Great Dane

The Great Dane carries the proud epithet “the Apollo among dogs” and fully deserves it — it is the tallest breed in the world, a dog that, standing on its hind legs, looks a grown adult straight in the eyes, and in weight can equal a grown man. Once bred in Germany to guard sprawling estates and accompany lords on great expeditions, today it is above all one of the gentlest, most majestic companions one could dream of. With one small caveat: this giant apparently never noticed just how enormous it is. In its own head it remains a cuddly little dog perfect for holding on a lap — and it regularly tries to prove it.

Life with a Great Dane is an unending string of comic situations arising from the simple fact that no one told it how big it is. It can rest its chin on the kitchen counter without even climbing up, steal a sandwich off the table without getting up from its bed, and occupy the entire couch with the ease of someone who bought it outright, politely leaving you one corner. And when it decides to show you affection, it deposits fifty kilograms of itself onto your lap with an expression of genuine surprise that, somehow, it does not quite fit. And on top of that — contrary to that statuesque, respect-commanding silhouette — the Great Dane can be touchingly timid: it can hide its entire enormous body behind your legs at the sight of a cat, a vacuum cleaner, or a particularly suspicious plastic bag in the wind. This is one of its sweetest paradoxes: the biggest dog in the neighborhood, who deep down would prefer that you protect it.

Because all that majesty and comedy is merely the wrapping around one of the tenderest hearts in the canine world. The Great Dane is calm, gentle, and attached to its family in a way that disarms everyone — it is a great, warm homebody that does not long to conquer the world, only to be close to its people and lie wherever they are. Despite its size it is a surprisingly calm dog, indeed a comfort-loving one — made for lounging together and quiet companionship. And since nature can be cruel to giants and gives Great Danes decidedly too little time, every year at the side of such a dog is worth its weight in gold. That is why it is worth putting all your strength into the one thing we truly can influence — that those years, of which there are so few, be full, healthy, and comfortable.

There is, finally, the matter that is absolutely the most important with a Great Dane — more important than with almost any other breed: gastric torsion. Giant dogs with deep chests are threatened by it most of all — in the Great Dane it is a real, statistically high risk and a state of immediate danger to life.

Because in the Great Dane everything is the biggest — including the heart. Someone so enormous can be at the same time so delicate, tender, and almost defenselessly devoted to its people.

Care wisely for its belly, joints, and comfort, and in return you will get something truly exceptional: a majestic giant that will lay a head the size of a pillow on your lap, sigh with pure contentment, and throughout all its — unfortunately too short — time be absolutely convinced that it is your biggest little dog in the world for cuddling. And you know what? Let it believe that. Because in what matters most, it is entirely right.