Dalmatians: 5 Things You Don’t know
Dalmatians: 5 Things You Don’t know.
All photos provided by Sonja Wirth unless otherwise specified
by Robert Hudson
The Dalmatian is an old breed from eastern Europe. Croatia to be exact. It became a favorite dog breed in America and the world due in part to the movie 101 dalmatians. Their beautiful white coat and black or brown spots make the dog stand out from the rest of the pack and hard to miss. Here we get into the breed, their characteristics, history and their loving, loyal nature. We discuss five things about the breed you may not know and a perspective from one dalmatian owner in Germany.
Dalmatians: 5 Things You Don’t know
1. The Spots
Dalmatian puppies are born all white and begin to develop their spots at 10 weeks of age. They continue to develop until 18 months of age. For showing competition, the spots should be circular, well defined and not overlapping. Sometimes the dog may be mostly white with just a small number of spots. This is fairly rare. Acceptable colors are black and brown spots.
2. Spot and Nose
Black-spotted dogs will always have black noses, and brown-spotted will always have brown noses.
3. The Eyes
The medium-sized round eyes are brown, blue or a combination of both.
4. Hearing
About 10-12% are born deaf.
5. Long haired Dalmatian
The long coat is the result of a recessive gene that naturally shows up in litters born to carrier parents. The coat is typically between 2 and 4 inches long with pretty feathering over the ears, tail, and legs. It’s all the same breed and a natural mutation that is generally unknown to most people.
Dalmatians: 5 Things You Don’t know- Breed Profile
WEIGHT
40-60 lb
HEIGHT
19-23″
BUILD
Slim, muscular
ACTIVITY
Needs daily rigorous exercise
AREA OF ORIGIN
Yugoslavia
DATE OF ORIGIN
Ancient times
LIFE SPAN
12–14 years
Meet Melissa
Melissa, also know as Blaze Bailey of Gingerbread Valley, lives in Herne, Germany with her human Sonja Wirth. Sonja loves the breed and says it is the only breed of dog she will ever have. “She is very loving to people and other dogs. Very sweet.”
Melissa was born 03.12.2018. Her Mother was a long hair Dalmatian. She is one of the more rare examples of the breed that is mostly white with just a few spots. Sonja describes her as hard to train because she is “strong willed”, however as with every dog breed, each dog is an individual and may learn at it’s own pace. The trick is to find what motivates the dog- food, praise, attention…
Dalmatians: 5 Things You Don’t know- Health
As mentioned above, the breed is more prone to deafness at birth than other breeds. It also has a higher probability of contracting urinary stones than other breeds. Minor issues include iris sphincter dysplasia, hypothyroidism, hip problems. All in all, it is a healthy breed.
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