"Glory be to God for Dappled things," wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins. And dappled, the dictionary defines as: "marked with spots of a different colour or shade; speckled". And when you walk a Dalmatian dog in a city street, it is clear that dappled things have an especial fascination, particularly for young people. If you go near a school as it is breaking up in the afternoon, you will have to stop as all hands, it seems, want to pat the dog. Is it the result of that film One Hundred and One Dalmatians? Backed by early memories of rocking horses which were mainly dappled? Or do rocking horses not rock any more? And are not many of the horses on merry-go-rounds also dappled? Anyway, Dalmatians are to be admired. There are not really so many of them about. And they are not just pet dogs. They are workers to, if given the chance, as when fire brigades have been known to train them in the US to enter burning buildings where, crouched low, they can survive a lack of oxygen and drag people out of danger. According to a handbook on the breed, they can be trained as hunting dogs, retrieving, for it is in their nature. An odd idea from this same handbook by Arthur Liebers is that while the British Army uses them in the field, they are dyed dark brown so that they will not be so visible!
But it is chiefly as a family pet and a home guard-dog that they are known. They are mannerly in the house and not aggressive when out walking with their owners, but beware of approaching a Dalmatian inside a parked car if the window is wound down low enough for you to get your hand in. For when guarding the car they drop their customary bland manners and resent your intrusion while the owner is not present. You might just find your friendly spotty dog take more than an interest in your friendly hand extended in through the window. Not that Dalmatians are the only handsome, generally friendly and civilised dogs around. Kerry Blues, even, not much evident these days, can be friendly in an erratic way; Irish terriers have a good record as family pets. Labradors can be friendly. Boxers, someone said, tend to remain teenagers; just a bit too bouncy. While breeding will out and there are natural characteristics of the type of dog, it mostly comes down to home training. But for sheer curiosity value, the spotty dog is the one that children instantly recognise and want to pat.