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The replies so far are consistent with my experience.
Things you need to know about the breed:
They're susceptible to deafness, bladder stones and skin problems. Make sure any Dal you consider has been hearing tested, and if you're getting one from a breeder ascertain that the parents have been screened for the other problems back at least a couple of generations. Ours has the bladder stone problem (due to the inability to break down purines) and has been on prescription dogfood and allopurinol for a decade. It works, but of course is expensive, and we have to watch what human food he gets very closely.
A saying goes that Dalmations shed twice a year--day and night. That's pretty accurate, as there's a constant supply of hair that averages a light gray but of course shows up wonderfully on both black and white clothing, furniture, rugs and bedding. You'll be vacuuming a lot. The coat is also not adequate to ward off more than moderate cold, meaning that in winter he's a seventy-pound lapdog and mostly unwanted bed companion, and not a dog to be dispached to a winter backyard.
As has been mentioned, Dals have huge appetites, a thief's mentality and the cleverness to perform astonishing feats of crime. The most remarkable snag I can remember ours pulling off, was a two-pound frozen chateaubriand from the kitchen sink that evaporated without a trace (except for the butcher paper that appeared on the lawn a couple days later). He's still not talking. He didn't have any hearing problems until old age hit, and was able to detect the sound of a ziplock bag being opened from several rooms away, which always meant a gallop to my side for a begging opportunity.
Ours has been a wonderful watchdog. He's saved my wife's car stereo twice and saved me from something possibly much worse when he detected and chased a burgler from inside our house and out a window (the burgler, not the dog). He was also a good ratter in his prime, dispatching a number of the vermin in our backyard.
As to basic dog stuff, he's been a tireless retriever and able to walk any human into the ground, ready for more. He's backpacked, camped and swum with us, always ready to go again the minute we get back home. They're...active.
I can't believe we've had Bruno for fifteen years. We rescued him from a kind person who lives in the country where someone had improbably dumped him, freshly groomed, at about six months. He's now got cancer so we're in the sad last few weeks of his life; I wouldn't trade those fifteen years for anything.
--Rick
posted by 12.72.150...
, Wed, 11 May 2005 19:04:06
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