Dalmatian dogs are known for our super cool spots, but did you know we’re not actually born with them? We have to earn them! Not really, but Dalmatian puppies are born with purely white coats, and the spots start to develop as we get older, usually around 2-3 weeks of age. By the time we’re one month old, most of our spots will have appeared, but throughout our entire lives new ones can show up! The more the merrier!

It’s not clear where we first came from because ancient artifacts and records place us in a few different locations. We do know that by the early 1800s, we were living along the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia in Croatia. Say that five times fast! We Croatian canines have had tons of jobs since we were first discovered by humans. We’ve worked as guard dogs, shepherd dogs, ratters, retrievers, circus dogs, and carriage dogs. In England, we were developed to complete our most common job: coaching. Not, like, basketball teams or anything...I’ll explain. Way back when, the Romani used us to run alongside horses and their carriages. Years later, British nobles used us for the same purpose, clearing paths for horses to run through and helping guide them on their travels. The British call us different names, like English Coach Dogs, Spotted Dick, Plum Pudding Dog...you get the gist. In more recent years, we’ve been called firehouse dogs because of our association with firefighting.