With their large size and obvious black spot on a majority white coat, dalmatians do tend to be much easier to spot than other dog breeds.
Due to being such an obvious breed to identify, even for people who don’t know the differences between many breeds, we have noticed more and more people reaching out to ask if dalmatians are rare or not recently.
Due to seeing so many people reaching out about the rarity of the dalmatian breed as well as some of the available data from the various kennel clubs being a little misleading, we have decided to publish this dedicated article.
Our hope is that we will be able to help our readers better understand the rarity of dalmatians as well as why it is becoming less and less common to see them.
Please note that the data will be based on the USA, Canada, and the UK so their representation amongst dog owners may be a little different in your own country compared to what this article suggests.
In addition to this, dalmations tend to be more popular in towns and cities that have large upper middle-class populations too so that will have to be factored into how often you see them.
Are Dalmatians Rare?
Dalmations have actually gained a couple of places in the list of most popular dog breeds in the USA over the last five years currently sitting at the 51st most popular breed.
This does not show the true picture though as even though the dalmation breed has increased on these lists, the number of dalmations kept as pets has decreased with their rise in the lists of popular dogs being due to other breeds drastically dropping off in popularity.
In addition to this, the population of labradors, german shepherds, pugs, french bulldogs and non-registered breeds such as a Labradoodles have drastically increased too.
This has condensed a large number of dog owners to a small selection of breeds helping the dalmation increase its standing on the popularity lists while actually decreasing in popularity of the number of dalmations in the country.
This is why it is it is getting rarer and rarer to see dalmations out on your walk as even though they are climbing in the ranking charts, they are actually decreasing in popularity.
Although there was a worry that the Cruella movie released in 2021 would spike the popularity of the breed again similar to the original 101 dalmations cartoon, this doesn’t seem to have happened with the demand for dalmations trending sideways on a very slight downward curve.
Are Liver Dalmatians Rare?
Liver dalmations are the second rarest color spot for dalmations behind the standard black spots with breeders guessing around ten percent of dalmation puppies can have brown spots.
Most kennel clubs will accept a dalmation with liver spots and give it a full pedigree certificate with any pups the dog produces also being able to receive their pedigree papers too.
Liver dalmations are also able to complete in most dog shows but specific rules to each show do apply so it is always worth double-checking.
Are Lemon Dalmatians Rare?
Lemon dalmations are the third rarest spot color being the regular black spots or liver spots. Although a dalmatian born with lemon spots will receive its pedigree certificate, most kennel club will issue a breeding ban on the dog to prevent the lemon gene from being passed on.
This is causing dalmatians with lemon spots to be rarer and rarer with most lemon dalmations being used as hunting or pet dogs rather than show dogs due to most shows not letting lemon dalmatians compete.
Are Brown Dalmatians Rare (Tricolors)?
Brown dalmations or “tricolor dalmations” are the rarest coat combination available without a biological issue occurring in the dog.
A very small number of dalmation puppies are born as tricolors and although the name suggests the dog will have spots of three colors, it usually has spots of two colors.
The combination is usually brown and liver spots or brown and black spots but in some very rare situations, you can find a tricolor that does actually have brown, liver, and black spots all on the same dog.
Are Albino Dalmatians Rare?
Albino dalmations are technically the rarest dalmation coat due to the dog needing albinism for its unique coat.
This can occur in regular, liver, lemon or brown dalmations causing them to have a white coat but albinism is relatively rare in dalmations.
We actually have a dedicated article going over albino dalmations that offers more information on them that may be useful too.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the rarity level of the dalmatian dog breed to an end. We hope that you have found it helpful and that we have been able to help you better understand why most people are seeing less and less dalmations out and about in their local towns and cities even though the data from various kennel clubs actually shows the dalmation breed climbing up the popularity ladder.
