Firehouse Pets

[Guest]

I always wanted to know...where did the fire dalmation "tradition" come from? Why was a dalmation in particular so popular in fire dept? And do any depts in westchester or around still or have a "house pet"? I wish we had a dog around

Edited July 15, 2007 by NRFDTL11Buff

[E58RET 24]

The dalmation was originally a "coach dod" that would run alongside English coaches , it evolved into a fire house dog when apparatus was horse drawn. These dogs could run all day without getting tired.Unfortunately when I brought my dalmation to the station and an alarm came in it s*** all over the place.

[shac 7313 0]

when i was an kid growing up in tarrytown ny. my uncle had a dalmation that i help raise in the firehouse

my uncle was ex-chief of tfd ,consolidated engine e-77.

[CPAGE 2]

The Village of Pelham had a Dalmation back in the late 80's 90's if I remember right she was not the most friendly dog around.

[61MACKBR1 222]

Or maybe you can train your dalmation to protect your fire truck from people who might be tempted to "Borrow It" like that guy in Mount Vernon last year. Here's a photo of "Fido" in action

[jayhalsey 6]

The Village of Pelham had a Dalmation back in the late 80's 90's if I remember right she was not the most friendly dog around.

Think I read somewhere that Dalmations tend not to be very friendly. although, of course there are exceptions.

[Guest pentax02839]

Ive heard they are very overbreed.also are they not tone deaf?

[Guest]

Don't laugh now, but Ceasar Milan (the dog whisperer) did a show on a fire house dalmation. It's true that dalmations tend not to be the friendliest breed. Thats why they did a great job keeping all the horses in line. This particular one was too friendly. It was jumping all the visitors, eating food off their plates, run away during calls, etc. Ceasar had to spend a couple days training all of the members of the house (all three shifts) how to properly treat their dog. Eventually they brought in a dog trainer (as Ceasar trains humans and rehabilitates dogs) and taught it to "stop, drop, and roll." They brought it to schools for fire prevention week and the kids loved it.

(I watch the show so I know how to keep my gf's chihuahua in line... i hate that damn dog)

[HCFRFF 0]

Starting in May of this year our chief put out a memo that all firehouse pets will be removed from the stations. Only a couple of stations had dogs. The problem was that people started bring there pets from home so they animal didnt have to be cooped up for 24hrs. Some of the animals werent really friendly and finially a citizen came to one of the stations and a dog was to friendly towards him. Well that citizen made a complaint.

It kinda sucks that we cant have a station dog anymore. My old station we had "smokey" she's a AKC black lab. She would ride the pumper with us everywhere. Talk about smart.....i think shes smarter then some of the clowns i work with

[IzzyEng4 427]

The true firehouse pet dog is actually not the dalmatian, but the faithful mixed breed "mutt". Like it was said before, dalmatians were coach dogs that followed English coaches and the contrast of spots helped the horses, which are color blind , were able to see them better and bot dalmatians had a unique relationship with horses too unlike other dogs.

The dalmatian comes from the Greyhound blood line and yet over the years to keep their spots, they have been greatly inbred though out the world. Because of this, many dalmatians are deaf, not just tone deaf, completely deaf. And believe it or not, deaf dalmatians actually make a better pet than others but the breed is a lot of work. They area a great dog but because of the inbreeding caused their temperament to change. There are efforts to expand the bloodlines through the world and many European lines are coming over here to expand the family tree.

There are several dalmatian rescues in the country because so many are abandoned when family watching 101 Dalmatians from Disney don;t do there home work and purchase the dog, not realizing the work and care this breed needs.

[Guest]

The Turn Of River FD in Stamford CT. has one. In fact it was barking at me a few months back when I was taking shots of thier 2006 Seagrave engine. Here is a picture of thier dalmation.

Edited July 15, 2007 by nutty1

[mstrang1 213]

Dalmations in fact, do NOT get along with other dogs, but get along greatly with horses. So the dogs would run alongside the horses pulling the fire cart so other dogs would not spook the horses, which they tended to do. Dalmations also usually have a shorter lifespan than other breeds due to the fact that their skull stops growing, but their brain does not. This causes a great amount of pain, attributes to their more violent nature, and early death.

[Guest]

Part of the reason Dalmatians have a reputation/tendency to be destructive and/or mean is because they are working dogs who need to be worn out! Coaching dogs traditionally ran alongside the horses (with whom they really get along), even underneath the carriage and between the wheels, and kept the horses company. Most people don't use dogs in the kind of working capacity that they need--Dalmatians have intense energy and cannot be cooped up in the house all day or they will begin to be destructive out of boredom and lack of exercise. I know a dog trainer who taught his dogs to go for walks on a treadmill.

There were a lot of problems with Dalmatians being abandoned after the re-release of Disney's 101 Dalmatians--when kids wanted the dog but the family lifestyle wasn't suited to such an energetic breed.

There are other dogs who have hearing/sight problems due to in-breeding. About 8 percent of Dalmatians are born totally deaf (which is pretty low--responsible breeders only breed healthy, hearing dogs); I don't know if OSHA would be concerned about hearing protection for a deaf dog when the windows are open on the rig (which is another subject entirely!).

[firemoose827 324]

Cobleskill still has a firehouse pet.....me, " The Moose"....they dont like feeding me though, dont know why. OOOH its lunch time gotta go!!!!

"Do not feed the Moose"

[Oswegowind 17]

Here is the story from Wikipedia...you make your own call:

Dalmations in the Fire Service on Wikipedia.com