Blue, Dalmatian

Blue

Dalmatian

Blue was one of my first ever clients, a beautiful teenage Dalmatian with a distinctive Bowie-esque blue eye.

I was so excited to work with such an iconic dog as I loved reading One Hundred and One Dalmatians as a child. The book and the Disney film hold a special place in my heart as they really beautifully combine the Romance of London with the Romance of dogs.

It's the story of 101 coddled and naive puppies who can't hack the demands of interning in the fashion industry; no payment, no one takes their mental health into account and they have to be literally killed for their skin. Still better than when I worked at MaxMara.

To make matters worse though, the puppies are kidnapped outside London; beyond even the Elizabeth Line. Thankfully their middle class parents rescue them and buy them a place to live in Zone 1. Phewf.

More importantly though, Blue's owner was the first person to make a booking via my website. To this day the website has been one of the most annoying and time-sucking parts of my 'just quickly becoming a dog trainer lol' journey. Seeing my first 'You got a new booking!' notification warmed the cockles of this new 'small business owner's heart and will be a moment forever lodged in my memory and, happily alongside it, Blue.

A Dalmatian's Disney-fied fame is a bit of a curse. If you like getting stopped in the street constantly as you walk through London with the canine equivalent of Taylor Swift, then sure, get a Dalmatian, but when training this isn't ideal.

Just as you're making slow and steady progress with a loose lead walking exercise, you'll be suddenly interrupted by a mad group of tourists asking for a selfie.

'Ohmigod I LOVE 101 Dalmatians !! ' they squeal, not realising that we are having a serious lesson. 'Ohmigod, look at his eye !! His blue eye !! Just like David Bowie !! '.I tell them

 'we're training'  and roll my eyes at their deeply facile reaction to a Dalmatian, not admitting that my reaction was exactly the same.

Not commonly shown in TV and film is how big and strong Dalmatians are. I mean, they originated in Croatia ffs. Historically they were also used in the fire service, running ahead of the fire engine to clear the road of pedestrians, as well as even earlier, guarding HNWIs from Highway Robbery. Today's Dalmatians have inherited this work ethic and will pull you along with the same life saving urgency, but they're dragging you to a box of discarded Chicken Cottage not a burning building, if you're lucky there might be a bonus bit of fox poo.

This strong pulling drive is high risk if , like Blue's owner, you are fairly small and surrounded by Lime bikes being ridden at various levels of inebriation. It was wonderful to see that his owner had already provided him with his stunning harness which would protect his neck from all that pressure. We went through loose lead walking exercises for them to practice at home and in the park. I also observed how and when the owners rewarded Blue, and guided them towards more positive reinforcement, instead of punishing him for instincts that had been actively bred into him.

Whenever I see a dog being told off for something they were deliberately bred to do I always think of Roy Keane saying 'but that's 'is job !! '. We often need to work around, or with, a dog's hard-wired instincts which we , as a species, programmed into them. This requires patience and a great deal of understanding. Training Blue, or any dog, based on their background is at the heart of my training. It's important that both their individual personalities and their breed history is taken into account. After all, we wouldn't make humans who evolved to run across large stretches of land, hunting, fishing and fighting, work in dull, repetitive meaningless jobs, often hunched over a laptop, would we?

It was a pleasure to work with Blue and I wish him all the best with his walks through London, despite his inclination to pull ahead. Although, come to think of it, even in the opening sequence of 101 Dalmatians, it's the Dalmatians pulling that actually does lead to the humans 'pulling' so ...maybe fair enough actually.