I am by no means a Dal expert, but I love them and adored the one we had growing up.
Ours was wicked smart, super trainable, had a ton of energy which I thought was great. She was so much fun. Very friendly and happy go lucky with family and those that she knew well, and aloof with strangers, but still friendly if approached. Like the Dobermans, she simply just didn't care to be loved on by people she didn't know. They weren't worth her time.
She was not from a good breeder as far as I know, but we got her as a rehome so I'm not entirely sure where she was from. The people that got her were known to get rid of puppies all the time when they became too much work, so I doubt any reputable breeder would've given them a dog. Regardless, we ended up with Sky and I really can't say enough good things about her. She was awesome. Very naughty, too, at times. She was too smart for her own good on occassion haha. She's the type of dog I'd love to have now. But she was so tolerant - of people, of kids, of other dogs, of everything really. Just a wonderful dog.
She was very much a one person dog, too. She adored our whole family, but she was my mom's dog through and through. She'd do anything for my mom, no questions asked. Very handler pleasing... not sure if that was a Dalmatian trait or just a Sky trait. She didn't care to always listen to anybody else, but she never questioned my mom.
There were a few Dals at last weekend's Flyball tournament that I was at and I loved all of them too. They reminded me very much of Sky, which makes me think she wasn't any exception to the breed.
But anyway, that's my limited experience with them! We were pretty young when we had Sky. I think I was 9 and my brother was 7 and she was a great kid dog for us. I'd love to have another Dalmatian some day I think. I just worry that maybe they're too Doberman like sometimes in the type of energy they have (kind of scattered as opposed to channelled I guess). But maybe not. I really, really like them.
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