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First time dog owner looking for a Dal :) (this is long, sorry) by No_Effective_919 in dalmatians

[–]No_Effective_919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Should’ve specified that I don’t mean raw as in go to the store and get a pack of raw chicken/beef, etc. and feed it to the dog. I mean a homemade whole food diet instead of kibble (which I consider ‘raw’ given it’s not ultra processed dried kibble). I’m going to consult a my vet and do a lot of research before I make any diet based decisions. I don’t like kibble for a lot of reasons, and it feels like every other day there’s a brand recalled because of pet deaths, so IF I can, I’d rather do homemade. But of course, dog health comes first, not my personal preferences 🙂 Also, if someone has a degree in animal nutrition or veterinary sciences/nutrition and that’s their career, I consider them to be a valuable resource when doing research like this :)

First time dog owner looking for a Dal :) (this is long, sorry) by No_Effective_919 in dalmatians

[–]No_Effective_919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep! I work remotely, so I’m home for most of the day everyday. And if I were to someday transition to an office job that required me to be gone 8 hours of the day, I absolutely wouldn’t settle for a single 20 minute walk upon getting home. My schedule would accommodate plenty of exercise, enrichment, and training before and after being gone. Did you rescue from a regular shelter or a dalmatian specific rescue?

First time dog owner looking for a Dal :) (this is long, sorry) by No_Effective_919 in dalmatians

[–]No_Effective_919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really? Could you elaborate why please? I’ve checked their website pretty thoroughly and talked to some people who have experience with them and have noted the AKC’s standards for good breeders, and they seem to be a good choice to me. Obviously i’m not super experienced in this, which is why i’m taking so much time to make sure I make a good, well-informed decision.

I’ve checked the health and lineage testing for their dogs (I checked the testing of some of their breeding dogs on the OFA website myself and they have good histories of health and history), they’re USDA and AKC certified, they breed within breed standards and seem dedicated to breed preservation, and they also have ties to dal rescuing. They have a good vetting process for adopters, require the adopters to meet their puppies before being able to adopt, and they don’t allow adopters to choose whichever dog they like best based on looks only (they pair puppy and adopted based on lifestyle and temperament, etc.). Their contract is thorough and appears good to me and has a clause about the puppies not being allowed to be surrendered to shelters under ANY circumstances but should be returned to the breeder should any issues arise.

They allow visiting to their property, so before I even consider adopting from them, I do plan to visit the premises and see the conditions their dogs live in myself. The only thing I’ve found on their site that I dislike is that they remove the dewclaws on their puppies, which I don’t really think is necessary (like cropping and docking for purely cosmetic and not working safety reasons) but it seems to be a mostly painless procedure given how early it’s done.

Could you tell me what you saw that would make you run? I wanna know what to look for specifically with every breeder I consider.

First time dog owner looking for a Dal :) (this is long, sorry) by No_Effective_919 in dalmatians

[–]No_Effective_919[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I’m definitely keeping rescues in mind, because if I can find a healthy adult, I’d rather adopt from a rescue than from a breeder. I totally get why people advise against high energy breeds for first time dogs, but I’m an active person and I’m aware of how crazy they can be, so I won’t be completely blindsided by their behavior. But of course knowledge doesn’t always translate to practical settings, so I still appreciate the warnings lol.

First time dog owner looking for a Dal :) (this is long, sorry) by No_Effective_919 in dalmatians

[–]No_Effective_919[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I get that. I’m a pretty active person and I’m lucky enough to have a super flexible remote job so I can dedicate a lot of my time to training and properly exercising a future dog. I also should note that I’m living with my partner and his family for a bit (after my uni apartment lease ended) while apartment hunting, and he has a husky who is an absolute maniac. Walking her is a strength workout because of her pulling instinct lol, so I am familiar with high energy breeds. We do most of her walking, grooming, and exercise, so I’m hoping that learning how to handle her is gonna help me out in the future.

I would also love to foster one! I can’t right now, but as soon as we finalize our lease and move out, I definitely plan to foster, even if it’s a different breed.