Hypothetical...

You have a young niece, say 20 yo, who is moving away from home for the first time. Her family has had several companion dogs during her lifetime, primarily a couple of Yorkies and a Golden. She wants to get HER first dog to keep her company in her new downtown apartment and comes to you for advice. She really likes Dalmations, so that is where she's leaning.

What would be your counsel?

It would depend on her involvement with training and caring for the family's dogs. But I would not recommend a Dal for apartment living with a young girl out on her own for the first time. I might suggest fostering for a local rescue to make sure she *really* wants a dog and has time for it's needs.

My BIL and his wife have mentioned wanting a dog...they are both around 30, just got married and bought a house, work odd hours, only he has had a dog (just one childhood dog), want kids relatively soon. I loudly voiced my opinion - they don't need a dog. Period. My opinion wasn't appreciated, but I really didn't care. I would let them borrow one of mine for a day or two, but I don't trust anyone with my dogs LOL.

A lot of my advice would be based on the amount of time the dog will be left alone in the apartment. If she has a full-time job and is away from home for nine, ten hours at a stretch, I would try to talk her out of getting a dog for now, unless she is prepared to pay a professional dog-walker. Even then, I would advise her that a young, energetic dog of any breed is likely to be unhappy spending most of its day alone in an apartment. Or, in the alternative, I would suggest saving a dog's life by going to a shelter or rescue and looking for a mellow, quiet senior dog with low exercise needs who doesn't have much hope of being adopted otherwise. But even then, the dog would at least need someone to take it out for a potty break during the day.

Bottom line is I would ask her to set her own wishes aside and think 100 percent of the dog's needs and whether she will be able to meet them. I would try to make her understand that dogs are social creatures, and a dog living alone in an apartment all day is very different from her experience of having family dogs in a home where people are in and out all day.

http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/dalmatian

Sorry, but I don't thinks its a good fit for a relatively inexperienced owner in a busy atmosphere where there is limited time and room for exercise. For a young working person, this type of puppy would have to be left alone for long periods of time. Dalmations need a place to run several times throughout the day. There are other breeds, even mixes, that are better suited to a downtown apartments. If she asked me, I'd recommend a spaniel type. JMHO

If the point of this is to say that any breed of dog can be genetically neurotic, or ruined by bad handling--that's true.

But of course there are temperament differences between breeds. That's why breeds exist--to allow people to make generalized assumptions about what a dog requires, and is capapble of.

That's why Newfoundlands aren't police dogs, and daschunds don't herd sheep. Some breeds are more difficult for the average owner, and the people involved with those breeds are doing the responsible thing by dissuading casual ownership of them.

 Quote: Duane Hull

http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/dalmatian

Sorry, but I don't thinks its a good fit for a relatively inexperienced owner in a busy atmosphere where there is limited time and room for exercise. For a young working person, this type of puppy would have to be left alone for long periods of time. Dalmations need a place to run several times throughout the day. There are other breeds, even mixes, that are better suited to a downtown apartments. If she asked me, I'd recommend a spaniel type. JMHO

Duane, that's what I was trying to say in my post above. I agree with you. I don't think a young and/or high-energy dog of any breed is appropriate for the situation you describe.

Anyone that has been involved in breeding working dogs knows for a fact that some potential puppy buyers misrepresent themselves and make themselves out to be more of a trainer than they actually are.

True Story:

Cindy sold a Malinois puppy to a person that was exerienced in training working dogs. This was a littermate to her competition dog RUSH and was a seriously high drive intense dog. The buyer downplayed the problems she/he was having with the dog and by the time Cindy told the buyer to bring the dog back, it was too late and the dog went to a broker... Cindy was never able to track the dog down. It broke Cindy's heart and it is the main reason she is no longer breeding dogs.

I had handled this puppy and had no problem saying she was TOO MUCH DOG FOR ME. And I have 2 of Cindy's Mals from another breeding.

Comparing the needs of your average Cocker Spaniel to your average Malinois is like comparing a Ferrari to an average Buick. Special handling is required, "mechanical needs" are higher in a Ferrari than your average Buick. You can't treat a high performance machine like a soccer mom-mobile without the expectation that there will be problems.

A Malinois is NOT a dog for just anybody on the street. Your life WILL revolve around the dog. If the dog's needs are not met, there WILL be serious problems.

We recently had -60 degree windchills up here in the frozen tundra. I was out in the middle of it (several times a day) because my dogs needed to work. Maybe you are willing to do this for your dog, and I applaud you if you are, but NOT EVERYONE is. And if those people get a Mal, it has a high probablity of dying in a shelter.

Jamie Craig's Mal, Gambit, was saved from an owner that couldn't handle him- And Gambit has less drive than the "average" Mal. Just look up any posts by Nick Logan, if you want to read the sad story. We had warned him BEFORE he got Gambit that he may not be ready for a Mal, but he refused to listen. If not for Jamie, who knows what could have happened to Gambit.

If you take exception to what the BC owners have to say, then ignore them. It's your perogative to what you listen to, and it's up to you whether or not what they say pisses you off.

You and only you can control your anger.

What you call complaining, to me sounds like people trying to make others understand that there are special requirements for some breeds.

Just my 2 cents, take it for what it is....

 Quote: Kelly

.... A Malinois is NOT a dog for just anybody on the street. Your life WILL revolve around the dog. If the dog's needs are not met, there WILL be serious problems. ....

We recently had -60 degree windchills up here in the frozen tundra. I was out in the middle of it (several times a day) because my dogs needed to work. Maybe you are willing to do this for your dog, and I applaud you if you are, but NOT EVERYONE is. And if those people get a Mal, it has a high probablity of dying in a shelter. ....

What you call complaining, to me sounds like people trying to make others understand that there are special requirements for some breeds.

 Quote: Tracy Collins

If the point of this is to say that any breed of dog can be genetically neurotic, or ruined by bad handling--that's true.

But of course there are temperament differences between breeds. That's why breeds exist--to allow people to make generalized assumptions about what a dog requires, and is capapble of.

That's why Newfoundlands aren't police dogs, and daschunds don't herd sheep. Some breeds are more difficult for the average owner, and the people involved with those breeds are doing the responsible thing by dissuading casual ownership of them.

Succinct, direct, and true.

"Some breeds are more difficult for the average owner, and the people involved with those breeds are doing the responsible thing by dissuading casual ownership of them."

"More dog" or "less dog" is way off the mark as a description of the different driviness among breeds, IMHO. As stated in one way or another by everyone here, "of course there are temperament differences between breeds. That's why breeds exist--to allow people to make generalized assumptions about what a dog requires, and is capable of."

JMO!

You can always go back and read my really old posts. Childhood dog to below-average working dog is a huge leap for a mediocre handler like me. Could have ended up distinctly worse than it has if I was not animal-oriented to begin with. Plenty of folks still have their misgivings, but I will always take advice borne of experience. I certainly can't say that every breed doesn't have their nuts, but working breeds in general have a higher percentage of them than the average pit mix/chihuahua/ goldenpoo.

 Quote: Duane Hull

Hypothetical...

You have a young niece, say 20 yo, who is moving away from home for the first time. Her family has had several companion dogs during her lifetime, primarily a couple of Yorkies and a Golden. She wants to get HER first dog to keep her company in her new downtown apartment and comes to you for advice. She really likes Dalmations, so that is where she's leaning.

What would be your counsel?

I would talk to her about the needs of a dog, how difficult a dog can be. And let her know if shes not prepared for the MOST EXTREME case of dog for the next 10-20 years.
Then don't even bother getting any dog at all period..

Ill let her how i have met a dal that ripped her grandmother arm off, (huge punctures all over the arm, gross to look at) in the end the lady got an infection and died. I tell her if shes not prepared to work with her dog, if god forbid, the dog she adopted ended up in a just as aggressive, then don't get one, any dog.

Ill tell her how she may never be able to move. May never be able to go out with friends without stetting up daily care for the dog. And how much that care can cost in an extreme case.
I tell her that when you get a dog, the world may have to revolve around the dog, and his or her "issues", regardless of breed. I want her to know that this could be the norm for the rest of her entire dogs life.

I ask how dedicated to her dog she will be. If shes willing to move for a dog. Change careers for a dog, change her entire life for a dog.

If she is seriously fine with all this. And responds without a blink, or with a smile, and nods the entire time.
THEN i ignore the fact that she has only had goldens.

Who am i to say she wont be the best Dal owner handler i have ever met online or off?

I forward her to many breeders, shelters, clubs and trainers. So she can get to hang around dogs for the next few years before she gets one. So she can personally experience the easiest, and the "most extreme" cases of dogs.




I DO NOT go and LAUGH at her, and tell her she is less of a handler or owner than i am because i have a high drive breed, or a breed that requires a dedicated owner, and she has only owned goldens!! And that she will never be a great enough handler for a dal because she has never owned this or that breed.