Dalmatians in Croatia

If you have ever grown up with the film 101 Dalmatians which was based on the Dodie Smith book The Hundred And One Dalmatians, then you would wonder where does the Dalmatian breed come from. In fact, the breed is of Croatian origins. Most likely named after the historic and coastal Dalmatia region of Croatia where they have a long history in military service where their task was to attack mounted units. During which they would bite horses to cause the unfortunate stallion or mare to fling their rider off. They have appeared in paintings as well and OF COURSE, they have been official Fire Station mascots, owing to their carriage dog expertise as they would clear the roadway of anything that could disrupt the path of the once horse drawn fire brigade. 

The Dalmatia region nearly ended up being in Italy as part of the Treaty of London (1915) that brought Italy into World War 1 but it remained part of Croatia when the Versailles Conference (1919) claimed that it rightly belonged to the newly formed Yugoslavia.