Dalmatian Premium Jigsaw Puzzle

Make sure the pup is not deaf as this is a problem for this breed especially if it is a backyard breeder.Great dog. Check out your blogs from licensed breeders.

I've heard that they're sweet but a bit daffy.

Hi Cindy. We had one for a year or two. He was easily frightened and excitable. My son and I liked him but he nipped a child on the finger when she tried to pet him so my husband "got rid" of him. He was afraid the dog might go for a child's face. At the time our dog bit the girl my husband had him sitting ant thought he had him "under control."
You could not go near hin when he was eating his food either. He would growl. I felt badly for him because I discovered I was allergic to dogs at the time we had him so we kept him in our middle garage. He had lots of blankets and his own cot and at the end of a walk made a bee line for it and would wrap himself up in the blanket. I was unable to train him to heel. He always pulled on the leash so I got the idea to used a bunch of phragmites (they are that plumy grass that grows in swampy areas. I would wave it in front of his nose to try to keep him in place but it only frightened him so I had to stop. I made him a doggy coat to keep him warm in the winter. The minute I put it on him he went nuts and chewed it off.

For months after my husband took him to the pound I "heard" him crying His little cry as he would when it neared the time to go for a walk. He really liked me but I did not know what to do for him.

Every dog is an individual, but in general this breed is high energy and needs lots of exercise to be happy and healthy. They are very loving and devoted to their own "pack" of humans, but more restrained to strangers. My three adopted a new person after they spent a night in our home. Consider that they were bred to travel long distances, and to guard the horses and camps. They also were used as thieves, which explains the missing items from my house guests' suitcases if they forgot to zip them up. :)
As for training, they are extremely intelligent and they are thinkers...they do not obey blindly as some other breeds, but they consider the situation and use their own judgement. They are definitely trainable, but the training needs to be positive and in a way that makes them want to do the behavior. It's more like teaching with them than training. You teach them proper values as a pup and they exercise those values. There are many Dals trained to do extraordinary things. Circus performing comes to mind. They enjoy that excitement. A friend trained hers to go potty in the same corner of the yard every time, practically on command. I'm not a good trainer, and mine had good values but not much discipline, and they were awesome, very friendly over all but the times they didn't like someone, it always turned out there was a good reason for it.
What Judy said about deafness is right. There is a deafness gene, some have allergies, and also a possibility to develop kidney or bladder stones. The deafness is believed to be eliminated if the dog has "patches", which exclude it from the show ring. But even deafness is rare, if you have a strong bloodline. You need to be careful of the breeder. Even a licensed breeder can put the wrong priorities in their breeding program. Mine made temperament #1 priority to try to offset other breeders' emphasis on looks alone, but she bred some gorgeous dogs...but then I'm biased, LOL.
A good place for accurate information on Dalmatians is www.thedca.org - that is the offical Dalmatian Club of America website. Look on the left side for links to their pages on Dal FAQ's and other Dal information. They also have a directory there to their member breeders.

As if that wasn't enough...I just want to add that my Dals had the BEST sense of humor! Yes I love these dogs and I'd have another one in an instant if I had a fence and were not gone most of the day.

Aww Pixipixel that's so sad. I hope a Dalmatian rescue got him out of the pound. They try to do that when they know they're there. Ours were not food protective at all, and they were highly food motivated. But we knew the possibility so when they were pups we practiced taking their food away and giving it back, playing in it while they were eating, and stuff like that. Though it made them think every dog's food bowl was fair game, and our show guy got attacked and thrown by a very large dog who didn't share his beliefs, when he tried to "borrow" some food.

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate all the comments.

Never did the show dog circuit. Worked for folks with goldens who finally won every prize so they could get big bucks studding their dog out. I like seeing shows--especially obedience trials. I don't have time right now but I have a sweet story about a Weimerener to tell. Later....

Pixipixil..........I love dog stories.
Waiting................................................

Okay. Well this trial had the dog sniff out gloves. There were three baskets under each of which was placed one pair. There was also a low fence over which the dog had to jump in each direction before getting the right gloves and bringing them back. Well this weimeraner was so ready. He jumped the fence and grabbed the gloves under the left basket (wrong ones) and started back but realized as he jumped the fence that he had forgotten to discern the gloves by sniffing. Well the poor dog was in agony trying to decide what to do. Finally he jumped back over the fence and, putting down the wrongfully chosen pair selected the right pair. But he was still conflicted and put the right pair down to pick up the original pair. But he knew that was somehow wrong so he decided to take both pairs back to his master. To me I'd have given him higher marks than the dogs who made no mistakes.

Great story Pixipixil! I would have too.

That was too funny....I had a friend who had a Standard Poodle he hadi his CDX. His owner didn't like to run but wanted to exercise him so she got in her truck and made him run outside along side the tuck (dog on sidewalk). I couldn't believe how smart and obedient this dog was.

Thanks, Manatee. It's one of those special moments only God can provide. What a lucky person owned that dog.