Just want to keep in mind that the larger dogs can have hip, joint, and knee problems. They are great but, bless their hearts, all that weight on those bones.......
Official Great Dane Owner/Lover Thread
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Just want to keep in mind that the larger dogs can have hip, joint, and knee problems. They are great but, bless their hearts, all that weight on those bones.......
Just keep in mind that the bigger dogs tend to have a lot of problems with hips, joints, and knees. It's just a sad side effect with all of that weight on their poor little bones.
But they are so much more fun than the little pocket pooches. Plus, we've never had to worry about anybody breaking into our house. Yes, our rotties are definetely house dogs! Can't stand to see people leaving their dogs or cats outside in 0 degree weather!
Sorry about the two posts for the same thing!!!! I thought I forgot to submit the first reply because it wasn't there when I looked. Don't know what happened!!! I haven't even been drinking!!!!!
If anyone is planning on buying one, go to a reputable breeder who health tests (hips, heart, etc) before breeding a dog, and comes from a long life line. It will cost more up front than one out of the paper, but it will be worth it, both in overall cost, but especially heartache. Also, you won't be supporting the puppy mills or backyard breeders who do an uninformed breeding so 'Junior can see the miracle of birth' and wind up with half the litter at the humane society. Speaking of which, please consider rescue. It's amazing how many of these gentle giants need homes. And most of the time they're a little older, so you won't have to go thru housebreaking/chewing. **Kathy stepping off soapbox now**
Big dogs are the best! I have never owned a dane but I do like them. I lean toward the mastiffs myself and have a Dogo Argentino named Hektor. I also have a wonderful Viszla named Gunnar.
My next dog will be a Cane Corso.
For some strange reason I am never able to have the same breed twice. I get very attached to my dogs so it is hard to get the same breed as I do not feel I can replace the dog I lost, so I get a different breed.
Sadly I will never be able to own all the dogs I would like to own as my husband limits me to only three at a time.
I am down one dog now as we lost Charles a couple of weeks ago. He stole a bottle of Ibuprofen off the counter, managed to eat the lid off and ingested most of the bottle. His kidneys failed and we ended up having to put him to sleep. It will be some time before I am ready to get another dog. Charles was a australlian shepherd, cattle dog mix and he was a good dog.
Some dogs I would like to some day own are: Cane Corso, Bull Mastiff, Neopolition Mastiff, Fila Brazillai, Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound........
My next dog will be a Cane Corso.
For some strange reason I am never able to have the same breed twice. I get very attached to my dogs so it is hard to get the same breed as I do not feel I can replace the dog I lost, so I get a different breed.
Sadly I will never be able to own all the dogs I would like to own as my husband limits me to only three at a time.
I am down one dog now as we lost Charles a couple of weeks ago. He stole a bottle of Ibuprofen off the counter, managed to eat the lid off and ingested most of the bottle. His kidneys failed and we ended up having to put him to sleep. It will be some time before I am ready to get another dog. Charles was a australlian shepherd, cattle dog mix and he was a good dog.
Some dogs I would like to some day own are: Cane Corso, Bull Mastiff, Neopolition Mastiff, Fila Brazillai, Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound........
Gr8...thanks for the compliments on my 'blue' (his name is blue, real creative huh?)
I love the work of that sculptor you posted. She captures the essence of the Dane really well.
That video was great also. Reminds me of when we brought our 'little' guy home. I say little, but I just mean young. He was 8 weeks when we got him, and if I remember correctly, he was about 24lbs. It's staggering how quickly they shoot up. You can see growth on almost a weekly basis.
I was told by the vet when he was a pup, that ideally you want the growth to be as slow as possible to help reduce joint problems later in life. I think I took all the right steps to ensure that.. no puppy food, only slow growth formula food for the first two years, had him 'clipped' at about 4 months, etc. I hope all the precautions I have taken will pay off with a long life.
Do you agree with all these steps? I would be interested to hear what you think since you are obviously very experienced (and yours seem to live so long).
Indeed. Always make sure the breeding stock is OFA certified. Always!Just want to keep in mind that the larger dogs can have hip, joint, and knee problems. They are great but, bless their hearts, all that weight on those bones.......
She really does! You can tell she's lived with them for a bunch of years. It's not a bunch of majestic poses. It's who they really are. Next time the Great Dane Nationals comes close to you, you really need to go for a day or two. She always exhibits there. It's also amazing to see 700-900 great danes in one place. It's a hoot in the host hotel to see the elevator doors open, and 4 or 5 danes step off.
It is weird. I swear, they grow literally overnite. I crate train all my guys as pups, and some mornings you get up, let them out, and say "who are you and what did you do with my little puppy???"
I have one major piece of advice for you....keep your vet!!! He/she was right on with the advice. I feed my guys puppy food until they're 10-12 weeks and then start transitioning them to adult food (I feed nutro natural choice, but that's just my preference in a premium food...very healthy kids with great coats with it). Neutering a pet is always a good idea. Old school was doing it when they were older, but that's no longer the case. You mentioned in an earlier post that you didn't do long walks when he was young. Also excellent advice, especially on hard surfaces (concrete, asphalt)...it's tough on their growing bones. You also talked earlier about excellent feeding/exercise cycles. You've definitely done all the right things, including socialization from the pix (a poorly socialized dog wouldn't be zonked out on the back seat like that
). The only other precaution that some people take is tacking their stomachs if there's a history of bloat. I've never done it with mine, but have friends who do it regularly (common to do it in tandem with spaying a female, especially at an older age, or to an intact male in a household with intact females).To BigBaddBossyDog
When you're buying a puppy, I agree completely, although as we both know, some breeders will disagree. I health test mine (Face is OFA excellent, thought Toofy would get one as well looking at his films, but he 'only' got a good...he's only missing CERF(not a dane issue) to have his CHIC number). Don't fall for the line "We don't have to do it, because we never see it in our dogs" or "we don't do it because we don't want to risk putting them under anesthesia". The way to minimize that stuff in your lines is to test for it before breeding. Just as important, is to ask about family, not just mom/dad but grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles, not from a standpoint of how many champions there are on the pedigree, but how was their temperament, how long did they live, what did they die from, what health issues were seen. All lines have them from time to time, so don't panic if they tell you about someone dying of bloat or cancer...it just means they're being honest.
Sorry guys...didn't mean to jump in the pulpit.
Hi ping, If you get a chance, go to facebook and look up the chuck page. look at my profile, and you can see pics of my babies. We have had German Shepherds for almost 3 years and they are wonderful dogs. My 2 1/2 year old male had the best time at a dog park with a 2 year old female Great Dane. It was a gas watching them play and my male taking a very submissive role with the female (as any good gentleman would do)
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Sorry for your loss. For me, dogs are family members not pets, so the loss is terrible!
Big dogs RULE! There's nothing like being able to pet your dog without having to bend over. I've got a yellow Lab (70lb small dog) and a Mastiff/Lab (110lb) both are rescues. We almost got a Dogo but ended up getting the Mastiff/Lab and he's THE BEST. Everyone loves him, and he's always winning photo contests (lol, I told my wife to stop entering him!). Best part about him being half lab is he doesn't drool!
I'm with you on not getting the same dog twice (well, when our male black lab passed we did eventually get the female yellow but they're so different). I've always wanted a Cane Corso or Neopolition (wife and kids want a Neo or bulldog!). My big boy is my canine soul-mate and is unreplacable so when the day comes to get another dog I'll probably lean towards something much smaller (I say that now....).
We have 6 GD's right now ...blacky is the male, baby is our female, and four pups left from a litter of 11....gomer piler is the big male of the puppies...piler, get it?? yes, every morning my wife throws a puppy or two in bed with me and I sleep another hour with a puppy or FOUR! I love how GD's must be touching you when they sleep...our female loves to lay her head across my ankles when we sleep....I love GD's...our male sings to us when we drive up...I swear he could talk if we just helped him along alittle...my wife breeds and trains dogs and horses....our dogs behave perfectly...we also have a border bully cross..he's super smart!! he herds everything ....goats, horses, dogs...he's a real worker dog and he lives at our farm....I could tell stories all day about our dogs and horses, they are like children to us...our male has his own twin size bed...he can also open sliding glass doors
Here's a link to another photo of my big boy (sorry he's not a Dane BUT mastiffs are related!)
He's "Mr. May" so scroll down to image 12
2009 Calendar Preview
He's "Mr. May" so scroll down to image 12
2009 Calendar Preview
"It is weird. I swear, they grow literally overnite. I crate train all my guys as pups, and some mornings you get up, let them out, and say "who are you and what did you do with my little puppy???"
they grow MORE when they sleep!! and they gain weight at the rate of 1/2 pound per day at some point....our neighbor's dog tried to attack me one day, I thought blacky was gonna kill that dog but when I said "stop" he backed off and the neighbor dog ran home...the neighbor dog ran away from home the next day, never to be seen again by any of us...and we are friends with the neighbors!!!!
they grow MORE when they sleep!!
and they gain weight at the rate of 1/2 pound per day at some point....our neighbor's dog tried to attack me one day, I thought blacky was gonna kill that dog but when I said "stop" he backed off and the neighbor dog ran home...the neighbor dog ran away from home the next day, never to be seen again by any of us...and we are friends with the neighbors!!!!
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I'm at work on my iPhone but if this doesn't work. Tell me how to post photo, these are digital paintings of my Tinkerbelle
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I'm at work on my iPhone but if this doesn't work. Tell me how to post photo, these are digital paintings of my Tinkerbelle
Whoops guess someone'll have to give me instructions
I forgot she was in my profile pic. This is NOT working well from iPhone, will try over the weekend...
I forgot she was in my profile pic. This is NOT working well from iPhone, will try over the weekend...
He is awesome!I tried posting a pic of my Dogo but need to read up on how to post pics here as it is not working for me
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z105/dgriego1960/Hektor1year4_edited-1.jpg
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My kind of man
I will say in defense of my Shepherd, if it were a male boxer, pit bull or rottweiler the gloves would be off and he is all business. For some reason he really doesn't like these breeds and he is all alpha male. I am learning that with German Shepherds, they really only like members of their pack. When we are not at home they are on guard mode and don't take to strangers.
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