I'd always wanted a spotty dog. Had four children - probably not the best time to buy a spotty
dog. But I went ahead and I did it and it was the
best thingI ever did. I've had them since 1974. I don't know how
many I've had. Possibly even five at at time. They are totally addictive - if you can live
with them. But they're not the easiest dog on the planet to live with.
Dalmataians of course are one of Britain's best-loved dogs. And of course the popularity
of films such as 101 Damlatians has perhaps made them a little bit too popular because
theyr'e not necessarily the easiest of dogs. When the film came out, it did make Dalmatian
puppies look very cute. And didn't I think prepare people for the fact that the cuddly
puppy does grow into a very energetic, demanding, space-occupying type of dog.
They just need familes who have got lots of time and energy to keep up with them. We would
certainly look to rehome them with a family that's got plenty of energy.
They were orginally bred as a carriage dog, they were actually bred to rece alongside
carriages, for literally twenty miles a day. Now I'm not saying that everyone has to have
20 miles of exercise a day but you should be prepared for at least a couple of hours.
Probably an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. More if you can give them
because you can't exercise them too much once they're adult.
It's best to give them a certain amount of walking on a lead because that's what's temperamentally
good for them, they need to be controlled - and then at least half of the time that
you're out they need to be rioting around. It is quite a large dog when it's an adult.
You need to think about lots of early socialisation. Lots of early training. And getting it used
to the life it's going to have. And you need to think about building up its
exercise so that by the time it's an adult you've got it fully fit. If you do not give
an adult Dalmatian sufficient exercise both physical and mental it will become very bored
and then they become very barky and can become quite destructive.
Tempermentally they are what you make them. We've had dogs brought up children with them,
and had older children and then grandchildren and now we're retired weve gone through all
the stages of our life with Dalmatians and they have fitted in the whole time.
As you can see they're very short coated. And so a lot of grooming isn't necessary.
The one thing you will find with them though is they moult all the time. So everything
you own. Car, House, clothes - covered in white hairs most of the time. We use what's
called a rubber grooming mit which you can buy from any petshop. And if you go out in
the garden and brush in the direction the coat grows, you'll get rid of all the dead
hairs and the loose hairs and you do that as often as you need to.
They an suffer from deafness. So it's important to know what you're taking on. Some of them
don't hear as well as others but they can be tested as puppies.
They do indeed have a genetic deafness in the breed. It's due to them being white. If
you're going to buy a puppy from a reputable breeder, you will be supplied with a certificate
which means your puppy at approximately six weeks old, will have been hearing tested and
that will tell you the hearing status of your puppy. It's either deaf or hearing - it's
not degrees of deafness. In each ear it will be tested. And it will either be a hearing
ear or a deaf ear. A dog that hears in one ear hears better than every human on the planet.
So if you find that if your puppy only has hearing in one ear, that won't be a problem.
It's only about 4% of the breed that are totally deaf and once that stage at six weeks is past,
then the hearing at that age stays the same. They have been very popular in recent years
due to the films and therefore we've had some unscrupulous breeders just breeding from dogs
that might not have been the best specimens. So I have seen some fearfulness in Dalmatians,
and a fearful dog has a tendency to act aggressively or even bite. So when you're thinking about
getting a puppy, the first thing you need to do is do your research on the breeder.
Dalmatians as a whole have a genetic predisposition to not process protein very well. And this
can result in stones forming in the kidney and the bladder. I your dog has any problems
urinating there are medicines that can be given or special diets which you can buy quite
easily if your dog is pre-disposed to it. And in four decades I have neve owned one
that had any trouble at all with stones. They're not a dog that can be left at home
in the kitchen all day because you'll come back to no kitchen. They are intelligent,
they're quick, they're clever and they need to be stimulated. And so you've got to take
that into account. They're great companions but they crave human company that it what
they're all about.And you have to be prepared to give them that interraction and that human
company that theyr'e looking for.And I absoultely adore them.