Great Dane
Despite the name the great dane is German, developed from boarhounds kept by the nobility to hunt wild boar and refined in the 1800s into the giant companion breed known today.
Germany recognises it as the Deutsche Dogge.
It is one of the tallest breeds in the world, with males routinely standing over 80 cm at the shoulder, and it carries that height on a lean, elegant frame rather than a heavy one. The temperament is the surprise: great danes are gentle, quiet and strikingly people-oriented, entirely convinced they are lap dogs, and generally right about how welcome that is.
- Origin
- Germany
- Size
- 45–90 kg, 71–86 cm at the shoulder
- Lifespan
- 7–10 years
- Coat
- Short, thick and smooth
- Temperament
- Gentle, calm indoors, devoted, sensitive to tone
- Exercise
- An hour daily, gentle while growing
Related: Great Pyrenees
3 great dane photos, newest first
Living with a great dane
Grooming is a weekly rub down. Everything else about this breed is shaped by size.
Growth must not be rushed: a great dane puppy on a rich diet or hard exercise damages joints that then carry enormous weight for life. Large-breed puppy food and restrained exercise until the growth plates close.
Bloat and gastric torsion are the emergency to know — a deep chest makes it a real risk, many owners choose a preventive gastropexy, and hard exercise around meals should be avoided. Dilated cardiomyopathy and wobbler syndrome are the other significant risks. The short lifespan is the hard part of the breed.
Merle and harlequin both run in this breed, and Dane breeding follows specific pairing rules because of it — harlequin is a separate gene acting on a merle base, and merle bred to merle produces puppies that are frequently deaf, blind or both. Ask what both parents were and how the pairing was chosen; a good Dane breeder will have a clear answer.
General guidance, not veterinary advice. Individual dogs vary, and anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.
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