Responsibly Walking Entire Dog

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My mum always says my dog has extra Dalmatian in her - when my dog is being a bit "thick" or "independent minded".

However for the longest time my mum refused to use any food in any kind of training with my dog - so my dog felt pretty much free to ignore anything my mum said. Mum's previous dog was a genius at human mind reading and really keen to please. Not this one - she's always looking for what's in it for her and pats and praise aren't always enough (my fault probably).

I think the thing with high energy dogs, is that if you just take them for longer and longer exercise runs - you just get a fitter and fitter - but still bored dog.

You have to wear out the brain as well. In fact time spent training the dog to do tricks will wear a dog out faster than the same amount of time just running and running...

And if you really want to be sneaky about it, the tricks you train are to run around that pole over there, then this pole over here, then around the other way and back... ie lots of running and thinking - which is what agility is. :)

[The Spotted Devil]

No TSD you're supposed to tell me how difficult he is and what a nightmare it is to run 546kms a day and how he is a monster to train and how Dalmatians are the worst! dogs! ever!

Now you are making me want one even more. Long walks on the beach and in the bush, lots of training, plus trips to the dog pool weekly are already things I am accustomed to doing. Don't tell me a Dal would fit in! I won't hear of it! :laugh:

Meh! Piece of cake :D Get one without talking to me about breeders, though, and then we could get into an argument lol. I know of a lovely litter on the ground at the moment...

Edited September 9, 2015 by The Spotted Devil

[silentchild]

Meh! Piece of cake :D Get one without talking to me about breeders, though, and then we could get into an argument lol. I know of a lovely litter on the ground at the moment...

Urk!! Not the best timing! Planning for another Aussie pup instead to achieve my lofty trialling goals. But someday. Dammit........ so tempted. So so tempted.

[juice]

To be honest you don't need acres for a dally, i live on a 460sqmtr block! however i walk them come rain or shine twice a day and Appollo would be offlead for most of it running.

He was the easiest dog i have ever owned, including all the fosters.

He was rock solid with other dogs, perfect recall ( unless a bunny was involved!),and was a real softy.

I lost him 6 months ago now, and not a day goes by when i dont think of him and wish i could have him back, just for a day. I have had many dogs over the years and not one has effected me like him. He was perfect.

I used to get people telling me they were stupid and destructive, he was neither, so if you can fulfill all their needs they will steal your heart.

Edited September 10, 2015 by juice

[dotdashdot]

I'm another one who's dallies do quite well without tonnes of exercise. At the moment it's just not realistic with a very young baby when I'm struggling to just function as a human day to day :laugh:

We have a decent sized suburban block and they zoom every afternoon as well as a little play while the baby sleeps. They are very minimally destructive, digging a couple of holes in the same spot every week but it's something I can live with.

I have an entire bitch, and due to my desexed bitch being attacked around my streets I am very, very wary walking them ANYWHERE, sadly. It's quite easy to responsibly walk an entire dog though :D for me, having a female, I just don't walk her out from the house for 4 weeks (if we go out, we go in the car, not leaving a trail)

I'll just add too, for those that may not know: it is not recommended to desex a male dal until maturity for the stone forming reason. If they are allowed to completely mature before being desexed, the urethra is wider and is less prone to blockages.

[denali]

I'm another one who's dallies do quite well without tonnes of exercise. At the moment it's just not realistic with a very young baby when I'm struggling to just function as a human day to day :laugh:

We have a decent sized suburban block and they zoom every afternoon as well as a little play while the baby sleeps. They are very minimally destructive, digging a couple of holes in the same spot every week but it's something I can live with.

I have an entire bitch, and due to my desexed bitch being attacked around my streets I am very, very wary walking them ANYWHERE, sadly. It's quite easy to responsibly walk an entire dog though :D for me, having a female, I just don't walk her out from the house for 4 weeks (if we go out, we go in the car, not leaving a trail)

I'll just add too, for those that may not know: it is not recommended to desex a male dal until maturity for the stone forming reason. If they are allowed to completely mature before being desexed, the urethra is wider and is less prone to blockages.

Interesting!

That makes sense. I was assuming it was the normal bone growth thing. But that is nice to know :)

[wonder]

Rule number 1 with an entire dog - don't be an idiot owner.

One of the parks we frequent often has a number of entire males at the same time. Mostly they are all fine, and you wouldn't know the difference, however there is one, a lovely natured dog with an idiot owner, who gets obsessed with humping our desexed male dog, and I've seen him do it to others as well. He becomes persistent, and he's a ridgeback going after a mini schnauzer. It gets horribly annoying to the point that my dog starts reacting.

The owner does nothing. He sees that his dog is annoying and getting a little obsessed, and does nothing. When someone mentions it to him, he tries to recall the dog to no avail and does nothing. I've seen it nearly come to a physical interaction with another owner.

The fact that this dog is entire is not necessarily part of the equation. Our male dog has received the same attention from another desexed male. However the owner of that one responds. The fact that this dog is entire and behaviour goes unchecked by the idiot owner just really taints it for all owners of entire males, as the idiot owners lack of action gets turned into prejudice against entire males.

So all the normal rules apply - socialize, don't leave unwanted behaviour go unchecked, and just don't be an idiot owner and feed the ignorance!

I too am all very supportive of letting your dog fully mature before desexing, did so with my male, and doing the same with the female - so much easier with the boys though, don't think you'll have any issue (apart from continuously having people telling you that it MUST be done at 6 months)!

[Salukifan]

I too am all very supportive of letting your dog fully mature before desexing, did so with my male, and doing the same with the female - so much easier with the boys though, don't think you'll have any issue (apart from continuously having people telling you that it MUST be done at 6 months)!

And increasingly persistent phone calls from your local vet with predictions of dire behavioural issues if you don't.

Friend of mine with her first show dog went through this. "Oh yes, you can still show him if he's desexed" she was assured. Not at that time you couldn't.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Haredown Whippets

[Simply Grand]

That's a handy thing about having an entire girl, no one can tell so you don't get those comments from the general public!

[bristley]

Thank you everyone - your comments are very reassuring. I interrupted a dog owner and his two nicely behaved labradors who I see on my morning walk and asked his opinion of the nearby dog park and he was very reassuring as well.

And I should have 10 months to get my jogging up to speed - 12 months till running with dog applies to dalmatians?

We knew about the kidney stones issues - but I've now done a bit more reading about it - my new hobby is reading fascinating pages like " The Dalmatian Club of America - FIFTEEN YEARS' DATA OF ALMOST 3,000 DALMATIAN URINARY STONES" http://www.thedca.org/stonecharts.html ).

I also have been reading all the reports on http://www.dalmatianwelfare.co.uk/ from their rescue dogs - lots of stories about individual dalmatians and why they've become rescue dogs and how they've responded to their new owners and what there owners have done to train them ).

Thank you for being so kind to a newbie :-)

[OSoSwift]

Troublesome behavior and being a nasty turd of an animal comes down to lack of socialisation and training more then the fact he has testicles. The vast majority of difficult behvior dogs are desexed with my client base. I have entire dogs, they're not more difficult then the desexed ones I have. I run 7 dogs together when I am home, 6 are bitches.

Best way with words. Hahaha.

My desexed bitches are way more of a handful than my three entire males. Train them, use your common sense and think re risk assessment as you go about your daily lives. Nothing majorly different about owning entire animals unless your bitch is on heat of course.

[Two Best Dogs!]

Good luck :) just wanted to add that one of the nicest dogs I've ever met is an entire female Dalmatian. She's a very sweet and obedient dog (that has no doubt had a lot of work put into her). it sound like you're going to be a great owner.

She also had very soft ears which are very important :D

[LisaCC]

I too am all very supportive of letting your dog fully mature before desexing, did so with my male, and doing the same with the female - so much easier with the boys though, don't think you'll have any issue (apart from continuously having people telling you that it MUST be done at 6 months)!

And increasingly persistent phone calls from your local vet with predictions of dire behavioural issues if you don't.

Friend of mine with her first show dog went through this. "Oh yes, you can still show him if he's desexed" she was assured. Not at that time you couldn't.

I've had that one.

Even after talking about going to an upcoming show, I got told just the other day that he probably has quicker reflexes because he's intact and desexing would help that...

He's also a performance dog, if that's true at all don't I WANT quicker reflexes??

Yes, get used to deflecting about being an irresponsible person keeping your nuts on your dog!

You sound like you'll do just fine. I hope you'll post up pictures when you get him. I too love dallies

Edited September 11, 2015 by LisaCC