Sharing experiences from a young Dalmatian owner
Hi Dalmatian lovers!
I’m reaching out to share my experience and hopefully hear some of yours. There aren't many Dalmatians here in France, so it’s not easy to find owners who are going through the same things we are. Plus, I feel like Dalmatians have such a "particular" personality compared to other breeds...
I have a 17-month-old female Dalmatian, whom I adopted when she was 2 months old. From day one, she showed a lot of anxiety toward the outside world and became deeply attached to us. She is a dog who runs entirely on trust: she’ll bark at a stranger who tries to talk to her, but she’ll give the biggest, most enthusiastic cuddles in the middle of the street to someone she knows well.
We socialized her from a very young age—daily city walks, playdates with other dogs, training...
Speaking of training... She catches on to everything incredibly fast, but if Miss isn't in the mood, she only listens when she feels like it. She knows perfectly well how to heel, but she prefers to pull. In fact, on a leash, she barely pays attention to us; her nose is glued to the ground and she just bolts forward, pulling to the point of choking herself. Yet, when she's off-leash, her recall and focus on us are amazing!
She’s a total cuddle bug and a bundle of love, but incredibly stubborn—when she says no, it's a no. And she looooove to play !
Because of this, we are always on high alert. She wants to run and play with every single dog (except puppies, whom she has detested ever since her first heat cycle). She isn't a fan of children either (she’s always been afraid of them) and might jump on them if we aren't careful. And then there are runners... She has a massive fear of joggers running toward us. It gets to the point where she'll lunges at them, almost trying to snap. Yet, I take her running with me regularly in forest, so she knows what jogging is. But if someone enters her 2-meter personal bubble, the tension spikes instantly.
To sum it up, she goes from 0 to 200% excitement in a single second, and has a really hard time coming back down. She gets easily overstimulated by play and the urge to run—a total little tornado. But the flip side of that coin is her anxiety, which also jumps from 0 to 200% in a split second. She will bark at the slightest suspicious noise and would likely resort to defensive biting if a situation feels too overwhelming for her...
We are currently working with a trainer to manage all of this, but we would love to hear from other Dalmatian owners.
They have such a unique temperament—so loyal and velcro-close to their humans, but sometimes struggling so much with the outside world (even though we live in a big city).
I know the overexcitement will pass with age, but her leash pulling and her anxious/protective side are what’s currently keeping us from having peaceful walks and letting her off-leash more often. It’s so sad for her.
Sorry for using an AI translation, the text was a bit long and I wanted to minimize mistakes