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OUR FIRST DALMATIAN “BABY”
Our family’s first Dalmatian experience was with “Baby”. Her life started out rough. She and her sister were the last two pups in the litter to find homes and the “breeder” gave them both for a “deal”. The family that bought them turned them out in the fenced back yard, where they soon began to wreak havoc. The husband began beating them in frustration and at 6 months of age, Baby was rehomed to a lovely couple. However, the damage was done and she would not trust the man of the house. That was okay as she was a companion for his wife who was dying of cancer. When she was a year and a half, her mistress died. The owner worked long hours and loved the dog but she was timid and fearful of him, no aggression, just was withdrawn. He decided she needed a family. Our beagle-mix had died 6 months before and friends gave us a “heads up” about Baby. We went to see her right away. Our youngest son, Aaron was about 8 years old at the time. Though the dog would have nothing to do with Mike, she seemed to take right to Aaron. The owner begged us to bring her back if she didn’t work out, as he didn’t want her to end up at the shelter. We assured him that the Wosnak’s were not about dumping pets at the shelter.
Little by little, she began to trust Mike. She slept with us in out bed and she loved the boys. It took her a long time to get used to the idea that a constant parade of visitors came through our home and that she was safe from harm. Sometimes, she would just go in the bedroom and hang out til a particularly overwhelming gang left. Mike REALLY wanted to get her to sit in his lap in the recliner. He worked with her for months and got to the point where she would get everything but her hind end up in his lap. One night, I told him I was just going to pick her up and put her in his lap. He was worried she would wee wee on him! She soon realized that the benefits of sitting in the lap WAY outweighed the fear. After that night, she commonly would sit near his feet and wait to be invited into his lap.
Over the years, she proved to be a great watch dog and rarely barked unless there was something really significant happening. Once she alerted in the kitchen. When I went to see what the problem was, I soon discovered her concern. One of the boys had loaded the dishwasher and started it up and had put Dawn in the cup instead of Electrasol. That dishwasher was foaming at the mouth for all it was worth! I guess Baby didn’t want that foam to get on her kibbies. Another time, she alerted in the living room. When Mike inspected the area, he found the heating pad he had been using was about to catch fire and was having a massive meltdown. That saved us a fire call.
When she was 5 years old, she developed a seizure disorder. Her problem was mild and she never had gran mals, but she did need to go on medication. I asked my vet if I needed to start looking for another dog. He told me not to worry, the way I cared for my dogs that she would live a long time. He wasn’t kidding.
She was such a delight to have around that when she was about 8 years old, we had the opportunity to adopt Weber, another Dal. That is another whole story. Baby lived to be over 16 years old. She died one evening right after Mike got home. She just passed out in the back yard after running out with the others to do “dog business”. The vet thought she had a massive MI or stroke. She died at home with her loved ones with her. She really got us stuck on the breed and now that‘s all we think of!
To learn more about our family click "About Us" and that explains our kennel name.