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We put this page together to answer some of the common questions asked about great danes. . . please email us if you have a question you think we missed :)

How Big do they get?

Well:  BIG.   
An Average Great Dane Female is 120-145 pounds, average size of Males is 130-165 pounds.  
Claims of 200+ pound danes are common but in truth we have rarely met danes that HEAVY. 
Great Danes should not be kept overly heavy, this will only harm joints.
Height ranges from 28-36 inches at the withers ( top of the shoulders)

Euro VS Made in America. . .

I often get asked. . . do you breed "Euro" type dogs? 
I kind of laugh every time  because I exhibit in Conformation  and in order to exhibit SUCCESSFULLY I need to breed to the American standard.
Have I used Euro dogs?  You bet. . .when I needed something I do not have and that dog has it: WHY NOT? 
But with it comes other problems.  
Tilted Croups, SOFT Toplines and length of leg---these would be the three biggest draw backs to breeding to an import. 

WHY are they different. . . .
There are differences through out the world with any animal, any breed and any species. 
Different countries used to be primarily isolated in there breeding population and  there for there are differences with in the breed. 
SOME are more exaggerated but for the most part a dane is a dane.  

AND we are seeing them more and more. . .

With advances in semen freezing  and import laws we can now chose to breed not just through out the United States but through out the world.
We can now take advantage of gene pools we could never access before.  This has its good and bad points. . .

Claims that Euro dogs are "healthier" and  "Bigger" are greatly exaggerated. 
For the most part I have found them to be allot shorter  then our danes here in the states,
they have more loose skin ( meaning more flews and slobber) and on average more bone.  They tend to be a denser dog with sloppy movement.

The reason why Euro imports SEEM to be "healthier" at FIRST is because the likely hood of those dogs having the same disease
 genes as dogs from the US ( and this goes both ways. . . ) are pretty low.  
SO when they are bred to Healthy Danes in the US the litter's produced have almost absolutely NO problems.
Once you come out of the first generation and they are bred to the already existing population you have now introduced a whole string of Gene's that will not be known until they age and inherited traits become apparent.   In all countries danes have similar type diseases, with the introduction of new blood does not make them go away.
This is why health testing and screening of all adults used in a breeding program is so essential.


Do they get along with children and other animals?

Just about every dog on the planet will do fine with children IF they are raised with them.  
Keep in mind that this is a powerful breed and just their tail alone can be very painful.  Small children should NEVER be left alone with ANY dog. 
REGARDLESS of how well behaved you think the dog OR the child is.   Accidents are not planned, they just are.

Great Danes do have a bit more prey drive then some other breeds.
 With training, correction and starting out young: they can live very happily with just about any other animal.


What Colors do they come in?

Great danes come many different colors and patterns.
There are 6 showable colors, Black, Blue, Brindle, Fawn, Harlequin and Mantle.

Great Danes colors are thought of as Families. 
With in these families there are variations of color, markings and pattern. 
The family with the most color variations is the Harlequin and Mantle color family.

CLICK for a more in-depth color explanation.
Feeding
As A breed, they really do not eat as much as you think.
 Most of our puppies are at about 2-3 cups of food per feeding when they leave here. 
The most we are currently feeding is 10 cups twice daily, and this is to a large male who is still growing. 
Great danes DO however have breed specific feeding guidelines, we do not feed our puppies puppy food past 16 weeks of age.
PLEASE do your research and LISTEN to your breeder. 
If they do not HAVE a feeding recommendation: RUN.

Click here to see our views on feeding
Breed Standard

What are danes? 
Below are some links that show you mostly what a PERFECT great dane CAN be. 
SO far there has never been one. . . so please keep in mind when you are reading the standards they are set on a scale that is
PERFECTION. . . not on actuality. 
Click here for Jill Swedlow's wonderful conformation clinic.  This is a fantastic tools for new exhibitors to hone their eye.

Great Dane Club of America Link

Illustrated Standard

AKC Description
Health Concerns
As a whole, great danes are extremely healthy dogs, but when they are not--it can be a complete disaster. 
Here are some of the reasons :
Dog medicine goes by weight. 
So the bigger the dog the more the expense.
SIZE, that is a big part of it. . . .
 With a small dog you can pick them up if they have a hurt leg. . . with a dane it will take the whole family.
One bad joint on a small dog with little weight will last a whole lot longer then a giant breed dog with a bad joint.
Danes also have some unique Health problems.
Any breeder you speak to should be able to  tell you the top 4 health problems in Great Danes
Bloat, DCM, Osteosarcoma and Hip Dysplasia.
They should also be able to tell you what they are, how to help to prevent them and what they have done as a breeder to screen or control the occurrence in there breedings.  There are no GENE based tests for any of these problems, there are SCREENING process's for some and knowing the pedigree and the dogs  behind their own breedings, what they died of and when. . . knowing where the problems means you can breed away from pedigree's.
There is NO perfect line of dog.  Anyone that tells you they have NO problems in their line most likely have not been breeding long enough to see the problems, are not following their puppies through life or are just out right lying.

Our Health Links

Breeding dogs. . .

Quick facts:

Un like human reproduction, Canines have heat cycles.  
They are usually on a ever 6 month basis, though some dogs can cycle at other intervals.  
Most danes do not come in to their first heat until after their first birthday, many do not start until they are 18 months of age.
When you have several female dogs in one home they will also tend to cycle together, this does make spreading out litters difficult.
GDCA Guidelines are that dogs should not be bred under the age of 18 months.
The ONLY time a dog can mate and produce a litter is during a heat cycle.  
Canine Gestation is 63 days.

Heat Cycle it self:
Typically Dogs are bred 12-14 days after the heat cycle has begun. 
Though the dog is bred it will take 3 weeks before the fetus's implant into the uterine wall. 
This is why Ultrasound can not detect pregnancy until after this point.
They also have a Progesterone based cycle where regardless of being bred their levels of progesterone are maintained and  will be maintained until gestation time regardless of being bred.  This is why we sometimes see false pregnancies where dogs will act like they are going to whelp, collect toys and sometimes even produce milk.   Because of the hormone influences on the uterus, each and every heat cycle a dog goes through increases the risk of certain reproductive disorders like Pyometra, uterine cysts and increases the chances of breast cancer.

For a more indepth article on reproduction click HERE

For article on Disorders of the Reproductive Cycle Click HERE

Our Article on what it takes to just get a litter raised:
Breeding

Registration. . . .what does it mean?

Registration papers are only as good as the organization and breeder that is producing them.   The gold standard in registration  is the AKC.
  TO ME:  none of the other US registrations are worth the paper they are written on.  My problem with the "other" registrations is that they will except limited registration dogs in to their stud book.   GOOD breeders place pet  dogs on limited registration to keep people from just breeding a dog to breed a dog.   Unscrupulous people will circumvent this by trying to register with other national registries.  This act in it self leads me to believe you can not trust their registry and that dogs registered this way should be avoided.  

Why are AKC papers only as good as the breeder?  In short. . . the breeder supplies all of the information.  This means they CAN lie.  The AKC tries to prevent this by requiring certain record keeping practices and implementing DNA testing of sires that are used more then three times in there life. 

What else does the AKC require?
Up to date information on WHERE all dogs are owned or Co-owned. 
Names, address and phone numbers of all owners.
Positive identification( Micro chip or Tattoo ) on all dogs used in a breeding program ( if you own over 6 dogs)
Records of all breedings, puppies produced, sex's, number of dead puppies. 
DNA certification of all stud dogs used over three times.

So what is the point?
Registrations are just that. . .registrations.   They keep a certified record of dogs produced and provide pedigree's  that track the lines.
In doing so, you as an owner can make a decision on the dogs you buy and why.    With the names provided you can search the OFA data base and look at health check records of any registered dog, you can follow lines and ask owners and breeders for more information then ever before.  Though getting an AKC registered dog of any breed will not guaranty you will never have health problems, doing your research ON AKC breeders will go a long way to finding a healthy line to get one from.