Proper Care and Feeding of a Great Dane

Most people have had some experience with raising or caring for a dog at some point or another but not everyone knows how to properly raise a great dane. While I do love great danes and think they are the best family dog around I also believe that one dane is equal to two toddlers. Proper care and feeding of a great dane is highly important if you want to have a well adjusted pet. If you want to have a unruly beast pacing the house and stealing food off the top of your refrigerator then don’t worry about reading the rest of this.

Training During the Early Years

Training begins when the dane is a still a puppy. Great dane puppies are cute, cuddly and not all that big so it is easy to ignore the fact that the little puppy may soon outweigh you. At all cost do not let the puppy jump on you, dominate you in any way or get away with any behavior that you would not let a bigger dog get away with. What your puppy learns now it will carry with it through out its life. If you don’t want your pet on the furniture now is the time to make that clear.

Some specifics about danes jumping on people is important because they are famous for it and it is also highly dangerous for kids, elderly, or anyone who is not prepared for a loving dane hug. Most danes try to jump on their people at some point, the key is to always discourage this. The best way to do this is to either hold them down if you see them coming up or give them a strong paw squeeze if you are too late to prevent the jump. They do not like the paw squeeze but it does not hurt them. For most danes this is just enough reinforcement that it prevents jumping.

I highly suggest obedience training from a young age as well. When I say this, I mean proper obedience training, at a school, with an instructor, and plenty of positive reinforcement and practice. Your life and your dogs life could depend on being properly trained.

Keeping Your Family Healthy

That is enough about behavior for now, health is equally important. It is important to note that great danes are fairly susceptible to Parvo when they are young. Parvo can live in your yard for years and be carried on your shoes from virtually anywhere. Puppies are susceptible to Parvo when they are being weened from the mother. Parvo has a 90% mortality rate and happens to be preventable by getting your dog it’s scheduled shots. If you don’t want to spend money at the vet many local feed stores will also carry low cost pet shots that you inject yourself. It is your responsibility as a pet owner to do all that you can to keep your pet healthy.

Great dane puppies eat a lot and still look like concentration camp survivors. Your puppy may very well gain 100 pounds during its first year. This means they grow incredibly fast. Make sure that you are feeding your puppy enough and that you are giving it ample opportunity to go outside and do its business. Because your dane is growing so fast and the skeletal structure is not fully developed it is a good idea to limit physical activity to some extent during the first two years. This does not mean don’t let your puppy be a puppy it means don’t take your dog jogging or make it do more than it is willing to do. Regular walks are important just don’t overdo the activity.

Once your great dane gets to be full grown it is probably not quite full grown. Just when you think they are finished growing they will get a little bigger. Danes tend to reach full skeletal size then fill out during their second year. During this time you will have to closely monitor food intake and make sure that your dane does not start to put on excess weight. Overweight great danes are in danger of serious back problems because of the way that they carry their weight. A healthy great dane should have fairly low body fat, meaning that some of the musculature should be visible beneath the skin. If you can grab flab it is time for a diet.

Great danes are fabulous family pets and have more personality than many people I know. But because of their short life span and their genetic predisposition to certain health problems it is highly important that you do all that you can to keep you great dane healthy.