Dalmatians are a breed that drives me crazy in many ways.
One of them is I don’t believe for a second that they are from Croatia, Ancient Greece or Egypt, or Neptune. All of the images of supposed Dalmatians from Croatia that date from several centuries ago are very unconvincing. The paintings I’ve seen show dogs that would clearly be called proto-Great Danes, Istrian hounds, or perhaps something akin to a Croatian podengo.
My own take is that these dogs are nothing more than aberrant pointer or pointer-setter crosses that became fashionable running along coaches of country gentlemen in England during the middle part of the eighteenth century.
I don’t have much evidence for this theory, other than the genetic studies on Dalmatians have nested them within the pointing gun dog breeds.
We have no smoking guns in the form of pedigrees or kennel records.
Now, if the dubious breed origins story about this breed weren’t enough, there is another myth that has long existed about Dalmatians.
Dalmatians, of course, are famous in several Disney movies, including the original animated 101 Dalmatians film, its live action version from 1996, and the live action version’s sequel.
These films were said to have caused a massive boom in Dalmatian popularity. AKC registrations skyrocketed. Puppy millers made great fortunes selling the puppies to families who wanted them.
And then when the families discovered that Dalmatians are very high energy dogs and some of them are somewhat aggressive and are inappropriate as family dogs, the shelters filled with lots of poorly bred and poorly socialized dogs.
But did Disney really deserve the blame?
Well, Chris, over the BorderWars blog, has decided to test this hypothesis empirically.
Using the time in which Disney released its films and AKC registration statistics, Chris tried to figure out if any correlation existed between the release of these movies and a rise or fall in Dalmatian statistics.
He found no correlation.
Despite the prevalence of claims that Hollywood drives fads in dog breed popularity, there’s little evidence that this is true. In fact, actual data sharply contradicts the unthinking mantra that popular movies make for popular breeds. The converse is the more likely scenario: already popular dogs get featured in moves. Hollywood mostly follows trends, rarely does it set them.
The often repeated conventional wisdom is that Dalmatian puppy popularity spiked following releases of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians: from the original in 1961 through the re-releases in 1969, 1979, 1985, and 1991; and the live action film in 1996 and its sequel in 2000 with a TV show between them.
The registration data just doesn’t support the idea that every time Disney comes out with a Dalmatian movie the breed experiences a popularity boom as we see just as many declines in popularity or stable runs of popularity as we see increases. If Disney is a factor at all, it’s clearly contingent on a other factors coming together that simply aren’t present during most of their releases.
So Disney gets blamed for a whole series of welfare issues that it didn’t likely cause at all.
To be honest with you, having known a few Dalmatians over the years, I know they aren’t what I like in a dog.
Even if they do look like snow leopard pointers.
Which I think is a better name for them.
The fact that tricolor Dals were originally considered quite desireable (and the presence of black and liver spots in the first place) hints to me that there was some English Setter blood involved as well. Tricolor was only ever DQ from the standard around the 1890s because the early breed club claimed they were a sign of ‘mixed blood’ between black and liver-spotted Dals (or perhaps it was one of those common politically-motivated moves against a too-popular winning line the leadership didn’t like). Regardless, there was a time when the acceptable colors of Dals were very similar to Setter colors.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Pietoro/media/Dog%20Breed%20Historical%20Pictures/Dalmatian/1879_Dalmatian2.jpg.html?sort=9&o=9
We once had a Lab/Dalmatian cross–that also came with a severe case of Demodectic Mange. She was a cute little puppy, fat with a corkscrew tail! But the mange set in after a few months. It took a year of treatment and proper food to get rid of the mange, and we didn’t realize at first that she was too young for adult food (she had obviously been removed from her mother too young). That was honestly one of the most nuerotics dogs I’ve ever had. She was a sweetie, but was terrified of nearly everything. If I went out the door to hang the laundry, she would cower in the corner and bark at me when I came back in! Other than that she was a good dog for four young kids.
I don’t know that the Disney 101 Dalmatian movies caused a massive rush to breed and buy Dalmatians, but I do think that the movies foster an inaccurate image of the breed in the general population.
I know a lot of people who have bought a Dalmatian puppy – once. But a lot of those people end up getting rid of the dog within a couple of years, usually because they are so hyper. Too bad, because if a Dal manages to live to be about 3 or 4 years old, it begins to settle down & develop some sense. I’ve known some older ones that were very well-behaved, intelligent dogs. Most of them have to be kept on medication to manage high uric acid levels, though.
Interestingly enough, there are several other colors that occur in the breed besides the black and liver that the AKC accepts as “standard”, and longhairs occur from time to time, too. The lemon-spotted dogs remind me a lot of English pointers. The longhairs remind me of setters but they don’t really look enough like setters to be mistaken for them.
This page has photos of some long-haired Dals & some of the other colors that can occur (apparently they are not very common): http://paisleydals.com/color.html
Anyone who can’t see that Dalmatians are pointer/gun dog type is BLIND. Color the thing silver with an isabella nose, or liver/black & white, or orange with a liver nose, & viola, you have a Weimeraner/GSP/Vizsla.
I know at least one dalmatian that works on a shoot. Picks up ect like a Labrador. Will also point.
As pets I always think its a little like the weimeraner. People assume they will be quite laid back dogs but they are high energy. Very good companions for people with horses, people who do lots of running or cycling though. They really do have strong instinct to just trot along beside you at speed.
I once had a client who had a very dog aggressive male dalmatian. When I started working with this dog I found one trick to stop him being aggressive was to jog past another dog! He’d totally ignore it then, were as if you walked by (and didn’t do anything to correct the first signs of aggression) he launch himself at the dog and try and fight it! Btw he ended up being pretty dog social after some training!
Adam
I have an issue with the genome study you reference. While it does indeed show the Dalmatian is related to gun dogs (Weimaraner) it also shows them related to Czechoslovakian Wolf Dogs. It shows Belgian Tervuren as related to Beagles. Or possibly the way the diagram is made makes it hard to interpret.
I’ve always considered that the Dal is pretty much a gun dog (setter, pointer) crossed with something like an early bull terrier to fill the role of a dog that would protect the horses from attack by other dogs (the purported role of a carriage dog). It would match with their somewhat aggressive behavior towards other dogs which isn’t a pointer/setter/gun dog characteristic with the clearly similar relationship to the pointer in structure, build and even occasional ability to be used in a gun dog role.
My view is that prior to closed stud books, mix/match was more common than one might think and also the occasional “oops” was retained – and might well have passed on unique characteristics to otherwise unrelated dogs. Hence one sees merle in such widely diverse dogs as Great Danes and Pomeranians, Dachshunds, Cocker Spaniels and Chihuahuas. Yet it takes only ONE cross to bring in such a gene and asserting that Cocker Spaniels and Danes are closely related because the SNP for merle is in both is missing the rest of the genetic history. One of the reasons “find your breed’s ancestry” for mix breed DNA tests are still listed as unreliable is because they focus on a few SNPs and miss the forest for the trees. Tests have had misidentification of less common purebreds (like Belgian Sheepdogs) misidentified as some very bizarre crosses. Because a single cross can bring in significant “gene markers”, one can’t just use a few genetic markers to separate breeds. (just HOW closely related German Shepherds, Belgian Shepherds, Picardy, Briard and Mudi, Puli are with say, Irish Wolfhounds, beagles and poodles as outgroups would be an interesting study. Is the Altdeucher Stumper closely related to the Bouvier or a case of similarities rising from similar selection?)
So what are the problems with dalmatians as pets? What kind of things do they do?
Dalmatians are hyper active,not very social or children tolerant and have problems with deafness and low uric acid. They had a reputation for stupidity,but they are actually rather intelligent just hard to train.
I didn’t get a reply in the Border wars forum,but I was wondering if Hollywood had to do with the spike in Rottweiler popularity. Many people seem to think so. They where not a popular breed before hand. The numbers sky-rocketed much quicker then Dalmatians did as well.
I don’t think Hollywood is completely to blame,part of it I think is Rottweilers became the replacement for Dobermans as guard dogs.
Rottweilers actually have two things going for them. One is they are protective, but the other is they are often quite biddable (as much as any retriever) and quite good with kids. So the appeal, I think was that if you wanted a Labrador that could tear a bad guy a new one, then you’d get a Rottweiler.
Now, you know my bias, I like Rottweilers a lot! LOL.
Was THE OMEN (The one with devil boy Damien) the first movie to show a rottweiler in this country?
Could the non-AKC registered Dalmatians have spiked in popularity but not the AKC registered Dalmatians due to breeder hyperviligence?
I have no problem with dals as pets, but I think they are more difficult as pets than a pet line Labrador. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be just that people need to know what they are doing before getting one! The same applies to most breeds tbh.
Rotties are certainly very good companion dogs, the protective instinct is controllable and they are OK with other dogs too. I’ve seen a few with health issues (mostly size related as they tend to breed them bigger and bigger).
I think in the UK dobes fell out of fashion due to health issues in the breed (wobblers for example) so rotties replaced them. I wonder if it will go full circle?
Adam
It’s likely a combination of things with Dobes. Poor breeding leading to health problems,as well as becoming infamous for problems with Nervousness. Now it seems Rottweilers have problems like that as well.
I also think because of the bad reputation of both breeds,people started breeding them for calmer temperaments,unfortunately it also took away much of the drive and working ability of the dogs as well,
I think Rotts should stay under 110ibs,and Dobies under 90,as well as GSD’s,but I have no control over dog fashions.
Hollywood definitely had an impact on the breeding and sale of St. Bernards. A large number of “Beethovens” and “Missies” ended up in the breed rescue The most common plaints? I had no idea that (s)he’d get so large and I didn’t realize that they drooled so much. Doh!
People should be required to get a license to own dogs rather than licensing the dogs. I imagine a great many wouldn’t make the cut.
I have found that dalmatians are actually good with kids. Yes, they are very high energy. They love to run with kids, run along side bicycles and play. They can be over-enthusiastic and may knock a child over, but that can be said for any young dog- can’t it? I’ve had 4 dalmatians in my family. It takes about 2 years for them to calm down and 3 year to mature. My current one is now 3 years old. She loves kids, even ones she has just met. She can make a pest of herself- if she doesn’t receive the exercise she needs. My last dal would go up to children and stand and wait patiently to get pet.
Furthermore, all of the dalmatians I have known are people dogs. They are very loyal to their humans and desire to be with people all the time. If you want a dog to sit in the corner or sleep all day- a dalmatian isn’t for you. My current dal is a little more high strung- being terrified of thunder or fireworks. But she is very sweet and social. She wants to be with people, but bascially just sleeps when I am not home. She isn’t destructive in my absence. She doesn’t like to be away from home tho. I don’t think dalmatians do well in a shelter, but again, that can be said for a lot of different dogs- mixed breeds in addition to purebred.
None of my dogs have been deaf, sick, nor aggressive. None have had the uric acid issue. I feel dalmatians get a bad reputation. You just have to know you are getting a high energy dog. They are a willful dog- it doesn’t mean they are stupid.
I believe media discourages people from running out and getting a puppy because they are cute. Which is good, but it also perpetuates a reputation that isn’t accurate.