It must have been the showing of that film 101 Dalmatians that started off the thoughts. Dalmatian owners often tell you of the stately origins of the breed. They were carriage dogs in Egypt when the pyramids were new, they say, and evoke mental pictures of dignified trotting alongside the Pharoahs - if they had carriages of the type envisaged.
Certainly, on their best behaviour, they are impressive. You may occasionally see one, bolt upright, against all sense in the back seat of a car, while the owner drives along as if he were the servant and the figure in the rear a royal personage. Of course, the dog should be curled up on the seat for safety. They are affectionate animals and good guard dogs. For women, in particular, they have one drawback. Their hairs are pointed as needles and work their way into clothes. Going out in a black outfit involves a scrupulous hand-picking, one by one, of these white arrows. Brushing may even send them in deeper.
But the dalmatian is also an outdoor creature and fast as the wind in action. When a dalmatian, newly let out into the open, lays back its ears and stretches its shapely limbs, it looks the fastest thing on four legs. No experience of it as a shooting dog or a harrier, though one family of them regularly bring in a rabbit to their owners. Or return with bloody jaws after eating the rabbit. They are very safe with children and, of course, to anyone walking them on a lead in town or country, are a constant cause of admiration and conversation.
The directional accuracy of the dogs - perhaps all dogs - is often seen when one particular pet is whistled to heel in a thickly planted ash grove. The dog comes, ears laid back, belly to ground, at a frightening speed, weaving in and out of the trunks and, you would swear, with a smile on her face. Yes, dalmatians do smile, this one chiefly by blinking her eyes like Tallulah Bankhead or whoever the current femme fatale is. These dogs do need, and luxuriate in, exercise. This one likes nothing more than to run around in one of her favourite country haunts, often in circles, at high speed, jumping many feet over bushes or piles of lopped branches or low trees, until exhaustion at last sets in.