A Sad Note: Oreo passed away recently at the age of 13 (old for Dals), but was virile and active right up to the last few weeks. This strange, funny, and frightfully intelligent dog will be missed by many. A friend sent the following lines:
| "We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan." | ||
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| - - - - Irving Townsend, in "The Once Again Prince" | ||
Some Helpful Books |
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Separate Lifetimes |
< Finally found the Irving Townsend book of essays that quote comes
from! Unfortunately it is out of print; check your local library.
- This collection of essays about living with animals, and coping with their loss, is "a joy for any nature or animal lover." (Roger Caras, President, ASPCA). |
Also wonderful reading: If you can find anything at all by Temple Grandin: She was born severely autistic, yet became a doctor of animal psychology - Undoubtedly her own disability gave her a unique vantage point into the strange sensory world of animals.
| Another VERY HELPFUL book full of insights into the strange and wondrous bio-feedback mechanisms between ourselves and the dogs we are training > |  The Other End Of The Leash |
Oreo was my rather too pure-bred Dalmatian. Adopted from death-row at the local ASPCA center. She was totally deaf - about one in six Dalmatians are! Yet, she learned about 26 "words" in sign language, including "speak"- (That one took time!) making her an excellent 'Stage' dog, able to respond to actors' hidden finger gestures.
As a deaf dog, she slept very well. But she played rough and tumble, like
a puppy. I once watched her in a school yard at the Lexington School For
The Deaf, where she played with the deaf children exactly the way they
played with each other: They would run after and "tag" each
other to get the other's attention. Exactly the way Oreo plays- "tagging"
other dogs or kids with her front paws, and then running off to be chased.
Oreo was adopted from the 96th Street ASPCA shelter in New York. Shelters
get a lot of Dalmatians, especially after Christmas, when the novelty has
worn off and parents realize that this dog is not a house pet. They were
bred, after all, for keeping up with horse teams- hence the big rib cage.
They can trot forever, but the flip side is that they need enormous
amounts of exercise.
The
Dalmatian Society said she was "better off dead", doubtless to
keep the breeding line pure from the deafness problem; forgetting of
course that it is the pure breeding which causes the problem itself. The
gene for deafness is carried along with the albino gene - a necessary
component of the white coat. Blue eyes - even one blue eye like Oreo - is
almost a guarantee that this gene will surface.
Dalmatians have a weird physiology. They have a urinary physiology very close to human (they are the only dogs that can get kidney stones, like people; most other dogs are prone instead to bladder stones). They tolerate simple aspirin very well. A spoon of Kaopectate works wonders when 'necessary' - just like with people.
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This is a MUST HAVE. Twice I have saved a dog's life
thanks to this book*. It is over 540 pages of facts, hard-cover, and a
STEAL at Amazon. If you don't have it, Click on photo left to purchase it
right now!
*: I was able once to recognize in a Great Dane torsion of the bowel (lethal within hours) when others thought it was just cramps! |
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Like other short haired breeds, Dals are very prone to skin allergies. I made Oreo CRAZY medicating her for what I thought was skin mites; one week on a Lamb & Rice diet and the condition went away entirely! Shampoos can be a problem also; NEVER use people-things on Dals; their skin is a totally different pH. |  |
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Zodiac Triple Action is the only flea shampoo she tolerated, (when necessary), and it works very well even in tiny amounts. Stay away from shampoos with coloring or strong fragrances, (If you can smell it, it's too strong!). Francodex hypoallergenic shampoo is GREAT, smells fresh, and doesn't bother her or me. Can be tough to find however. | |
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support DOTTERS - The mother of all Dalmatian rescue sites.