The Dalmatian’s Origin Theory
December 7, 2008 by retrieverman
“The origin of the Dalmatian is still obscure and rests solely on suppositions.”– FCI Dalmatian Standard. The rule they are using is the more bizarre and incredulous the supposition the more accurate it is.
The Dalmatian is clearly a dog of the gun dog type. Some individuals can point, but this behavior is the exception to the rule. So perhaps its better to say that the Dalmatian is of a modified gun dog type.
Many theories exist about its history. One theory puts the origins of this dog on the Adriatic coast of Croatia in the region of Dalmatia. Another puts its origins in Ancient Greece, while another puts claims that India is this breed’s ancestral home.
The FCI’s official position at the current time is that the dog is Croatian. It uses the Croatian standard as its official standard, which is the rule in the FCI. The FCI uses the standard for the breed that is used in its history of origin.
I am skeptical.
Why?
There are gun dogs from Eastern and Central Europe. None of them are white.
The former Yugoslavia does have scent hounds. Both breeds of Istrian hound are white. It plausibly could be an ancestor or close relative of the Dalmatian, and I suspect that it is a dog of this type mentioned by Jurij Dalmatin in the sixteenth century. Like many white dogs, it is not unusual for some darker “freckles” to be visable through its fur.
This dog is an Istrian smooth-haired hound. It is a white spotted hound from the Adriatic coast of Croatia, where the Dalmatian dog is said to orginate.
It does look something like a Dalmatian, especially when you realize that Dalmatians sometimes have lemon spots.
But appearances aren’t enough to prove common ancestry. Remember, the
Hovawart and
Kuvasz look a lot like big golden retrievers, yet both of those dogs are in no way related to the golden retriever.
The blond hovawart looks like a golden retriever. However, it is a German guard dog. It can be used in various protection dog sports, and goldens cannot.
The further problem with the Dalmatian’s Croatian origins is that no one has found a direct link between the modern dog called the Dalmatian and any breed from that part of the world.
However, there is a link between this modern dog and a dog that was used in the eighteenth century in Britain. It followed coaches of gentlemen as a fashion accessory. The heavily spotted coat gave it some esteem.
It seems to me far more parsimonious to say that the Dalmatian’s origins are in Britain, and that its ancient origins are nice lore that gentlement used to impress their foppish friends. It sounds very like the story about the golden retriever descending from Russian circus dogs.
The breed has a great deal of similarities with British gundogs, especially the English setter and pointer. I’ve heard of them pointing birds and even mere feathers, just as these breeds do. It is also similar to the bull and terrier breeds in that many Dals hate other dogs, which certainly means that they aren’t that similar to any breed of scent hound, which are typically kept in packs. They are also very good ratters, just like the bull and terrier breeds are. Futher, not all Dalmatians are black or liver spotted, and not all Dalmatians are short-haired. A page on these dogs with atypical coat colors and coat lengths can be found
here.
The FCI tried to change the Dalmatian’s origins based upon this information, but there was no documented proof of their British origins. However, the Croatian story appeared to have at least some documentation. And the Republic of Croatia threw a fit. Today, the FCI lists it as a Croatian breed.
But have a look at Bewick’s depiction of a Dalmatian from circa 1790. This dog looks like a cross between a pointer and a bull and terrier. The ears are like that of a modern Staffordshire bull terrier, which is really similar to the old bull and terrier type. The tail is long and whip-like, which is, believe it or not, a characteristic of the bulldog in the bull and terrier. The original bulldog had a tail just like this. The dog looks nothing like an Istrian smooth-haired hound.
However, until someone gets evidence beyond this speculation, we will have to deal with the Croatian origins story for the Dalmatian.
I do have readers of this blog from Croatia, which is very patriotic country. This aspect of the country makes sense considering its history as part of various empires and then part of the authoritarian socialist country called Yugoslavia. However, I am just skeptical of this breed being Croatian.
The main source I am using for this infomation is The Illustrated Guide to Dogs of the World (1974) by A. Gordrexon-Ives Brown, which is out of print. It makes use FCI expertise, which, at the time, was beginning to question the Dalmatian’s origins.
I can’t put my fingers on the source, but I read someplace that “Dalmatian” is archaic British parlance for a certain elegant style in black and white. And one hypothesis is that the dog was named after the style. (It could be the other way around, but probably not.) Thus it is one speculation that the style originated in Dalmatia and not the dog.
That actually makes perfect sense. I was unaware of the word Dalmatian as a style. Thank you very much for alerting me to it.
This is very interesting. I would live to know more about the archaic usage of the word “Dalmatian” and how it relates to the origin of the dog. I can easily see the origins of this breed being something other than a carriage dog. My own Dalmatian bitch will at times point in our back yard, but until reading this article I chocked it put to coincidence. Both of our Dals would keep their nose to the ground indefinitely of allowed… Originally I thought, “You’re a Dalmatian, not a Beagle!”
Your reflections sounds nice. Many of the traditional dogbreed origins mentioned in the handbooks seems to me nationalistic legends, embelished by illogical assumptions of exaggerated antiquity. Shipwrecks, circus animals, Celtic, Germanic, Egyptian, Roman, Phoenician trade, all of these elements are usual. Dalmatian looks like a cross between an English Setter (ticks), a Bull Terrier (white coat) and a Pointer (shape). I’m interested in origins of dogbreeds, and there’s a lot of DNA studies that is clarifying some of them.