Care And Feeding
CARE AND FEEDING OF GREAT DANES
FEEDING YOUR PUPPY
Great Danes are classified as a giant breed. They reach their ultimate height usually by the age of 30 MONTHS , but are very close to it at 24MONTHS . Because of this extremely fast growth rate, they are prone to many skeletal growth problems. Recent studies have found that if you can slow the rate of growth, especially through the age where it is fastest (2-8 months), you can help prevent problems such as hip dysplasia, wobblers syndrome, hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD) etcetera.
To slow the growth on my dogs, I feed a dog food of 24% protein or less. Although you want to keep the protein levels around 24%, you must feed a premium food. Premium dog foods use meat as their protein source, lamb, chicken or beef. It is good to be aware of the terms used by dog food companies on their labels. Whole (chicken, lamb etc.) meal means that the entire animal is used. By-product meal is the least desirable as it usually means beaks, feathers and feet (in the case of chickens), which are entirely unusable protein sources for dogs. The first product listed on the ingredient label makes up the highest percentage of the food. The methods used in processing, packaging and storing foods are also very important. One preservative to avoid is ethoxyquin as it has been proven to cause cancer. Avoid artificial colorings and tomato pomace. Tomato pomace is the end product (mostly skin) after all the best parts of a tomato is used. This also contains the highest levels of pesticides of almost any dog food ingredient. For Danes, it’s also nice to have a food that contains probiotics. These are natural digestive enzymes that may help prevent bloat, one of the common killers of Great Danes. I feed my Danes a low protein kibble and we follow the BARF diet which has a link earlier in our pages. We found it works for us, it works for our dogs, but it does not work for everybody or every dog. Like us humans, dogs can be sensitive to certain types of food, but as we go live with this web page we have not had anything to complain about. DO NOT FEED SUPPLEMENTS SUCH AS CALCIUM, COTTAGE CHEESE, HIGH PROTEIN FOODS or any additive that will throw off the balance of the food you’re offering. Next to lower protein, a calcium/phosphorus/vitamin D balance is essential. Throw the balance off (already contained in the food), and your puppy is on its way to bone problems. You can add canned foods that are also complete and balanced. You can safely add just about anything as long as it’s no more than 15% of the dry food.
Vitamin C is one supplement that you should definitely give. It is one of the few supplements that can do no harm and it is thought to be beneficial to growing dogs. Give 500 milligrams in the morning and evening meals for a total of 1000 mg per day. Your Dane should eat its food in two meals per day rather than one large one. Water should always be available.
GENERAL CARE
Great Danes are not suited to being a back yard watch dog that gets little or no attention and rarely gets in the house. They are happiest and thrive when they are house dogs who are considered members of a family. Canines, are after all, a pack (family) animal. Although they are naturally pretty well behaved, they still need discipline and to respect their “pack leader” as well as all humans. To this end I highly recommend that you and your puppy attend obedience classes, and yes, they do have them for little puppies, they’re usually called puppy socialization classes.
I also recommend that you purchase a crate for your puppy (keeping in mind the adult size). This becomes like their own little private house where they can be away from the bustle of the family for some rest. It also protects the house from them while you cannot be watching them. But the best thing it does is assist with house breaking. A Dane is naturally clean and does not want to mess its bed. Most puppies from 3 months on can make it through the night without messing the crate. After this is accomplished, they easily get the idea that outside is the place to go. DO NOT, however use the crate continually. Overnight or a few hours during the day (2 or 3) is enough.
Provide a large outside fenced yard for your dog to romp and play. Exercise is important for growing puppies. If you have other dogs (larger than the puppy) and children, make sure that the dogs don’t knock the puppy down or hurt it. Instruct your children on how to treat the puppy and make sure they know that a growing puppy needs many hours of sleep to grow properly. Don’t let your kids tease the puppy. Ideally, you should never allow the children and puppy to play unsupervised. Young children don’t realize that certain actions will be harmful to the pup. Conversely, the pup may get too rough for the kids and those little needle milk teeth can do some damage, even in play.
Be sure that from the start you continue to lead break your pup (most breeders will have already begun this) and take it places in the car with you. Go to shopping malls and public places so the puppy will become accustomed to different sights and sounds. Encourage strangers to pet and play with the puppy. Don’t allow the puppy access to other dogs until he has had at least his first adult vaccine. The same goes for attending puppy matches or shows.
EAR CARE, THE ISSUE OF CROPPING
If you have purchased your puppy from a reputable breeder in certain countries , the chances are he has already had his ears cropped. Most breeders who show always crop their pups prior to allowing them to go to their new homes. One reason for this is that the breeder has control of who does the crop. A vet who isn’t experienced with the proper procedures for ear cropping can really mess things up. Both the pup and the ear suffer! I’d much rather see an uncropped ear than one cut too short or done improperly. A vet with experience is the key here.
If you do have a pup that is or will be, cropped, that is not the end of the procedure. For ears to stand properly, they must undergo many tapings, sometimes up until the dog is past a year, but most ears are up by 5 to 6 months, sometimes sooner. If you’re inexperienced at after care, usually the vet who did the original crop can do the taping for you. If not, contact me as I have some pretty good directions as to how to tape the ears. Many countries are now turning against cropping and it is one of those issues we all have to be aware of and we must follow and respect the requirements of the place we reside and show.
If you decide to leave the ears natural, there are two problems you may have to face. Uncropped ears are prone to hematomas. These occur when the head is shaken violently and the tips of the ears “snap” as would a cloth towel when snapped at someone’s butt! This action of the ear tips snapping back on itself can break the blood vessels within the ear, which then bleed and cause a painful swelling. This often has to be lanced at the vets and then the ears are usually taped up on top and across the head until the ear tips have healed. This can take some time. The other problem is that a drop ear is more prone to ear infections. Keep in mind that a dropped ear does not occur in nature. Man has created the drop ear and the crop is his way of correcting the mistake. It’s all about personal choice at the end of the day and we actually prefer our dogs to be natural.
LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCIES: A WORD ABOUT BLOAT AND HOD (Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy)
HOD is a condition affecting young, fast growing dogs usually between 3 1/2 and 8 months of age. The symptoms are very high fever, swelling and inflammation of the joints (usually pastern) and tremendous pain. Even a lethargic puppy with a slightly elevated fever should be checked by a vet. If caught early enough, this disease will probably subside quickly.
Unfortunately, many vets don’t recognize the disease and the puppy is neither diagnosed nor treated correctly. Immediate diagnosis is made by x-ray. The treatment consists of injectable vitamin C, steroids to combat the joint inflammation, Banamine which combats the pain (injectable form being preferred) and antibiotics to combat any secondary infections (pneumonia being the most common) which may take hold when an animal is badly stressed.
BLOAT usually occurs in dogs over one year of age but is not unheard of in younger dogs. The symptoms are attempts to vomit but producing only foam. The stomach and/or rib cage appears distended and continues to enlarge. The dog is in obvious distress and is usually panting and restless. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. The stomach is filling with gasses and beginning to rotate. This means that gas cannot leave the stomach and enlargement continues. As the stomach rotates, the blood supplies are cut off and the animal begins to go into shock. The vet will usually try to pass a stomach tube to ascertain if the stomach has already turned and to relieve the gas pressure if it hasn’t. (Occasionally you can pass a tube into a rotated stomach.) X-ray will confirm rotation. The dog must be stabilized before surgery (the only permanent cure) can be performed. Even then, it is not uncommon for a dog to die of heart complications after successful surgery.
The above are extreme emergency situations, especially bloat. Don’t waste any time getting veterinary help. If your veterinarian is not familiar with Great Danes let me know and I’ll try to put you in touch with someone near you who is. If you ever have any problems or questions about your dog, please don’t hesitate to call me.
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andreas teich said,
November 15, 2008 @ 2:04 am
Hi
I have a great dane bitch from a dog shelter in Nicosia, which was owned by some russians before.it should be around 1 year now, has uncommen markings grey-black
I am living in Lysos, near Polis
Would it be possible I visit your place tomorrow some time when it’s convenient for you ?
I always had dogs but this is the first dane, perhaps you could give me some advice ?
would be nice to send me some instructions how to find your place coming from Polis
My tel no 96-625050
regards
Andreas (I am a German cabinet maker/ joiner)