08/15/2024
"The first Golden Retriever was believed to be an undesirable mutation from a long line of bird dogs, but the eccentric Lord Tweedmouth liked the new color and bred him with other soft, red dogs, creating a brand-new breed."
-Inside the Mind of a Dog
Something new I learned today! It's very interesting to me that this was acceptable with breeders of old, but I am routinely attacked for daring to breed Dalmatians with a long coat.
I see all of history as my teacher, and all of history tells me that breed standards change. For example, tri-color Dalmatians were once accepted in the breed standard. There were even champion tri-color Dalmatians in the show ring. Then the standard changed to no longer allow tri-colors to be shown because a group of people decided they didn't like the color. These are documented facts that can be verified in The Dog Book, written in 1906. I'm happy to share pictures of the pages from my copy of the book for anyone who is interested.
So why then can the standard not change to allow a long-coated Dalmatian variation? For that matter, why not allow lemon and tri-color Dalmatians into the standard?
The claim that the gene pool is too small is a bogus claim, evidenced by the low inbreeding coefficients of these dogs (see my previous post for specific examples). The biggest critics of off standard colors/coat length are often themselves breeding show dogs with much higher inbreeding percentages. Off standard Dalmatian breeders actually have the WHOLE Dalmatian gene pool to work with and select from, as they choose which bloodlines are the best ones to breed longcoat/lemon/tri color into. Various breeders are working on a variety of different bloodlines, and every year, the diversity and number of options off standard Dalmatian breeders have to select from increase more and more.
There is an additional bogus claim that lemon spotted Dalmatians are prone to additional health issues such as deafness or skin/coat issues. This has no basis in fact what-so-ever. Genetically, Lemon spotted Dalmatians are simply "yellow" (ee, in genetic terms) like a yellow lab. Yellow is a very common color in many dog breeds and has absolutely no connection to any health issue. This color should not be confused with "dilute" (dd, in genetic terms), which is a color that can be linked to alopecia(hair loss). No one is breeding dilute Dalmatians that I am aware of.
If these traits were accepted into the breed standard and the taboos surrounding them were lifted, more breeders would feel safe to embrace these variations, and many people would start proving them in conformation. The addition of these bloodlines to the show ring would even help increase the genetic diversity of the show dog population. I believe there is a path towards acceptance for longcoat, lemon spotted, and tri color Dalmatians. Historically, these variations have always been a part of the Dalmatian breed.
Why shouldn't we honor and preserve the Dalmatian breed's entire history?
