Anyone who can tell me what owning a Dalmatian is like ?

[strawberrymilkshake123]

I've wanted one since I was a child. Anybody with any real life, ( spots and all), experience ?

I think I must be the luckiest owner ever. I have a 9 year old male Dalmatian and he's perfect. Honestly the best dog ever.

A fair bit of hair but he has perfect recall, never counter surfs, never even growled let alone snapped at anyone. He is energetic but I run with him most days, can get away with 40 mins but often, like today did 3 hours and he's fast asleep now. Brilliant withy DC's and came from a great breeder so no health issues

I wouldn't have dreamt of having one without knowing I could give him proper exercise though. He doesn't need much mental stimulation and we'll, I just love him so much. After reading all this though I'm not sure if I was just very lucky or went in with my eyes wide open.

They’re so rare to see as pets. The only one I know of was rehomed. Owner got it because she liked the look of the breed but left the poor dog at home all day and it destroyed the house and began getting aggressive.

GoIntoTheLight

That's so cruel. Mine just runs and runs you can tell it's such an integral part of his being.

Not for novice owners but fabulous dogs. Buy a really really good hoover! I have three hoovers in my house and still there is so much hair. They are energetic and pull but they are very trainable. They need lots of exercise and attention. They also desperately want to spend time with their human so don’t like being left alone for long periods of time. After all that though I wouldn’t be without one!

I had a dalmatian cross when I was growing up.Think there was some pointer and lab in there. Used to do the dalmatian smile.Interesting reading this as I was constantly covered in dog hair,she ate everything she could steal.Don't know about the training as it was the 70s and we lived in the sticks so she just roamed free.She was loving and gentle though.

My sister had two. The male was destructive as hell. He would eat the metal door off the fridge to access the contents. The female would get out of the garden even when the fences were ten foot as she would just run at them! She was impossible to catch and would spend days going through all the neighbours bins before she eventually returned home.

The more exercise they got the more they needed. They were horrific and not even particularly affectionate.

Growing up a neighbour had one and it was snappy and unpredictable. It would bite without warning.

They are rare for a good reason and a lot of them are deaf too.

lot of them are deaf too

Hence my comment re good breeding essential.

My chihuahua does a doggy smile

I have a one year old male, he's an energetic clown. He does steal and eat things, mainly kids socks. I love him so much though even though he's a bugger at times.

There were two in our puppy training group (different owners) and both were bonkers. I've never before seen dogs constantly throwing themselves up and down and twisting in the air to try and escape their leads/harnesses before. Beautiful. But bonkers.

I grew up with 2 from the age of 4 until I was 19. I adores them. I miss them so much and still think about them a lot (I'm 31 now). They were great family dogs (I was the youngest of 3 kids), very loyal, loving and affectionate. I would have Dalmatians again in a heartbeat, if I had a bigger home and more time.
They were both females. We let one have a litter, and kept one of the puppies, which is how we ended up with 2.
Our girls had no negatives. They were excitable and a joy to have in our lives.

My friend has one and when we went for a walk, I remember thinking how similar they are to 2/3 year old toddlers- bonkers, full of energy and dgaf about anything else apart from what they are interested in.

Had two years and years ago. They lived until they were 19 and 20.

Waggy tails, hair and walking is what I remember. Lots of walking.

Lovely dogs though.

We had one when I was a kid, and like everyone else has said, they have boundless energy, shed what seems like a whole coat's worth of hair every week, and are endlessly greedy. We had to get child locks on all the cupboards. I think they should only really be working dogs rather than family pets.

@WayneBruce

Highly strung, requires masses of offlead walks (daily) Short white hairs stick everywhere to the point you'll never wear navy or black again.

OK I lied - this was the only negative thing I remember from my childhood with Dalmatians! But still so worth it for me ❤

My neighbor has 2.

They are hard work and not for the inexperienced dog owner.

19-20 years you say?

Haha! Dalmatians are as daft as a brush.. My husbands family had one before we married and I still remember it 40 years on!! Swallowed socks.. Every bin day morning it managed to sneak out whilst putting the bins out and didn't come home till night time! Ate the 2 full stiletto heels off my shoes which I took off in porch before going into sitting room. I had never seen a dog with so much energy, it literally just ran around the house all day🐶🐶🐶🐶(I thought it was lovely!)

'Not for a novice owner' sums them up. They look so sweet but are crazy strong and wilful. Also can be very protective of their owner which is a good thing,

This is my highly energetic Dalmatian. She came to us when her owner had a stroke , and had never been walked off lead until she was 4. She can be very very strong on a lead , but oddly absolutely immaculate off it . For almost a year she couldn’t pass a grass verge without rolling on it , but now she’s become accustomed to being a country dog , she only rolls in disgusting stuff instead . She’s incredibly protective of us , and can be very vocal . Not barky , but if you tell her off , she’ll backchat you no end . Terrible food thief , deaf in one ear but can hear a crisp packet opening at 500 yards . She potters about with us on days I’m working , albeit that she follows us when we’re doing the horses so she does get some running about , and I take her for a decent hour or two active walk four days a week and that together with a specialist diet has been enough to get her down to a healthy weight. I wouldn’t say she’s anyone’s first dog . Dalmatian owners uk is a fab Facebook site if you want advice without lunatics on there.

Oh and the hair . Gets EVERYWHERE and is a bastard to get out . We ended up buying a cheap runaround just to take her anywhere because it was less expensive to do that than to keep paying to have ours unsuccessfully valeted .

I have a weird one. She’s quiet, lazy and sweet. She’s not a fan of walking for hours on end and hates the rain. She’s definitely the exception to the rule as the rescue Dalmatian we had growing up was the polar opposite, as have been pretty much all of the Dalmatians I met during 11 years of veterinary nursing.

We love our sweet girl but I wouldn’t recommend the breed as a first dog, they can be really tricky characters to manage!

My friend had two - a bitch and a dog. They were fantastically well bred and well mannered. My friend is amazing with dogs though - knows them inside out and was totally in charge. The bitch did have a few phantom pregnancies and the dog used to whack his tail on door jams and bleed profusely. So lots of hair and gore. But they were lovely.

Bonkers and exhausting. If you are fit, healthy and like a LOT of walking then get one. If you can't do a massive walk EVERYDAY then don't.

My cousin has had two Dalmatian’s in different successions. The first one was quite vicious ie; barked lots, needed to be held back. The scone one was a real softy. Complete polar opposite’s. But, yes, they’re generally as mad as a box of frogs.

My sister in law has a one year old. He is beautiful but my god. He is basically untrainable, they are banned from one local dog park because other owners complained, he has no recall, pulls on the lead, jumps all over people to the point that I’ve stopped visiting as he literally climbs over your shoulders and you can’t even sit and enjoy a coffee. She has had to take a pay cut and basically take a demotion to a job where she can work from home, she walks him for 2 hours in the morning, one hour at dinner at 3 hours in the evening. She absolutely adores him and he IS lovely but he is such hard work. She has actually lost one boyfriend who basically found him too hard work. She can’t leave him for more than 2 hours at a time so any weekends away etc are out of the picture