Considering a Dane

[BoxerDudz811]

Hi all! I was wondering if any of you out there had a Great Dane? My bf and I are considering adding a Great Dane when we buy a house...this probably will not be for at 2 two years though. Growing up I always wanted a Dane but was never aloud because of thier size. I have done TONS of research and tried to get around and meet as many Danes as I could and I'm still dead set on owning one of these gentle giants. I love the brindle ones but I would be happy and love any color just as much. A few questions...how are they with Boxers? I know that the Dane is generally more laid back than Boxers are. Also, how much more does it cost to own a Dane over a more average sized breed? I've heard everything is more expensive because of thier size (vet bills, spaying ect.) Thanks in advance guys!!

 

[magoo's_mama]

I personally never owned a great dane (but I'd like to) anyways I dated a guy for 5 years whose dad bred great danes so I know a bit on the subject. They're great dogs friendly loyal and very smart. They're female Tahoma was a genuis I swear =) But there energy level is no where near a boxers, they're big couch potatoes but still need daily exercise (like most dogs so) they also have a short life expectancy because of there size and of course the food costs are very high. I also noticed they're pretty quiet dogs. My boxer will bark at everything that moves outside, but it's almost as if Danes don't even bother because they're so big they don't need to.
I really can't say if a dane and a boxer would be good playmates, there's definitly a size and energy difference in the two.
Good luck with your decision. Great danes are really neat dogs.
~Sunny & Magoo

 

[Falstaff]

We had a great dane for a while. She was a super girl. While the vet bills are substantially higher, the food costs were about the same as for our boxer. She really didn't eat as much as I expected. While we experianced some rather severe problems between our two,( both female, one spayed one not yet), they both have very similar temperments. I wish you the best of success. Hope this helps.

 

[FarleyBoxer]

Farley has a Dane playmate and they are very good together. Their only issues came when Farley was much smaller, and he was scared of Wall Street bc he was so big. And Wall Street could be rough with Farley just bc he didn't realize how much bigger he was.

If your boxer is grown, I don't think it would be a problem!

I would think that finding a REALLY good breeder would be absolutely essential when you are talking about a breed with such a short life expectancy in the first place. Adding all the health problems that could result from poor breeding would just make everything worse.

 

[ThatsAlly]

Rescue

There are many excellent Great Dane Rescues that you can go to. Speaking from experience, many of the pups I have seen come into Great Dane Rescue of Maine, Inc are because of their size (people weren't expecting them to get so big, have no space, etc) and these are excellent pups. Check into rescue too!

 

[Lilypickle]

I am supposed to ba taking in a 2 and a half year old great dane male named Shamrock in the next couple of weeks. I really hope that he and Lily get along well. She is on the small side, so I worry about her getting hurt. I also have an 8 lb Shihtzu, so him getting stepped on is another big concern. Aren't danes just real gentle and soft mannered? Or do they play as vivacious as boxers?