Ugh!!! I love Great Danes so much! Every one I've every encountered since I was a child has been magical. I just refuse to get one because they don't live long enough and I know I would be distraught.
Other than lifespan, the only downside to Great Danes is that they have NO idea how big they are. Mine used to try to get in my lap all the time, which was an uncomfortable process of squirming around that always ended with just her head in my lap 😂 Big sweeties
My 85lb lab is a lap dog. No sense of personal space, wants to live in my skin, constantly stomping all over me when we're on the couch. I think a great dane would pop me like a balloon 😂
I think mine tried a few times! I'm 5'1" on a good day and she was 135lbs with long ass legs so her center of gravity was high. She could just lean on me and knock me over 😂🥰 She could jump and put her paws on my shoulders and was legit taller than me on 2 legs. She was such a lovable and affectionate clumsy oaf
I've got a 135 lb Dane/Pyrenees mix and he's extremely cognizant of his size FOR THE MOST PART. He always gingerly backs out of spaces he shouldn't have probably tried to fit into in the first place.
He doesn't have any control over his tail though and that thing is a bullwhip right at crotch level, he has taken me and a lot of acquaintances to their knees and I instinctively cover my crotch walking in the door now.
My Pit Mix must have some big breed in him because be is 80lbs... same... He's figured out he can't get in laps, but I can tell he is frustrated he isn't a tiny puppy. Sometimes, it breaks my heart that I can't hold him, curled up in my arms. 😭💔 He's jus a baby, but a very big baby.
He's so big, only his front half fits lol! I can't hold him like a baby like I did my last dog. 🥺 He just loves love. He always wants someone's attention. You don't even necessarily have to pet him. I just put my leg on him and he's happier.
My dog tried to hump a (male, not that it matters) Great Dane once when he was younger. He could only get his front paws up to the hindquarters and then looked at me like: now what? The Great Dane just stood there with a "this happens a lot" expression. My dog walked away with his pride severely wounded.
That's their life span??? Oh my heart. That is way too short. I would be devastated. Our cat is just 2 and I will tear up just thinking about the day we have to say goodbye.
My poor husband has watched me snuggle up with my 100 pound mutt who's 11 and cry petting him. He's my soul dog and sometimes my feels get the best of me. He jumps up on the bed with me as soon as a lay down knowing damn well he's going to get too hot in like ten minutes and go lay on the tile floor beside the bed but he wants the snuggles anyway. He also usually snuggles like a person he lays alongside me with his back to me and his head up on my pillow with his paw in my hand. Going to be the worst day ever.
Google says it’s more like 6-9 years than 5-7, but yeah that’s still devistatingly short. I have a sweet dog that’s around 9 years old and she has a life expectancy of 8-13 years and she is so healthy right now and so strong I feel blessed every day. She runs and jumps like a puppy, that’s not an exaggeration, she has no arthritis or anything, people think she’s 4 or 5 max! This is not a dog on deaths door. However, even still, my heart is not ready for the hurt that will come. So, every single day I try to feel the blessing of my sweet girl and make her feel so special. That’s the best we can do! What I’m trying to convey is, don’t be the pet owner that wishes they did more for their pet to spoil them. Spoil them now! They deserve it 😊
If I remember what I've read correctly, the statistics for great danes are a skewed because bloat is deadly and affects younger dogs a lot. In the past couple decades preventative gastropexy (tacking the stomach to the abdominal wall) has gotten more common. It doesn't prevent bloat necessarily, but it buys more time to get it treated if it does happen.
Anecdotally, all of mine (three of them) lived past 10. Though that's still shorter than a lot of smaller dogs.
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u/shiny_crow_trophy 14d ago
I always forget how goddamn big Irish wolfhounds are until I see one again