Original Works of art

Historians cannot be certain as to where the Dalmatian originated. One line of thinking is that it was once a war dog, doing sentinel duty on the borders of Dalmatia and Croatia for the purpose of giving warning against the inroads of the Turks. The breed was used for many purposes, including as a draught dog or to do the work of a Pointer. Many authorities suggested that the name is derived from the fact that Dalmatia was noticeably rich in rocks of a pitted nature, the markings of the dog being reminiscent of the rocks of that country.

That the dog was an Italian dog was public opinion during Oliver Cromwell’s time, when the antagonism against the Church of Rome was exhibited by the publication of posters, handbills, and broadsheets, on which the Roman Church, or the members of that Church, were exhibited with a Dalmatian dog. It later became associated with the circus.

The first Dalmatian to appear at a show in England was James Fawdry’s Captain, in 1873. During the late Victorian and Edwardian years the Dalmatian was not only the fashionable prerequisite to the open landau, phaeton, and brougham but a very frequent adjunct of the public stage and mail coach on the principal British highways.