don’t get one, they could take me any from her. But I wouldn’t let them – definitely not.
‘I’d be going to prison. I’d rather go to prison than anyone take Elsa.
‘They’re asking me to say Elsa is an XL Bully when she’s not.
‘I’ll fight it as far as I can for Elsa. I’d die if they came to take her. They wouldn’t be able to take her – I’d barricade myself in the house.
‘They’d take her over my dead body. If she was a truly an XL Bully I’d exempt her straight away. But she’s not, she’s an American Johnson Bulldog.’
She added: ‘I love Elsa, I want to protect her. I’m just trying to not get my dog put in the same bracket as XL Bullies.
‘Elsa is never going to bite anyone. I couldn’t make her if I wanted to.
‘I don’t want her put in the same pot as the people who have these dogs.
‘The only dangerous thing about any dog is its owner.’
The government announced in September it would ban XL Bully dogs, with Defra listing a set of physical characteristics used to define the type of dog.
It describes the type as large and powerfully built, with a muscular body and blocky head, meaning similar dogs – such as American Bulldogs – could meet the criteria.
From January 31, it will be an offence to own an XL Bully unless it is registered on the Index of Exempted Dogs and is compliant with the requirements.
Dogs without exemptions could be seized and potentially euthanised by the authorities.
Mandy’s XL Bully rap has been viewed more than 560,000 times on TikTok
Ms Hughes says she would rather go to ‘prison’ than give up her dog and refuses to muzzle her
Mandy says Elsa is ‘muzzle trained’ because it is the ‘responsible’ thing to do but she will not put one on the American Bulldog
Under the rules, the muscly animals must be muzzled in public and kept on a lead.
But Ms Hughes, a former holiday park worker, says she will not muzzle Elsa, despite once being convicted of having a dog out of control.
She told how she was fined after failing to muzzle a greyhound which bit another dog.
She said: ‘In 1993 I was done under the Dangerous Dogs Act. I was taken to court and fined but the dog was never taken from me.
‘I had a racing greyhound and I didn’t think and I didn’t put a muzzle on him. A woman’s dog came running up to mine off the lead and he bit him.
‘My dog was on a lead but he should have been muzzled. It was not his fault – it was mine.
‘I didn’t enter my head that a dog would run up to us off the lead.’
Ms Hughes added: ‘Elsa is muzzle-trained just in case, because that’s just being responsible.
‘But I wouldn’t put one on her unless I needed to. She’s six years old and we know every single dog around here. We give other people and their dogs space.
‘I don’t see why I should have to put a muzzle on her now when I’ve not had to do it before.
‘I don’t think it’s necessary for her. We’re always safe. We don’t go off the lead anywhere.
‘And if we do go off-lead, we go to the beach where I can see for at least nearly over 500 meters away more than if anyone’s coming.
‘And if someone is, then we simply go back on the lead.
‘I want my dog to be a dog.
‘She’s got to have fun. She’s got a sense of humour.’
Mandy says that ‘all the kids love Elsa’ in her village of Allithwaite in Cumbria
She went on: ‘All the kids round here love Elsa. We don’t go out at school-time because they all run over to her and I can’t get around anywhere.
‘The kids down the street are always asking ‘can we come around and have an Elsa play date?’.’
Ms Hughes has posted an flurry of TikTok videos satirically suggesting how dangerous her bulldog is.
One video showing police officers playing with Elsa is captioned: ‘That dog is completely out of control! Like the owner.’
Another video shows Ms Hughes telling her dog to ‘attack’ an Amazon delivery driver as the dog playfully jumps up for attention.
And she has vowed to keep on rapping in scorn at the new legislation.
Pulling out a pad of paper with lyrics for a new track, she read: ‘The Karens and Darrens are out in full force. Why? Because they want to destroy all XL Bullies, of course.
‘No room for discussion or serious debate. Instead, we are forced into a ban of self hate.’
‘I’ve started writing it. I’m always singing and dancing with Elsa, we’re always having a laugh.
‘People have said they want the songs on Spotify but I don’t know how to do all that.’
Mrs Hughes said she will continue her campaign to highlight her fury at the new laws.
She added: ‘We need to licence dog owners, not the dogs, and regulate these backyard breeders who only care about making money.
‘Elsa is my best friend but I never forget that she is a dog. And I never forget that she weighs more than me and that if she wanted to, her bite could crush my arm.
‘But I’ve put in the work to train her and I know that she would never hurt anyone.
‘I’ve had people come in the house with masks and helmets on. And she still flops on the floor and goes upside down for belly rubs, even with the police.
‘I’m not stupid – I know that a chihuahua can’t do the same damage as the dog the size of Elsa.
‘But I trust her implicitly. I couldn’t make her attack someone if I wanted to. She would roll over and want her tummy tickled.
‘I want to set a principle. I’m fighting the cause for other dogs that are genuinely not XL Bullies.’
XL Bully owners have shared videos of themselves on social media wearing muzzles in solidarity with their dogs over the new rules.
Under the changes, dogs that are more than one year old after this date must be neutered by June 30 while younger dogs must receive the same treatment by December 31.
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