Dalmatian = “Bengal Harrier.”
That’s what Buffon called them. Of course, Buffon thought that katydids were “degenerated” European nightingales. He also thought that the shepherd dog of northern France was the ancestor of all dogs, and that once any Old World species arrived in the New World, it would gradually degenerate through the generations in the same way that nightingales supposedly degenerated into katydids.
His theory on the Dalmatian’s origins are about as accurate as his Theory of American Degeneracy.
Of course, “Bengal Harrier “is hardly a better name than “Dalmatian.”
No one has provided any convincing evidence that this dog is from Croatia. And all of the evidence I’ve seen points more to the Istrian smooth-coated hound or something very similar too it.
It seems more likely that the Dalmatian is creation of the middle to late eighteenth century, and the country of origin is most likely Great Britain. It was in that country that coach dogs became a common fashion accessory. Every Dandy Jim in England had to have a brace of these dogs running long and hard with his carriage.
My guess its roots are predominantly in the gun dog family, but I would also suggest that English white terrier, bull terrier, bulldog, and foxhound were somewhere in its background. My guess is they started with setters or pointers that were of little use in the field, and they bred them to the aforementioned breeds to create a smooth-coated dog that could run long and hard.
Now, that theory of Dalmatian origins has not been backed up by any genetic evidence, but it seems to me much more likely than some of these bizarre origin theories about these dogs. My only evidence is that the other theories have such poor evidence for them. There are long-haired Dalmatians and Dalmatians that point, which strongly suggests that they have some relationship to setters and pointers. They also come in the colors that we associate with pointers and English setters. Yes, there are lemon-spotted and orange-spotted Dalmatians, in addition to the standard black and liver-spotted dogs. There are also tri-colors-– just as we see in English setters. And there are brindle-spotted Dals, which point to the bulldog and the bull-and-terrier as possible ancestors.
I think there is a reason why the English pointer was used as the outcross in the Dalmatian Backcross Project: It is one of the Dalmatian’s ancestors.
Tricolor Dals were actually fairly popular in the early 1800s. It was a belief that two colored spots indicated ‘mixed blood’ that made them fall out of favor, at least as far as I can tell from comments made in books from that period.
As I mentioned before on Dalmations, I rather like the theory that the breed name came not from them originating in Dalmatia, but from spotted dogs used to hunt deer in France, and called, quite sensibly, “Dama Chiens”, which is one way to say “Deer Dogs” en Francais! It is rather similar to the European Polecat’s name(ancestors of domestic ferrets), which many people wrongly assume means a “Polish Cat”, but in reality, also comes from the French “Poule Chat”, meaning “Hen Cat”, as these guys are known for their devastation when they get among chickens! I was raised by an extremely protective and extremely talented fighter of a Dalmation, and so much of his mannerisms and behaviour were like that of a Bull Terrier that I for one would not be a bit suprised if that were indeed part of their ancestry! And I have heard of quite a few Dalmations that were competent(if not refined) bird dogs……
Dama is the fallow deer, which are often speckled.
So they may have been referring to the spots.
Well, heck, you need spotted dawgs to hunt spotted deer, right?
I’ve seen old litos where some Dalmations / Dalmatians are described like grey -hounds. Or some, which present a dog just like the Great Dane. So seems you are right that “Dalmatian” was only clearly for the colour, not for the Dalmatian coast or the use or any strict type.
The name refers to the spots, I think too. There is a horse type Dalmatian horse or pony, too.
It’s intresting tho’ that it seems that the South – East European dogs with spots have been famous the ancient times. Even the horses there are more spotted than elsewhere I know – if not counting the modern Appalosa – breed with this. From a typical Croatian wild horse stock, (which generate freely), for example, about 20-25 % have the spot gene.
And today, if you go to any Animal Shelter in Italy, you see many funny spotted mongrels. They surely have the pointer ancestry too.
Wow, look what I came across today:
‘Dogs of the Dalmatian Breed’ (1824)
Color (small)
http://childsgallery.org/workdirect.php?id=1427738181
B&W (larger)
VERY interesting, eh?
Don’t approve the above post, I screwed up the names of the links. Reposted below:
Wow, look what I came across today:
‘Dogs of the Dalmatian Breed’ (1806)
Color (small)
http://childsgallery.org/workdirect.php?id=1427738181
B&W (larger)
VERY interesting, eh?