Training a Dalmatian to follow a horse and carriage looks like this (scroll down if you’re on a laptop):

When training is completed, it looks like this:

And when more than one Dalmatian and horse are involved, it looks like this (a scene we spotted from the Judy Garland movie, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” but watch fast, it happens only in the first few seconds):

Other breeds can function around horses, but there is something special about the natural affinity between Dalmatians and horses. Dalmatians instinctually like to keep pace with horses while running, but they also seem to have a natural calming effect on them and can, in fact, lead a horse into a situation she wouldn’t otherwise go into. This relationship goes back so far that it’s believed that that both horse mounted warriors and hunters may have first used Dalmatians to do what they did. By the 17th century, Dalmatians became hoity-toity dogs trained to run smartly along side the carriages of important ladies of society leading to a couple of breed nicknames, “Coach Dog” and “Ladies dogs.” Indeed, the term “coaching” referred to how a Dalmatian positioned himself just off the side and towards the rear of a horse to run with it.

Over the course of time, Dalmatians were used to protect horses that pulled English stagecoaches, and firemen, too, found that Dalmatians could be trained to run between the horses pulling the water wagons to keep them moving as a team and not nip at each other. You saw evidence of that in the video clip from “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

We are so pleased that the legacy of Dalmatians and horses is being preserved by breed clubs and individuals through competitions and training clinics.

Our post title was inspired by the Frank Sinatra song you can hear in the clip below. Be sure to pick up on what love and marriage is like in the first line!

Show us your Horse + Dalmatian photo!

Image: Via Wikicommons