r/dalmatians

Disclaimer: A lot of this post talks about mixed breeds. Having done more research, i would like to get a dog from a responsible breeder next time who specialises in breeds, which is why I’m looking for perspective from Dalmatian owners! I appreciate now the value of good breeding, which is something I wasn’t aware of before. You live and learn!

So all my life I’ve had lab crosses. My first dog was a field lab x border collie, and now I have a field lab x dalmatian.

Because I’ve never had a purebred Labrador, I’m not fully familiar with their temperament. I really enjoyed the energy levels and intensity of my lab x border collie, but didn’t want to just replace him with the same, so thought I’d get a lab x Dalmatian after an accidental litter showed up, owing to the reputation of Dalmatians as being high energy.

Now that my pup is 9mo, I’m starting to see that he is wayyy more chill than my previous dog. In fairness, I also give him plenty of mental enrichment, he’s crate trained, and is generally much better trained than my previous dog, but even so he doesn’t seem to need nearly the exercise that my previous dog did, and doesn’t heckle me for walks at all. My previous dog could go for miles and miles and still want more. This pup can also go on long walks, but also is very content to just chill at home and doesn’t push me for walks. I don’t think this is the lab in him though, as mentally and physically he’s all Dalmatian. Very independent, not into retrieving that much, and generally acts a lot like a Dalmatian. He’s just black rather than white lol.

So what are your dals like? Realistically, how much exercise are you actually giving them? I’m considering getting a full Dalmatian as my next dog, after seeing how fantastic and well measured my current boy is, but want to be well informed and prepared.

Also, how many of your dals have Dalmatian bronzing syndrome? My boy is suffering at the moment from very dry skin and losing the fur on his back. He’s on probiotic supplements, I wash him with water if we’ve gone on a hike to remove environmental allergens, im waiting for the results of a genetic test for HUA/LUA, and I feed him a fish based diet. The probiotics do seem to be helping, but what do you guys do to help it?

tl;dr: I have a Dalmatian x Labrador. For my next dog, I’d like to get a well bred full Dalmatian, but I want to be well informed on their temperament and exercise requirements. Generally I’ve found my current pup very manageable, and less intense than my previous border collie x Labrador. So want to know others experience With purebreds!

Looking for input on purina pro plan sensitive skin and stomach lamb for my dalmatian mix. When I was feeding him low quality food he got bladder stones and we moved him to a prescription diet. With price Increases we switched him to Blue buffalo basics lamb and potatoe and he's doing great but it's still killing my bank account. I have the availability to get the pro plan at a third the price and was wondering if any of you have had success with it as I don't think my One eyed Peeter could handle another surgery at his age.