Dalmatian PR

One of the things we try to do as responsible owners is to get our Dals out and about so the public can meet them and see what Dals should be like.  How they should look and more importantly how they should act  The reputation of the breed suffered a great deal during and following the popularity boom of the 80s.  Some of the bad press was deserved - there were a lot of bad tempered, hyper-active and unhealthy dogs placed as pets.  That's what happens when a breed is cursed with over-popularity as Dalmatians were during those trying times.  Raising pups for profit, as commercial breeders do, means everything is done as inexpensively as possible.  Breeding from poor quality animals that often had health and temperament problems (yes, temperament CAN be genetic - both good and bad, and health issues most definitely are) resulted in poor quality pups who received minimum care and no socialization.  These pups were often purchased by people who had done no research, knew nothing about the breed or what it requires to properly raise a puppy, and were quick to dump the dogs when things didn't work out.  Rescues were full of unwanted Dals, and it was a bad time for the breed.

Although that happened a generation ago, the stories remain, and it's up to responsible breeders to get our dogs out and let the public see what the breed is actually like.  At least the well bred, properly trained and socialized Dals.  There are still bad Dals out there, dogs who should never be bred from, but fortunately they are not very common any more.  The commercial breeders got out of Dals a long time ago, and there are few backyard-breeders.  Things are looking up, and many of the people who inquire about a Dal are potential first-time Dal owners.  For awhile the only people who wanted Dals were those who had previously owned the breed and knew that the horror stories were not true of the breed as a whole, only that there were indeed some bad dogs.

A group of us supported the Fridley Fire Station Open House last weekend.  The dogs were a hit, and we were invited to attend Fire Safety Day at the Fridley Home Depot next Saturday.  Some of the Dal club members did the Columbia Heights Open House the previous week.  We're doing our best to get the message out!   Dalmatians are terrific dogs - if you buy carefully and put the time and work into training your puppy.