I grew up with dalmatians and yeah, they can be territorial if they’re not socialized and holy shit do they have so much energy, but.
The best interaction I ever saw was the time my dog Maggie first met a horse. She was running around outside and some guy was riding a horse down our street because fuck it, I have a horse, I do what I want.
Maggie screeched to a halt, staring at the horse. I began running over there because I wasn’t sure if she was going to start barking or trying to chase it or what, and then I saw her whole body language sort of shift, like hundreds of years of selective breeding were making themselves known for the first time.
Her tail began wagging, very slowly. I could see her think, “Big…friend?” She got closer and her tail began wagging faster. “Big Friend!!” She began absolutely dancing around this horse, I have never seen her so happy.
She ran next to the horse for as long as I would let her (the rider thought it was hilarious), and she was incredibly disappointed when her Big Friend had to go home.
And that’s the story of how I tried to convince my mom we needed a horse for my dog.