Living with a Great Dane.

Before he arrives

Buy for the adult, not the puppy. You will replace almost everything otherwise.

• Crate: a 54-inch giant crate with a divider. Measure the room first — it is the size of a small sofa.
• Bed: at least 48 inches. An orthopaedic memory-foam bed is worth the money for a breed this heavy; elbow calluses and joint soreness are real.
• Bowls: stainless steel, at floor level, plus a slow-feeder. No raised stand — see Bloat & GDV.
• Harness and lead: a well-fitted Y-front harness and a 6-foot lead, plus a long line for recall. No prong or choke collars.
• Car: a ramp (saves his elbows and your back) and a crash-tested restraint or crate.
• Baby gates: tall ones. A six-month-old Dane steps over a standard gate.
• Towels. More than you think. Specifically for drool.
• Emergency vet details on the fridge and in your phone, before you need them.

A safe home for a giant

• Clear the counters. Permanently. His head is at counter height and he is not even trying.
• Non-slip flooring. Laminate and tile are genuinely dangerous for a growing giant — splayed legs cause injury. Put runners down the main routes.
• Limit stairs while he is growing, especially going down. Gate them if you can.
• Secure fencing, at least 6 feet. Danes are not great escape artists but they are very tall.
• Think about the tail. A happy Dane tail clears coffee tables and splits open on door frames. "Happy tail" injuries are common and heal slowly.
• Heat and cold. Short coats mean they chill easily — a coat in winter is not a vanity item. They also overheat quickly; walk early or late in summer.

Grooming

Mercifully easy. A short, dense coat means no trimming and no mats, but a surprising amount of shedding — a Great Dane sheds a small dog's worth of hair twice a year.

• Brush weekly with a rubber curry or grooming mitt; daily during a spring or autumn moult.
• Bath every six to eight weeks, or when he has found something. Bathing more strips the coat. A walk-in shower or a warm day outside beats trying to lift him into a bath.
• Nails every three to four weeks. Long nails change the angle of the foot and stress the joints, which matters far more on a 160-pound dog. Start in week one, one paw at a time, with treats.
• Ears weekly. Check and wipe the visible part only; never go into the canal.
• Teeth three or four times a week with a dog toothpaste. Dental disease is common and a general anaesthetic on a giant breed is something to avoid.
• Wrinkles and jowls: wipe the lip folds every few days, especially after eating, or they sour.
• Drool. Yes. There is a towel in every room of our house and there will be in yours.

Veterinary care

• First exam within 7 days of pickup — required to keep the health guarantee active.
• Finish the vaccination course on your vet's schedule. See Vaccinations.
• Year-round parasite prevention, dosed by weight — which for a Dane means the biggest and most expensive bracket of everything.
• Spay or neuter at 18–24 months, not at six. Early desexing in giant breeds is associated with higher rates of joint disease and some cancers, because the sex hormones are part of what closes the growth plates. Discuss the timing with your vet.
• Discuss a prophylactic gastropexy at the same operation. We recommend it for every Dane we place.
• Annual exams to five years, twice yearly after. A Great Dane is geriatric at six or seven.
• Insurance, early. Giant breeds cost more to insure and more to treat. Get cover before anything is pre-existing.
• Tell your vet about anaesthetic sensitivity. Sighthound-type breeds including Great Danes can be sensitive to some protocols and are prone to low body temperature under anaesthesia.

What it actually costs

People budget for the puppy and not for the dog. Rough US figures, which we would rather you saw now:

• Food: $120–$180 a month.
• Preventatives: $40–$70 a month at giant-breed dosing.
• Insurance: $70–$150 a month, and rising with age.
• Routine vet care: $400–$800 a year.
• Spay/neuter with gastropexy: $1,200–$2,500 as a one-off.
• Kit in year one: $800–$1,500 for crate, beds, ramp, harnesses, gates.
• Emergency GDV surgery: $3,000–$8,000, if it happens.

Call it $200–$350 a month steady state, plus a real emergency fund. If that number is uncomfortable, please tell us — it is a much better conversation to have now than in two years.

The part nobody tells you

A Great Dane will lean on you while you are trying to cook. He will put his head on the dinner table without lifting a paw off the floor. He will sit on the sofa like a person and look offended when asked to move. He will be frightened of the cat.

He will also be gone sooner than you want. Eight to ten years is the honest number, and the last of them come quickly. Everyone who has loved one of these dogs says the same thing: the arithmetic is terrible and they do it again anyway.

Whatever happens, you can call us. Our families ring about food, about limping, about adolescence, and — eventually — about the end. There is no expiry on that, and we have never charged for it.