He’s the gentle giant of the dog world! The Great Dane is huge, and that’s no accident. Most agree that his pedigree is a combination of English Mastiff and Irish Wolfhound, though we do know what the Great Dane is a very old breed.

First, it is worth mentioning that Great Danes are actually not originally from Denmark. They’re from Germany. Second by Guinness World Records the tallest dog who ever lived amongst us was a Great Dane named Zeus.

The Dane is German in origin, not Danish. The breed is thought to have been around for more than 400 years. Great Danes descend from mastiff-like dogs that were bred by German nobility to protect country estates and hunt wild boar. The Great Danes that were more like those we know today were developed in the 1800s.

The name Great Dane arose in the 1700s, when a French naturalist traveled to Denmark and saw a version of the Boar Hound who was slimmer and more like a Greyhound in appearance. He called this dog Grand Danois, which eventually became Great Danish Dog, with the more massive examples of the breed called Danish Mastiffs.

Female Great Danes should not be spayed until they are at least one year old. However, they should also be allowed to experience their first heat as well.

In most giant breeds (Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds, St Bernard’s) a yearly estrus is common. How long does a “heat cycle” or estrus last? Heat cycles vary, but average two to three weeks for most dogs.

White Great Danes are produced when two dogs carrying the Merle gene are bred together, resulting in a dog that has two copies of the Merle gene i.e. double Merle. The double Merle gene results in not only a white coat, but also a lack of pigment in the inner ear and eye structures.

The most popular Great Dane color is very individual, however, Fawn is perhaps the most widely recognized Great Dane color. However, it’s important to note that there are six additional standard breed colors.