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Originally Posted by dwwataz
A few friends of mine have had them. I was also a vet tech from 19-24, so I encountered a fair number of them. Sweethearts but the dumbest ****ing dogs I've ever known. Unfortunately, as pointed out, they aren't very long lived. They're actually somewhat prone to blindness and deafness, though that's usually seen in the white colored pups. Very active as a puppy, as is any puppy... But relatively calm and very sweet once mature.
I've had a couple presa canarios (female is 8 now) and the vet, food, and maintenance can be pretty steep. Your dog will be several inches and dozens of pounds larger than my guys (94 F and 128 M) so expect even more. While growing my pups went through 5-7 cups of food per day EACH. That tapered off to 3-4 once they hit ~2. I love Danes but, like boxers and dobies, the lifespan is what scared me off. Best of luck!
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This isn’t quite right. I’ve bred and trained Great Danes for years. I breed and train Blue Great Danes now. I have never encountered a dumb Great Dane. There might be plenty out there, but all that I have bred or interacted with are very smart.
It is true they are a very, very loving and loyal dog. I think that makes them much easier to train, because they really want so bad to make you happy.
I’ve also trained yellow labs and find many similarities between the two in training because of some of those same traits.
Very true that they also don’t know they are that big and instinctively will sit on a couch or your lap.
They can get hit by cars easier. Like a deer, sometimes if they are in a street, they might stop and look at a car.
Their stomachs can flip with large chest cavity, but just as seen in the movie “Marley and Me”, it happens in other breeds as well.
My vet bill for my Danes isn’t any more than the vet bills for my Labrador. I take them in at the same time, and they get the same shots.
They usually live around 10-15 years. In their later years, some can develop hip or bone problems, not untypical in such a larger dog, but a lot of that can be passed on through breeding. So, always check the dogs history, and make sure parents and grandparents on both sides are good.
I used to breed Harlequins 25 years ago. Harlequins are white with black spots.
If a Harlequin is born and doesn’t have a black spot anywhere on its head, then it will be blind and deaf. Those are usually put down at birth. I kept one once that had a spot on its neck. It ended up still being blind and deaf, but was very, very smart and I surprisingly was still able to find it a good home.
It is why Dalmatians are fire truck dogs. The siren doesn’t hurt their ears like other dogs.
Hope this help