Furniture

Great Danes manage to win their way into your heart thus getting away with much more than other beast of similar size and drooling ability.  One thing that certainly suffers in the Great Dane household is the furniture.   This suffering is accomplished in a few different ways.

First and most straightforward.  Leave Danes alone and without a chew toy and they will be pissed.  The normally loving devoted animal decides to take revenge for being left alone, I am not sure if this is true revenge or separation anxiety, but none the less, they chew.  If they have a nice big juicy bone or a chew toy hopefully they choose this but if not watch out.  Furniture is fair game, so are door knobs, shower faucets, cabinets, wood seems to be especially tasty, and the newer or more expensive the better.  So, if the Dane is untrained or in a chewing phase a cage is an excellent idea, they seem to actually kind of like the cage, I thought it was strange too.

The next less direct means of destruction by a Dane is simple use.  Danes become convinced that they are people just like the rest of use and that they have just as much claim to the furniture as we do.  It may start with the Great Dane sitting on furniture like a person and the owner thinking this is a wonderfully cute photogenic moment, but it will end with full blown Dane lounging in the recliner or on the bed.  Once the habit is set it is hard to break and it does not take much to set the habit when the floor is the alternative.

You must decide in the beginning.  Are you willing to share your furniture with a beast that is worse than a lazy teenager and incapable of cleaning up its hair or are you not.  As cute as it is and as cuddly a beast as a Great Dane can be don’t even let them on the bed to visit for a second.  I am reminded of the old adage of giving someone a foot and having them take a mile.

Our solution has been to give them a couch and only one couch and provide plenty of other comfy beds and pillows that the Danes know are theirs.  Consistence is key, if you want to cuddle get on their great dane dog bed.