Marshall is currently in one of our foster homes, he is doing very well and we are now able to start looking for his new family.
The write up below has been written by our fosterer.
Marshall is a entire male liver and white Dalmatian born in April 2022. He is at present around 23 kilos having arrived weighing 20.2. He isn’t a large dog. We are feeding him three meals a day consisting of kibble and raw minced meat on a slow feeding tray. He has conjunctivitis and was diagnosed with a double ear infection on the 26th October, we are treating both.
When we collected Marshall we did a meet and greet with our female Dalmatian which went well, he did attempt to mount her but she informed him that wasn’t acceptable behaviour and he has been very polite with her since. We haven’t yet travelled with Marshall in a car, he travelled in the back of my dog walking van and did cry pretty much all the way home, he may travel differently in a car where he would be able to see his human companions. Marshall loves human company and struggles being left, he constantly watches movements of all the humans in our household. He will cry if one human leaves the house even if other humans are still home. We haven’t left Marshall at all since he has been in our care. The first two nights I slept on the sofa and since then Marshall has slept upstairs next to our bed. He has on two separate nights slept downstairs with our other Dalmatian, we have no restrictions on our stairs but he did struggle with the stairs to start.
Marshall gets up very early, most mornings he wakes us anytime between 4-7am, I’m not sure if it’s because he is hungry or it’s just his pattern. We have fed him a late night feed for the last two nights in an attempt to get him to sleep longer but so far it hasn’t made a difference to his wake time. He likes to watch the world go by from our landing window. He doesn’t bark at the doorbell.
Marshall seems to be more unsettled in the mornings, even after his breakfast and walk, and if all humans are home he will still cry.
Marshall pulls on the lead so we walk him on a BDW harness which really helps.
We have taken Marshall into town and into coffee shops, lots of people have wanted to say hello to him and he has greeted everyone very happily, he is very very affectionate and will cuddle into you and attempt to sit on your lap. I have no issues regarding his temperament but when excited he will attempt to nip your chin/or mouth but there is absolutely no pressure or malice.
He does smile which is lovely to see.
Over the past few weeks we have noticed flinching and hesitation quite often. He doesn’t like quick movements, either bodies or arms. He doesn’t like the hoover or washing machine and won’t walk into our garage. He was very distressed when our smoke alarm went off.
Calling our daughter from upstairs with a raised voice also caused him distress. He doesn’t appear to have any issues with the noise from Fireworks. He doesn’t like being wet so will avoid any attempt to let him into the garden with us still standing inside the house but will go out if you walk outside with him. We pop an Equafleece on him after a wet walk due to him being a little thin.
Marshall is entire so he did mark inside the house quite a lot when he first arrived, we have lots of visiting dogs so lots of smells. It lasted for a couple of days but he hasn’t marked since the initial scenting.
We haven’t let Marshall off the lead as yet, apart from in an enclosed field and on quiet walks when we have used a 5m long line. With no distractions his recall is actually quite good with the instruction’Marshall come’ but as soon as there is something more interesting than us, particularly other dogs, it is virtually non existent, even with very tasty treats. Dogs are very interesting to Marshall, we have discovered that he is much better with female dogs, although he will still attempt to mount pretty much every dog he meets. He growls at male dogs. This of course may improve once Marshall has been castrated.
Marshall needs an experienced home with someone around pretty much most of the time, he could be in a single dog household as long as humans are always present initially, if a dog is already present it would need to be a female, preferably older. He needs work on his recall and impulse control so this would need to be considered.
