<----- Another TTA refugee

[Dom]

Last time I was able to coerce the goddess to stand still on the vet scales, she weighed 125 pounds and had maybe 5 or 10 to go before fully grown. Not the biggest of Danes, but on target for a female. Her dog buddies weigh 10 and 15 pounds. The cat weighs 20, a huge black Tom.

I was brought up with Great Danes from a young age.

My first dog was for my 4th birthday and was just a mere spaniel, but when I was 9 we got a male Great Dane which towered over me and my parents have owned one ever since (except their last rescue dog which was supposed to be a Dane cross but turned out not to be, just some small bullmastiff cross, well small to my eyes anyway). As the saying goes, once a Great Dane owner, always a Great Dane owner. I absolutely love their uncropped ears. They are the most delightful things to stroke.

Oh yes, those ears! Hence the Goddess is also known as Velvet. She is my 4th Dane. Danes and German Shepherds, those are my favorites, but I love them all.

[Dancefortwo]

I was brought up with Great Danes from a young age.

My first dog was for my 4th birthday and was just a mere spaniel, but when I was 9 we got a male Great Dane which towered over me and my parents have owned one ever since (except their last rescue dog which was supposed to be a Dane cross but turned out not to be, just some small bullmastiff cross, well small to my eyes anyway). As the saying goes, once a Great Dane owner, always a Great Dane owner. I absolutely love their uncropped ears. They are the most delightful things to stroke.

Oh yes, those ears! Hence the Goddess is also known as Velvet. She is my 4th Dane. Danes and German Shepherds, those are my favorites, but I love them all.

Dom, don't Great Danes have a short life span compared to other dogs?  This is what I've heard.

[Dom]

Oh yes, those ears! Hence the Goddess is also known as Velvet. She is my 4th Dane. Danes and German Shepherds, those are my favorites, but I love them all.

Dom, don't Great Danes have a short life span compared to other dogs?  This is what I've heard.

8 years is what they say. I have had two who lived 12 years each, one who died at age 2 from congenital heart failure, and the goddess is now almost three. The early death - these things happen in animals just the same as in people. I would put the average age for a moderately active Dane (spend some time every day just running around) at 10. Rule of thumb is that the smaller the dog, the longer it lives, and the scale is from 8 to 16 average age.

[devilsadvoc8]

Big dogs are much better than small dogs but the price is a generally shorter lifespan. I had an akita and Cuacausian Ovcharka mix who was around 130 lbs and he lived to 14. Our Bernese is 8 now and due to the cancer risks with the Bernese nothing would surprise me with her.

[outtathereligioncloset]

Briscoe is little but he's mighty.  This week, at the front door after his obedience class he scared a Great Dane outside the pet store so badly that it refused to go inside.  I felt really bad.  We're working on it.  That's the main reason we signed him up for classes---his shitty attitude toward other dogs.

Most Danes are big wusses. Gentle giants. The Goddess was raised by a retired police canine. So she learned to be quite fearless. She also clears the outbuildings for me, although she has no idea why. But she forges in and looks in all the corners and hiding places for - nobody knows what. 

Little dogs are often shitheads because they are so small and obviously helpless, they have to look ferocious. Or so they think. My little Shi Tzu attacks male dogs of any size but likes females.

The last Jack Russell Terrier (whom we lost this summer) wasn't like that at all.  His best friends were all on the big dog side of the park.  In fact, his all-time best friend there was a Great Dane that he used to run and romp and wrestle and play with until they were both exhausted.  The Dane used to stand in the sun and let our dog rest underneath him in his mighty shade in the hottest part of the summer.  Many pictures were taken of that over the years by other people at the park who thought it was crazy-adorable.

Zoey never particularly cared one way or another which side we were one.  She'd cringe a little when the greeting committee on the big dog side would all run at her at the door, but she'd get over it as soon as everybody was finished butt-sniffing.  Now we're sticking to the little dog side and several of the big dogs have greeted her at the common fence, confused as to why she doesn't come over to play with them any more.

[Reducetarian]

Hello everyone,

I am yet another TTA refugee, glad to see so many familiar call signs
Best wishes to all my fellow refugees, and I look forward to getting to know the natives .
Cheers,
Reducetarian

[ignoramus]

We cater to all varieties of natives here...
Even bisons!

[Joods]

When I was a kid, we had adopted a rescue puppy and were told at the most, he'd be 35 pounds. Our neighbor took one look at his huge puppy paws and said nope.

According to the vet he was an Irish Wolfhound combinated with a Sheepdog. Full grown he weighed 195 pounds and stood just over 6 feet tall on his hind legs. His favorite chew toy was a 7 foot long couch we had in the basement.

[I_am_not_mafia]

When I was a kid,  we had adopted a rescue puppy and were told at the most,  he'd be 35 pounds. Our neighbor took one look at his huge puppy paws and said nope.

According to the vet he was an Irish Wolfhound combinated with a Sheepdog. Full grown he weighed 195 pounds and stood just over 6 feet tall on his hind legs. His favorite chew toy was a 7 foot long couch we had in the basement.

That's so cute. I adore huge dogs.

[Gwaithmir]

I'm another former member of the Thinking Atheist, having signed up here this morning. I'm glad to see so many friends who have arrived ahead of me.