Dalmatian Curiosities. The Dalmatian is one of the most popular dog breeds and known for its peculiar black (or brown) spots on its white body.
It is a very loyal dog, stable and quiet. As long as you can perform enough exercise to release the accumulated tension.
Whether you’re thinking of adopting a Dalmatian puppy dog or an adult. Here we will explain everything you need to know about its character, the main characteristics of the breed. Your education or some of the most important health problems. Everything you need to know can be found below.
History of the Dalmatian
Despite being a long-known breed, ancient history and Dalmatian origins are truly unknown. The first images of Dalmatians are of Croatian paintings and frescoes dating back to the 17th century.
This is the main reason why the International Cynological Federation (FCI) awards the origin of the breed to the Croatian region of Dalmatia. But there are different hypotheses that suggest that this dog would have originated much earlier elsewhere.
Be that as it may, the Dalmatian spread throughout the world. Throughout his existence, he held a multitude of roles. However, his consecration as “cardog” of the English upper class occurred in the late 17th century.
At that time the nobles and wealthy Britons had a pack of Dalmatians accompany their cars to show their power. Supposedly, this fulfilled a dual function: protecting horses from wandering dogs and providing a more aesthetic view of the car. Dalmatian Curiosities
With the invention of the car, the coach dogs disappeared and the popularity of the breed fell. However, the Dalmatians also accompanied the fire cars and that tradition remained.
Today they remain part of the fire brigades in many parts of the world, although they now travel on the truck.
The popularity of the breed resurfaced in the 1960s thanks to Disney’s film “The 101 Dalmatians.” It subsequently had a new increase with the second version of it. Unfortunately, this ended up harming the breed, as the old coach dog became a popular and requested dog. Therefore, he began to grow up indiscriminately.
The result was overpopulation of the breed and many inherited diseases by high inbreeding. Today the Dalmatian is a very popular companion and family dog. Dalmatian Curiosities
Dalmatian features
This is a beautiful breed, elegant and distinguished by its particularly speckled white fur. The head is proportionate and harmonious with the rest of the body. It is wrinkle-free and prism-shaped.
Naso-frontal depression is moderately defined. The nose should be the same color as the spots on the body.
The eyes are oval and their color also corresponds to that of the spots. The ears are high insertion, triangular, with rounded edges, pendant and specked.
The body is rectangular, its length being slightly larger than the height to the cross. The back is powerful and straight, while the spine is short. The chest is deep and not too wide. The belly is moderately collected, but not sunk. The tail is long, sabre-shaped and is preferred mottled. The fur is short, shiny, hard and thick. It is spotted white with black spots or brown spots. Dalmatian Curiosities
Character of the Dalmatian
The Dalmatian is a friendly dog, confident and very active. They usually love swimming, running and exercising along with traces and their own curiosity. They usually get along with other dogs and other animals. As a rule, they are also friendly to unknown people, although they are not as sociable as the labrador retriever or the golden retriever.
Some, however, are reserved with strangers, but innate aggression is a very unusual feature in the breed.
They are perfect for active families who exercise with their dogs and want a faithful and energetic companion by their side. However, inside the house the Dalmatian is a quiet and serene dog, able to relax without problem.
These dogs perfectly tolerate children who know how to respect them and take care of them as they deserve, but do not always react well to tail or ear jerks. For this same reason it will be important to teach our children how to play with the Dalmatian dog appropriately: always with respect and affection.
The dog’s education will obviously be very important to achieve a more affable, relaxed and tolerant character.
Dalmatian care
Dalmatian fur care is really simple and simple: it will need to be brushed very occasionally to remove dead and bathed hair when it is really dirty.
What we really need to pay attention to is the exercise needs that this dog requires. It is essential to be clear about this point if we want to adopt a Dalmatian dog, since if it is not fulfilled, it can become somewhat destructive within the home. Their energy needs are truly high so we must assume a minimum of three medium-long walks each day and devote at least one hour of active exercise.
It can also help us to release your accumulated stress by practicing intelligence games that, in addition to entertaining our dog, will mentally stimulate you to further develop its excellent abilities.
Finally we will comment that the Dalmatian, despite being a little independent on some occasions, is a dog that loves to feel part of a social group and that deeply hates loneliness.
Spending too much time can only cause, like lack of exercise, behavioral problems such as separation anxiety.
Dalmatian education
The Dalmatian is located at number 39 on Stanley Coren’s intelligence scale. However, although many trainers consider him a stubborn dog, he has a natural predisposition to learn when positive reinforcement is used.
He is a tireless and active dog so, in addition to exercising with him, training will be very useful to improve his well-being and mental health.
We will start with the education of the puppy that stands above 3 months of age. That’s when we’ll start socializing the puppy on its first walks by presenting people. Animals and the environment in which it will live. This process is one of the most important in the education of the dog as it will have a direct impact on the habit of social and stable behaviors. Away from the fear and aggression that can lead to a lack of socialization. Later and in this same period we will also teach the dog the inhibition of the bite. How he should play with us or teach him to do his needs on the street.
We must not forget that for the puppy to be able to go out on the street he must have all his vaccinations up to date.
Later we will begin to teach you the basic orders of obedience, a very important point for your safety and to encourage good communication with us.
At this point we will emphasize the importance of using positive reinforcement as punishments and quarrels are detrimental to learning and can lead to unwanted behaviors.
Overcome and learned orders we can start in advanced training. Practicing fun tricks or advanced activities. A circuit of obstacles that mixes exercise and fulfillment of orders of obedience.
Spending time on dog education is very important but it is also important to remind you of orders on a regular basis to avoid being forgotten.
The average daily time for training hovers between 5 and 10 minutes. Dalmatian Curiosities
Dalmatian health
The Dalmatian is a dog prone to many diseases by the inbreeding to which this breed has been subjected for so many years. The most common diseases in the Dalmatian are:
- Allergic dermatitis
- Atopic dermatitis
- Fungal infections
- Food allergies
- Hypothyroidism
- Demodicosis
- Skin tumors
- Kidney stones
- Urethral calculations
- Cardiomyopathies
- Deafness
Deafness has a very high incidence in the breed, and affects more than 10% of the dogs of this breed. For its part, renal and urethral stones are very common in the breed because the Dalmatian is the only mammal that cannot metabolize uric acid.
This directly affects the formation of stones in the urinary tract.
To maintain an optimal health of our dog it will be useful to visit the specialist every 6 months to make sure that everything is going well and follow its vaccination schedule strictly.
Good diet, exercise practice and good care will be the key to enjoying a happy, healthy and long-lived Dalmatian.
Dalmatian Curiosities
