Great Dane

What is a Great Dane?

A giant working breed standing 71-86cm at the shoulder and weighing 45-90kg. Despite the name they are German, developed as boar hounds and later as estate guardians, and refined into a companion.

They are frequently described as gentle giants and the description holds. What it omits is that you are buying a dog whose life expectancy is roughly half a spaniel's.

History and origins

Boar hounds of this type existed across Europe for centuries, built from mastiff and sighthound stock. German breeders standardised them in the 19th century, dropped the hunting function and renamed the breed Deutsche Dogge in 1880 in a deliberate move to strip the French association from "Grand Danois".

Bismarck kept them, which did the breed's popularity no harm at all.

Appearance and size

71-86cm; males from 76cm. 45-90kg. Long clean lines, a deep chest, a rectangular head. Fawn, brindle, blue, black, harlequin and mantle are the recognised colours.

Merle-to-merle breeding produces double merles, which are frequently deaf, blind or both. A harlequin Dane comes from a merle parent, so ask specifically what both parents were.

Ear cropping is illegal in the UK.

Temperament and personality

Calm, affectionate and remarkably tolerant. Indoors they are largely inert - a Dane will spend most of the day asleep on the largest available soft surface, ideally you. They are sensitive dogs that take correction badly and thrive on inclusion.

They are also convinced they are lap-sized, which at 70kg is a household planning consideration.

Intelligence and trainability

Willing, food-motivated and reasonably quick, though not driven in the way a Dobermann is. Train early and firmly-but-gently, because everything you tolerate in a puppy you will be living with in a dog that can reach the kitchen worktop without stretching.

Lead manners are non-negotiable. A Dane that pulls will pull you over.

Children and other pets

Genuinely good with children, patient and slow to react. The risk is entirely accidental - a wagging tail at toddler head-height, a dog turning round in a small room.

Usually sociable with other dogs and fine with cats they are raised with.

Health problems

Gastric dilatation-volvulus (bloat). Great Danes have the highest lifetime risk of any breed, estimated above 40 per cent. The stomach fills with gas and twists, cutting off its own blood supply. It kills in hours. Signs are a distended abdomen, unproductive retching, restlessness and drooling, and it is an immediate emergency.

Many owners elect a prophylactic gastropexy - tacking the stomach to the body wall, often done at neutering. Discuss it with your vet before you need to.

Dilated cardiomyopathy, common in the breed and a leading cause of death. Annual echocardiograms in breeding stock.

Osteosarcoma, bone cancer, to which giant breeds are strongly predisposed. Hip and elbow dysplasia. Wobbler syndrome, a neck spinal compression that this breed gets more than most. Hypothyroidism.

And growth itself is a hazard: a Dane goes from 600g to 60kg in twelve months and getting the diet and exercise wrong in that window causes lifelong joint damage.

Daily care routine

Two moderate walks, a hands-on check, and vigilance about the abdomen. Feed twice daily from floor level, never immediately before or after exercise.

Beds, floors and car boots all need thinking about. A Dane on a hard floor gets pressure sores on the elbows and hocks.

Grooming and coat care

Easy. Weekly rub with a mitt, nails kept short - they are heavy and long nails change the foot angle - and teeth cleaned. The elbows and hocks need watching for callus.

Exercise needs

Moderate and carefully staged. An adult wants an hour to ninety minutes across two walks, on soft ground where possible. They are not endurance dogs and they are not sprinters over distance.

Puppies need far less than owners expect. Five minutes per month of age, twice daily, is the usual guide, and no stairs, no jumping and no long walks until eighteen months to two years. Joint damage done in the first year is permanent.

Feeding and diet

A large or giant breed puppy food with controlled calcium and a moderate growth rate - fast growth is actively harmful in this breed. Two or three measured meals as an adult, raised or floor level according to current advice from your vet, with quiet rest for an hour either side.

The food bill is real: a Dane eats 800g-1.2kg of dry food daily.

Price

£1,000-£2,000 from a health-tested breeder.

The running cost is what people underestimate. Food is £80-£120 a month. Insurance is £100-£200 a month on an adult and rises sharply, with many insurers restricting cover after eight. Every drug dose is by weight, so a course of antibiotics costs what it would for four spaniels. Gastropexy is £1,000-£2,000; emergency bloat surgery is £4,000-£8,000.

Buying advice

Ask for the parents' cardiac screening dates and hip scores. Ask what both parents' colours are - if both are merle or harlequin, walk away.

Ask what the breeder feeds their puppies and for how long they recommend a puppy food. A breeder who is casual about growth rate in a giant breed is the wrong breeder.

And go in with the lifespan understood. Eight to ten years is the honest figure, some lines do less, and a Great Dane is a decision to love something for a short time.