Talk to me about Dalmatian’s

[LuluBellaBlue]

Hello,

We are considering getting a Dalmatian puppy, wondering if people with experience of this breed could share info please?

We have a 7 yr old collie x flat coat rescue who I’ve had from around 6 months old and 2 cats.

I’ve fostered cats and dogs for years now and have been looking for the right dog for about 5 years through rescues and none have come up.

Due to other pets and children would like a young dog. Even though I’ve had my girl from a young age she still carries trauma based fears like being petrified of men carrying guitar cases / umbrellas.

So finally decided to consider purchasing a KC pup.

My thoughts are after training a collie x flat coat who was already traumatised a Dalmatian should be easy? But am I under estimating the breed?
Also worth noting the puppy I’m thinking of going to see has unilateral hearing, so already aware of that risk. She’s the last pup left as I presume people can’t breed from her.

@LoneDally thanks. I am home all day everyday on my own (work for myself) so I am looking forward to the company and the walks. I'll post pics when he gets here

We kept dalmatians for decades. They need a huge amount of training and exercise. Incredibly greedy and good at opening doors, cupboards and one used to open the oven while food was cooking and steal what was in there! However all ours were great off lead eventually, and the sweetest dogs ever.

The only thing they all had in common was that they would urinate indoors when they fancied it.

Corndog mine has never done any of the above, funny how different they can be!

But Fucksandflowers no decent breeder will have a pup at such short notice

Sometimes they do.
Equally, sometimes bad breeders will have a waiting list.

Unlikely. Very very unlikely. There’s no way the OP has done the research to find a decent breeder in such a short time.
Approach breed club.
Talk to owners and breeders.
Be homechecked.
Have whole family meet breeder.
Our breeder wanted references.
Etc etc.

Yes we were thoroughly vetted and I'm glad if it. There was absolutely no question of the dog being good enough for us, it was definitely about us being good enough for the dog and so it should be.

@LoneDally @Wolfiefan we were too. We had to take all the family down to visit and she asked loads about us. We're now Facebook friends too so she can see my lifestyle matches what we said. I'm happy to do it, I wonder about motives if there hadn't been an inquisition.

Yes were fb friends with the breeder and all the sibling pups, it's lovely! She doesn't live in Leicestershire does she by chance?

No. We're further North.

Back to original post - unilateral hearing means they can hear in one ear, which for a pet dog is not a problem although as mentioned advice is generally not to breed from them. I have a deaf one and she is far from untrainable though definitely has a mind of her own. Dals definitely lack the obedience gene so prevalent in collies! Previous one was similar though not deaf. Current dog, Spot2 is a bit hyper, but she is still very young, but I don't remember Spot1 being particularly hyper, but then I was doing the school run twice a day (about a mile each way) with her most days.
Upsides are great character, independent and intelligent. Good with kids. Like exercise. Spot1 used to be great following a bike and could jump a 3 foot 6 fence with ease.
Downsides. hair everywhere. Neglect exercise at your peril. Spot1 was very driven to walk. Spot2 noticeably calms down after a walk. Probably not unusual In the dog world, but definitely wouldn't recommend a Dal if you're not interested in doing regular exercise. For someone used to being active, I don't think their exercise requirements are that onerous (well so far my dogs haven't been), but if you consider a 10 minutes walk to be a long way then yes you will struggle.
Although they are not necessarily huge they are solid dogs and mine have considered themselves to be lapdogs despite weighing in excess of 25 kg!
Personally I think they are great dogs, they are a nice size, don't need much grooming, are self cleaning and good company. They are a proper dog shape so don't suffer from problems where they have been bred for extreme characteristics. You do have to watch their diet though as pp mentioned but even that isn't particularly onerous once you've done your research and got into a routine.

Yes agree re the diet. Mine had uric crystals as we later discovered Brewers yeast in his feed was probably the cause. Now on low purine diet, really important for them. I think dogs get used to the excercise you give them tbh. Mine can get 20 mins one day or 4 hours the next, he's fine with that.

Yes, I think that's true. I remember reading a discussion along those lines, got me watching mine a bit more carefully and came to the conclusion that while I wouldn't get away with not walking her, she certainly didn't need the amount some people were quoting.
Having said that it's all a bit subjective, some people seem to consider walking out to the car a long way and 'hours of exercise' is about a twenty minute walk. Not having a dig at anyone, just different perceptions.