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I agree with Ashton. Any dog can be trained, you just have to find the right motivator. Not all dogs are fetchers - some dogs have higher retrieving instincts, and dalmatians weren't bred to be retrievers. That doesn't mean he's dumb, it just means you haven't yet learned how to train him properly.
Try taking the dog to an obedience class that does "clicker training." Our Cooper dog is a fairly independent dog who can be a little aloof and hard to train, but clicker training has worked GREAT! If you're really interested, find a book called "Clicking with Your Dog" or "Clicker Training with Your Dog" at PetSmart, and another one called "Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson.
Basically, you get one of those little clicker things, and every time the dog does something you like, you click and give him a treat. Pretty soon he learns to associate that clicker with a reward, and it marks the behavior you want to train. So you start rewarding JUST the behavior you want to train (like "down") - lure the dog into a "down" position with a treat and as soon as he hits the floor, click and give him a treat. Repeat this a few times and start adding the word "down" just before he hits the floor, and eventually start rewarding him only when he does it on command. It's pretty effective, even for hard-to-train dogs.
Good luck!
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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