Breed Description: The Great Dane is often called the gentle giant. This breed combines an enormous muscular body with both elegance and dignity. The Great Dane is very affectionate and displays loyalty to its master, patience with children and cautious restraint around strangers.
Group: Working group.
Purpose of Breed: Hunting large game
Country of Origin: Germany
Average Size: Great Danes range from 30 to 32 inches and weigh from 100 to 120 pounds.
Color(s): Typically black, fawn, brindle, blue or harlequin.
Coat Type: The Great Dane's coat is short, thick and glossy.
Grooming: The short, flat coat on this breed requires minimal grooming. Standard care is required for eyes, ears, pads and nails.
Exercise Needs: This breed needs a substantial amount of exercise and physical space to live comfortably. A fenced yard and daily exercise are essential.
Temperament: Great Danes are well-known for their clean habits and tolerance toward children. Due to their size, however, they should not be left around young children unsupervised. This dog makes an excellent family pet for those who have the space and can afford to pay for the dogs food bill. This breed is loyal and affectionate and makes a good guard dog.
Common Ailments: Susceptible to gastric torsion, hip dysplasia, heart disease and tail injuries.
Life Expectancy: Averages 6-8 years
Trivia: Despite their name, there is no known reason for connecting Denmark with the origin or development of the Great Dane.
More Information: Great Dane Club of America
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have a year old Great Dane who is now experiencing skin rashes just about everywhere. I would like some tips please, especially for using yogurt. She weights about 85 lbs. Therefore, quantity/sizes on treatment would be appreciated. I have been through the mill on all the testing and treatments and conflicting diagnosis and causes. I'll try anything at this point. Thank you.
My Maltese has had all kinds of sking troubles. He now is on Eucenuba Sensitive Skin Formula dog food. He is washed in a gentle shampoo for sensitive skin that has tea tree oil in it that I got from Petsmart. I also, when he had really bad sores, would dab tea tree oil on the sores with a cotton ball or q-tip. This helped dry and heal.
His skin is much better now.
A better alternative to yoghurt is kefir. It is made at home from 'grains' or starter kits, my dogs lap it up. They are both prone to yeast and itchinesss. It is probiotics, extremely healthy for them and you. A health food store may carry both or the grains may need to be ordered online.
I'm on a Yahoo Group called Petdogs-L
It's really great, and is a chat group, but more of the "my dog has a skin rash, what can I do" type than a "I love my dog" one. It's excellent, gives links to specialist sites, and has some professionals on it, who can really help you. I've had some of the best advice from there. It's really worth a look.
Have you considered making your own dog food? Some of the dog food on the market have preservatives, etc. that your dog could be reacting to.
My Westie had skin problems. I finally realized he was allergic to any dog food with corn in it. Corn is in most dog foods. At the time, Kibble & Bits was corn free. I don't know if it still is.
I feed my dogs yogurt. They each weigh 88lbs. I mix one tablespoon in with their dry food, twice a day. I also give them a spoon of canned food mixed in twice a day, as well. Their fur looks great and I've heard this helps prevent bloat.
I also started eating yogurt. I figure if it was helping them so much, why not me?
I have a 18 month old great dane and I give her 1 Tablespoon of yogurt for gas. It works. I haven't heard about it working for anything else or what the dosage would be. My dane weighs just over 100 lbs.
What to do for your dog would depend on what is causing the problem. I know how expensive this can be, and it is very frustrating. As far as the yogurt question, I am assuming you want to feed that for the probiotic effect. Unfortunately, the amount you would need to feed in order to get enough of the probiotics could cause more of a problem (a couple of spoonfuls a day won't hurt, but do not provide enough of the probiotics).
If you are looking for a way to provide the probiotics, I would suggest trying giving a probiotic supplement pill. Be careful, most of the ones available do not provide the amount they say they do. The whole dog journal suggested Garden of LIfe Primal Defense. They are independently tested, so they contain the amount stated. Sort of expensive, but well worth it!
My great dane has parvo, we just got back from the vet. I was wondering if there were any tips anyone has for treating this at home. Does the bleach method work or is there anything else out there that works.
David,
I'm sorry to hear your dog has Parvo.
Bleach (diluted one part to 30 parts water) can kill the virus, but bleaching your entire home and property is a mammoth undertaking.
I strongly recommend that you download a free book that my wife and I put together. It's called Parvo Treatment 101, and you can get it from www.ParvoBook.com/
As for home treatments, you should check out two products called Parvaid and Vibactra Plus, which when used together, have a 90% success rate in saving dogs that have Parvo.
You can find out more about these products at either www.ParvoBuster.com/
In the meantime, you should make the Parvo Emergency Tea Recipe that you can find at www.ParvoBuster.com/
I hope all goes well for you and your doggie - if you act fact, you have a good chance of saving him.
Best wishes.
Are you asking if you can give your dog bleach, the answer is a big NO!!! The bleach will kill the parvo in and around your home and property via mopping, spraying and wiping things down.
This is the 2nd time in a week or so that I've seen something about treating an animal infected with parvo by using bleach!
Are you sure that it is Parvo? IF it shows up on the vets test as light parvo, it might not be.
There is an illness called Dog Show Crud which mimics parvo with vomiting and watch for the key here...gelitinous like stools (at first)...then explosive. There may or may not be a touch of blood in the stool.
Do a search for Dog Show Crud on the internet--there will be many sites that come up. The problem is that many vets either do not know about this or do not accept that it is NOT Parvo but will offer an expensive treatment. Use 2 doses of Clavimox--from your vet. You may need a subcutaneous IV which is so simple that you could do this at home if your vet will show you. After one dose, IF it is not parvo, you may see a drastic improvement in your dog. This illness affects dogs, cats, livestock and even people according to the one site that I read.
This illness is a great killer of pups and can make a very healthy chubby pup look emanciated in a matter of hours.
I have heard of a local breeder here that routinely gives her pups-as they leave--and I'm sorry but I'm not sure of the exact name but a feed mill/farmer will know of this product..."calf bullets" for lack of a better description....they are in the shape of a bullet. Since this illness is a bacterial infection only, this possibly can help. This breeder cuts the 'bullets' to size for the weight of the pups she is giving it to..Calf Bullets are given to newborn/young calves that get diarreah which is common in calves and she has done this for years with her litters...so it must work.
This information is not to do with Parvo which is a deadly killer...but for this illness Dog Show Crud.
I've had it in my pups and its simply amazing how fast they turn around after even one dose of Clavimox. A noticeable improvement.
I wish the best for your dog.
When my Granddaughters dog got parvo she brought it to me. It was really sick. I researched a lot and this is what I found. I give it mega doses of Vitamin C, 2000 mg every 2-3 hours, Also flagl, an antibiotic. In between I gave it homemade chicken broth with an eye dropper. Today he is very healthy.
I need a dog food recipe for a 120 pound great dane that I can feed her daily.
Nancy from Syracuse
1 can corn
1 can Dinty Moore Beef Stew
1 can tuna OR canned chicken as alternate
2 raw eggs, whipped
2 lb. cheap hamburger(sauted lightly), drained.
1 cup cooked rice/buttered
1 slice bologna chopped finely, sprinkle with garlic
powder.
any left over meat gravy, stale bread, spahgetti/
pizza/ vegetables/ cereals.
Mix and serve luke warm if possible. Keep plenty of water available. Never feed animals milk/cheese/icecream, even if they "like it"!
Good luck and God bless you and your dog. : )
One elephant, steamed. :-)
Lots of home cooked recipes for animals on my blog and they are all free. Start here and work your way through the blog for some great recipes and ideas. flip195.wordpress.com/
Do not feed corn to your dog, dogs can not digest corn.
Any dog needs 3% of it's ideal body weight per day in food, I like to spilt it into 2 meals minimum to avoid bloat. Each meal should consist of at least 50% meat, I perfer 75% but thats just me.
Check out these photos.
Elly is a 7 year old Great Dane. She was a rescue. We've had her for 4 years. She likes to tease the cow, and sit on people laps. She wasn't treated too nice by her former owners so she is sometimes scared.
Harlee is a 6 year old Great Dane. I gave Harlee to my daughter in February 2005. He loves to run in the woods. My daughter has woods behind her house.
Meet Jaxton and Kyler. Jaxton (fawn one) is almost 8 years old and Kyler the blue one is almost a year old. They are both Great Danes.
Emmett was born on April 5th, 2014 and I actually found him on craigslist. Turns out his breeder lived only 8 miles from where I lived and I was very fortunate to visit him every week, take pictures and see how much he had grown.
Getti is a 7.5 year old Great Dane. I've had him since he was a pup. He flew in from WA state to TX! What a good boy! He loves to snuggle with ME! He is the best friend and security system I could ever have!
Sabra's Heavenly Bailey is 6 Months old. She is a Female Merlequin Great Dane and was our first puppy from our Zia.
Brutus is now nearly 18 months. This picture was taken when he was about 3 months. He is a Harlequin Great Dane. We drove two hours to get Brutus in 100+ degree heat in 2008.
This is Haze our 8 month old Great Dane. He is a big baby and so much fun! He loves to snuggle close! He acts just like Scooby Doo!
Abigael is 8 months old Great Dane. We got her on October 30th 2009. She likes to go for walks. I love my baby, she is beautiful!
Mable is a 4 month old Great Dane. My youngest son (18) brought her home for me for Valentine's Day with love. She loves to sit or lay on any one.
Heavenly's Mighty Zues is 6 years old and still got it. He produced 11 puppies in April and He is a Proud Daddy of 11 Born Oct 13th 2005.
Grendel was given to us as a companion for Emmett who missed having another dog to play with after our 10.5 year old Rosie passed away.
I got Gus on May 2011, from an older lady who had 10 puppies. He was the only Mantle. Adorable. Love at first site.
Maya is a Great Dane puppy - coloring: reverse brindle, black with subtle cream stripes. Ginger is a miniature, long-haired, chocolate dapple dachshund.
