Battersea Dogs and Cats Home says it will be required to put any un-adopted XL Bully type dog in its care to sleep once the law changes.

The charity has told us it believes it has a very small number of so called XL Bully dogs at its sites.

Battersea says it is trying to find homes “with responsible owners for these dogs.”

From December the 31st, all XL Bullies must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.

It will also be illegal from this date to breed, sell, advertise, gift, exchange, and abandon these dogs or let them stray.

Dogs on the exempt list will have to be neutered and microchipped.

It will be illegal to own an American Bully XL type dog if it is not registered on the Index of Exempted Dogs from February the 1st.

The ban was announced in September following a number of attacks involving dogs with XL Bully characteristics.