Dog Breeds > Great Dane
The Great Dane
The Great Dane is a gentle pet and companion that is very dependable and affectionate. Having this great dog in your family would surely brighten up the day of your friends and loved ones.
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Fascinating Facts
The Great Dane is considered as one of the oldest breed of dogs. Also known as Deutsche Dogge and German Mastiff, the Great Dane was dubbed as the Apollo of the Dogs. Evidences of the existence of the Great Dane were recovered from an Egyptian tomb that dates back to 3000 BC. The Greeks had even made money with dogs that look like the Great Dane with it.
Due to its great size, the Great Dane was primarily used to bring down wild boars and bears. Historians speculate that this breed was developed using Wolfhound and old English Mastiff.
Physical Appearance
The Great Dane’s fully-grown size and weight is 30 – 34 inches and 100 – 130 pounds. This powerful and strong breed has square-ish body. It has long and rectangular head with deep muzzle. The color of the nose highly depends on the color of the coat – black nose for black coated Danes and so on. The cropped ears are medium-sized and stand high on both sides of the head. There are times that American owners choose to crop the ears of the Danes.
The enormous feet are dark in color. The tail is long and starts thick at the base going to a point towards the tip. The coat of the Great Dane is smooth and short. The coat color includes black, blue, harlequin, brindle and fawn.
Grooming
The Great Dane’s short hair should be regularly brushed. This giant dog takes a lot of effort to clean or wash so daily grooming would save you the trouble of doing so. When bathing, use shampoo so that the smoothness of the hair would be maintained.
Mood
The Great Dane is a large but exceedingly gentle and calm dog. This breed is trustworthy, playful, active and affectionate and likes to be in the center of attraction. You can expect this dog to act according to situation by displaying great leadership and calmness.
The Great Dane has this habit of jumping over people when it gets excited. This should not be encouraged and should be stressed well to the dog by training it not to do so. On the other hand, be sure that you do not over pamper the Great Dane or else this giant would develop behavior issues such as showing aggression towards other dogs or animals in the house, being demanding, barking obsessively and even attacking its own master.
With Children
You can expect the Great Dane to be gentle and affectionate with children. This huge pet is very active and playful with kids and can spend long hours with them. Small children should be supervised when playing with the Great Dane so that no untoward incidents would happen.
Training & Exercise
The Great Dane has lots of energy that’s why it needs to be taken out on a daily walk. Make the Great Dane heel behind you while running or walking so that it would remember its rightful place on your family.
Trainers/handlers/owners should bear in mind that this dog does not enjoy long and repetitive training sessions. It gets bored easily. What it needs is quick but striking training routines so that you could captivate it. Food reward training methods can be useful in order to enhance its focus during training hours.
Health & Life Expectancy
The life expectancy of the Great Dane is about 12 – 13 years. This dog has frail bone structure that’s why jogging should be discouraged unless it is over 1 year old. Other common health problems for the Great Dane are hip dysplasia, bloat and heart disease. There are some instances wherein tail problem is observed.
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