Alice White
The Dalmatian is one of the breeds for which the “media” and momentary popularity have brought more harm than good. Dogs with a difficult temperament and high needs for daily exercise do not get along with every fan of the Disney cartoon. But experienced and responsible owners will find a loyal friend and wonderful companion in this energetic creation.
#1 The mention of spotted dogs is found in documents that have come down to us from different eras and states, starting from the ancient Egyptian papyrus scrolls.
However, on the basis of scanty verbal descriptions, it is simply impossible to reasonable judge who exactly was the ancestor of modern Dalmatians.
#2 The first more or less reliable evidence of the existence of the breed dates back to the 16th – 17th centuries.
White dogs with small dark markings are depicted in the surviving religious and secular works of art of those times: painting of the altar in the Church of St. Mary (also known as "Gospel od anđela") in a small town on the resort island of Losinj, fresco in the Franciscan monastery in Zaostrog, frescoes of the church Santa Maria Novella in Florence, ceremonial portraits by Venetian and Tuscan artists, which depict influential nobles - for example, Cosimo II Medici. Since much of the earliest evidence was found in the historical region of Dalmatia, which is now part of Croatia, it is from here that the roots of the Brid are derived. And the obvious consonance of the names speaks in favor of this version, officially adopted by the FCI.
#3 In the same place, on the warm shores of the Adriatic Sea, some “theoretical” works were published.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Djakovo-Osijek has preserved in its archives the chronicles of Bishop Petar Bakić (1719) and Andreas Kecskemety (1739), both talking about the Canis Dalmaticus dogs specifically to Croatia. In 1771, Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant wrote the book "Synopsis of the Quadruped", where he first named the breed Dalmatian. In 1790, English natural history researcher Thomas Buick included the Dalmatians in A General History of the Quadruped.
