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Breed Characteristics
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Great Dane
| Other Names | Deutsche Dogge, German Mastiff |
| Nicknames | Gentle Giant |
| Country of Origin | Germany |
| Weight | Males 120 - 200 lbs. (54 - 90 kg) Females 100 - 130 lbs. (45 - 59 kg) Dogs of even larger size are more prized. |
| Height (at withers) | Males: 30 - 34 in. (76 - 86 cm) Females: 28 - 32 in. (71 - 81 cm) |
| Coat | The coat is short and thick. |
| Colour | There are three colour varieties with five to six (depending on the standard) show-acceptable coat colours for Great Danes: Fawn and Brindle Fawn: The colour is yellow gold with a black mask. Black should appear on the eye rims and eyebrows, and may appear on the ears. Brindle: The colour is fawn and black in a chevron stripe pattern. Often also they are referred to as having a stripe pattern. Harlequin and Black Black: The colour is a glossy black. White markings at the chest and toes are not desirable and considered faults. Harlequin: The base colour is pure white with black torn patches irregularly and well distributed over the entire body; a pure white neck is preferred. The black patches should never be large enough to give the appearance of a blanket, nor so small as to give a stippled or dappled effect. Eligible, but less desirable, are a few small grey patches (this grey is consistent with a Merle marking) or a white base with single black hairs showing through, which tend to give a salt and pepper or dirty effect. Grey merle (Grautiger) dogs are acceptable in conformation shows under the FCI as the grey merle dogs can produce correctly marked black/white harlequin dogs, depending on the combinations. The aim for deleting the colour grey merle as a disqualifying fault is to provide a wider gene pool. Their status is that they are "neither desirable nor to be disqualified". Consequently this colour must never obtain the highest grading at dog shows. Mantle (in some countries referred to as Bostons due to the similar colouration and pattern as a Boston Terrier): The colour is black and white with a solid black blanket extending over the body; black skull with white muzzle; white blaze is optional; whole white collar preferred; a white chest; white on part or whole of forelegs and hind legs; white tipped black tail. A small white marking in the black blanket is acceptable, as is a break in the white collar. Blue: The colour is a pure steel blue. White markings at the chest and toes are not desirable and considered faults. Other colours occur occasionally but are not acceptable for conformation showing, and they are not pursued by breeders who intend to breed show dogs. These colours include white, fawnequin, brindlequin, merle, merlequin, blue merle, fawn mantle, and others. Some breeders may attempt to charge more for puppies of these "rare" colors..[citation needed] The breeding of harlequin, merle and especially white (homozygous merle) Great Danes is controversial, as these colors are associated with the merle gene.[citation needed] In some European countries, such as Germany, the mating of two merle specimens is forbidden by animal protection laws, because this will produce a litter of puppies with a quarter of "double merles", which are often deaf or blind. |
| Litter Size | 8 - 15 puppies |
| Life Span | 7 - 10 years |
| Origin & History | Dogs resembling the Great Dane have been seen on Egyptian monuments dating back to 3,000 BC. Extremely large boarhounds resembling the Great Dane appear in ancient Greece; in frescoes from Tiryns dating back to 14th–13th centuries BC. The large boarhound or Molossian hound continues to appear throughout ancient Greece in subsequent centuries right up to the Hellenistic era. The Molossian hound, the Suliot dog and specific imports from Greece were used in the 18th century to increase the stature of the boarhounds in Austria and Germany and the wolfhounds in Ireland. Bigger dogs are depicted on numerous runestones in Scandinavia, on coinage in Denmark from the 5th century AD and in the collection of Old Norse poems, known in English as Poetic Edda. The University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum holds at least seven skeletons of very large hunting dogs, dating from the 5th century BC going forward through to the year 1000 AD. Hunting dog; In the middle of the 16th century, the nobility in many countries of Europe imported strong, long-legged dogs from England, which were descended from crossbreeds between the English Mastiff and the Irish Wolfhound. They were dog hybrids in different sizes and phenotypes with no formal breed. These dogs were called Englische Docke or Englische Tocke - later written and spelled: Dogge - or Englischer Hund in Germany. The name simply meant "English dog". After time, the English word "dog" came to be the term for a molossoid dog in Germany and in France. Since the beginning of the 17th century, these dogs were bred in the courts of German nobility, independently of England. The dogs were used for hunting bear, boar and deer at princely courts, with the favorites staying at night in the bedchambers of their lords. These Kammerhunde (chamber dogs) were outfitted with gilded collars, and helped protect the sleeping princes against assassins. During the hunt for boar or bears, the Englische Dogge was used after the other hunting dogs to seize the bear or boar and hold the animal in place until the huntsman killed it. When the hunting customs changed, particularly because of the use of firearms, many of the involved dog types disappeared. The Englische Dogge became rare, and was kept only as a dog of hobby or luxury. Name change; In the 19th century, the dog was known as a "German boarhound" in English speaking countries. Some German breeders tried to introduce the names "German Dogge" and "German Mastiff" on the English market, because they believed the breed should be marketed as a dog of luxury and not as a working dog. However, due to the increasing tensions between Germany and other countries, the dog later became referred to as a "Great Dane", after the grand danois in Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière in 1755. |
| Personality | The Great Dane has a good disposition, often called a "gentle giant." Charming and affectionate, it is playful and patient with children. It loves everyone and needs to be around people. The Great Dane does not bark much and only becomes aggressive when the circumstances require it. It is reliable, trustworthy and dependable. Courageous and loyal, it is a good watchdog. The Great Dane does not stay little for long and consistent training and rules should start right from puppyhood. This giant dog should be taught not to jump or lean on people. The objective in training this dog is to achieve pack leader status. It is a natural instinct for a dog to have an order in its pack. When we humans live with dogs, we become their pack. The entire pack cooperates under a single leader. Lines are clearly defined. You and all other humans MUST be higher up in the order than the dog. That is the only way your relationship can be a success. Dogs who know their place below humans in the pack order will be good with children. If you are not a firm, confident, consistent pack leader who knows how to correct the dog when he is showing signs of aggression, the dog can be dog-aggressive. Owners who know how to properly handle their dogs will not have this issue. |
Care Requirements
| Health | Great Danes, like most giant dogs, have a fairly slow metabolism. This results in less energy and less food consumption per pound of dog than in small breeds. They have some health problems that are common to large breeds, including bloat (gastric dilatation volvulus(GDV)). Their average life span is 6 to 8 years; however, some Great Danes have been known to reach 10 years of age or more. Like many larger breeds, Great Danes are at particular risk for hip dysplasia. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and many congenital heart diseases are also commonly found in the Great Dane, leading to its nickname: the Heartbreak breed, in conjunction with its shorter lifespan. Great Danes also may carry the merle gene, which is part of the genetic makeup that creates the harlequin colouring. The merle gene is an incomplete dominant, meaning only one copy of the gene is needed to show the merle colouring; two merle genes produce excessive white markings and many health issues such as deafness, blindness, or other debilitating ocular issues. Great Danes can also develop something called "wobblers disease" that can affect their vertebral column. Since these dogs do grow at a rapid rate, the bones in their vertebrae can push up against the spinal cord and cause a little bit of weakness in the legs. This can be treated with surgery or it may straighten itself out. |
| Grooming | The smooth, shorthaired coat is easy to groom. Comb and brush with a firm bristle brush and dry shampoo when necessary. Bathing this giant is a major chore, so it pays to avoid the need by daily grooming. The nails must be kept trimmed. This breed is an average shedder. |
| Exercise | The Great Dane needs plenty of exercise. It needs to be taken on a daily long walk. |
| Other Considerations | The Great Dane will do okay in an apartment if it is sufficiently exercised. It is relatively inactive indoors and does best with at least a large yard. Cultural significance; Animation designer Iwao Takamoto based the Hanna-Barbera character Scooby-Doo on a Great Dane. He derived his illustrations from sketches given to him by a Hanna-Barbera employee who bred this dog. Scooby closely resembles a Great Dane, although his tail is longer than the breed's, bearing closer resemblance to a cat's tail. The Great Dane was named the state dog of Pennsylvania in 1965, and the University of Iowa had Great Danes, Rex I and Rex II, as mascots before the Hawkeye was chosen. Singer, the main but tragic hero of The Guardian, a novel by Nicholas Sparks. Fang, Hagrid's dog from the Harry Potter series, is a boarhound, another name for Great Danes. Though in the movie, the role was played by a Neapolitan Mastiff. Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was nicknamed the "Great Dane". The athletic teams of the University at Albany have been known as the Great Danes since 1965. Damien The Great Dane has been the mascot since that time. In 2003, the school added Lil' D, a smaller Great Dane, to help Damien entertain the crowds. Astro, the dog in The Jetsons. Duke and Turk were the captain's dogs in Disney's Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Brutus in Disney's The Ugly Dachshund, a Great Dane raised by a Dachshund mother (1966). Einstein in Disney's Oliver & Company, a gray Great Dane belonging to a group of good-hearted thieving dogs and who later befriends an orange Tabby kitten named Oliver (1988). Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip drawn by Brad Anderson from 1954 to the present day. The strip revolves around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke. An unnamed Great Dane knocks Rousseau to the ground in Reveries of a Solitary Walker; he describes the singular feeling of peace and suspended identity that the shock of the collision brings about in him. Elmer, a Great Dane in Oswald the Lucky Rabbit by Walter Lantz In each film version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, a Great Dane was cast as the cursed hellhound that kills the Baskerville family. Ace the Bat-Hound, from the Batman TV series, was depicted as a Great Dane mix. In the animated series Batman Beyond, Bruce Wayne owns a black Great Dane mix he picked up on the street, also named Ace. Ben, Hōgen, and Genba from Japanese anime and manga, Ginga Nagareboshi Gin and Ginga Densetsu Weed. Just Nuisance who was the only dog to be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy. Done mainly as a morale booster for World War II enlisted troops, Nuisance proved to be a lasting legacy of the small Cape Town suburb of Simon's Town. Chestnut: Hero of Central Park revolves around the inventive ways the Great Dane is kept hidden from his new owners. Pinkerton is the title character in a series of picture books by Steven Kellogg. In the manga/anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Jonathan Joestar, the series' first titular protagonist, owns a harlequin Great Dane named Danny who is his best friend. Danny is abused & later burned alive by Dio Brando, first as an act of dominance and then revenge for losing a fight against Jonathan. |
