Dogs

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN Great Britain.

MOST SUITED AS Croatia.

APTITUDE
Family pets. Dalmatians used to be bred as carriage dogs, to be decorative when running ahead of the coach and to act as watchdogs in the stables.

SIZE
The shoulder-height is 56 - 61cm (22 - 24in) for dogs and 54 - 59cm (21 1/2 - 23 1/2 in) for bitches.

COAT
The coat is always short-haired. The most attractive coat does not have the spots over­lapping each other. The ideal size for the spots is a diameter of 2 - 3cm (1/2 - 1 1/2in). There are white with black-spotted Dalmatians and the ones with liver-coloured spots.

CARE REQUIRED
The Dalmatian sheds very little hair in your home. Remove loose hairs daily by grooming with a rubber glove during moulting. In such cases hold your ground and do not soften.

CHARACTER
This is a high-spirited dog with lots of stamina that is friendly, affectionate, intelligent, vigilant, curious, equable, and sociable.

TRAINING
This is not a difficult dog to train. Praise excessively when it does something well and it will quickly understand your intentions. They can turn a deaf ear to commands they do not like.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
These are excellent playmates for children, although they can be too boisterous for smaller children. With other dogs and household pets, there is also generally no difficulty. With visitors, they either act very vigilantly or rather half-heartedly, depending on the character of the individual dog.

EXERCISE
The Dalmatian will adapt to your family circumstances but you do it an injustice if you limit this dog to three little outings per day. Running alongside a cycle, swimming, playing, and running free through woods and in open countryside will all be good for this dog.

Avoid overexercising them before they are fully grown.

GENERAL
It is extremely difficult to breed good show dogs. Dalmatians are born white and acquire their spots later. Some puppies are born deaf and it is really advisable to get your puppy from a really reliable breeder. DON:T buy one just because they looked so cute in 101 Dalmations. That was a cartoon, the animals themselves are nothing like that.(They don't talk for starters!)