- The Great Dane is bred in three separate colour varieties: Variety 1: Fawn and brindle
- Variety 2: Harlequin: white and black spotted, Merle: grey and black spotted, and black
- Variety 3: Blue.
- Fawn: Light gold fawn to deep gold fawn, evenly shaded throughout the body.
- Preferred: Black mask
- Permissible: Small white markings on the chest
- Brindle: Basic colour, light golden fawn to rich golden fawn with black stripes running with the direction of the ribs, as even and clearly defined as possible.
- Preferred: Black mask
- Permissible: Small white markings on the chest
- Harlequin (white with black splashed patches): Basic colour pure white, preferably with no ticking.
- Pure black patches well distributed all over the body, having the appearance of being torn.
- Undesirable: Grey or brownish patches or nuances of those colours in the black as well as blue-grey ticking in the white
- Merle (grey-black splashed patches): Basic colour grey, preferably with no ticking, with well-distributed, irregular, torn, jet-black spots over the entire body.
- Permissible: White markings on the chest and paws
- Included here are “Mantel Great Danes”, where the grey-black spotting covers the body like a mantle and the muzzle, neck, chest, belly, legs, and tail tip are white.
- Permissible: Black: Jet black, white markings on chest and feet
- Included here are “Mantel Great Danes” in which the black covers the body like a coat (“mantel”) or blanket and muzzle, throat, chest, belly, legs and tip of tail are white.
- Dogs with basic white colour and large black patches so called “Plattenhunde”
- Permissible: Blue: Pure steel blue, white markings on chest and feet
About the Great Dane
Origin: Germany
- Typical life span
- 7-10 years
- Size
- Large — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 64-79 kg
- Female
- 50-64 kg
- Height
- Male
- 76-81 cm
- Female
- 71-76 cm
- FCI status
- Reconhecida pela FCI
- FCI groupFCI divides this breed into varieties, and our sources don’t record which one a breeder works. Ask them which variety their line is.
- Pinscher and Schnauzer - Molossoid and Swiss Mountain and Cattledogs
- Origin
- Germany
- Also called
- Gran Danes
- Known hereditary risks
- 8 documented conditions, with the test for each
About
What is a Great Dane?
Giant, regal breed known as the 'Apollo of Dogs' with a powerful, well-muscled body, sleek coat, and dignified presence combined with noble bearing despite imposing size
Great Dane history and origins
Originally bred by German nobility from Mastiff-type dogs to hunt wild boar and deer, later refined as estate guardians and companions. Declared national dog of Germany in 1876 and standardized as 'Deutsche Dogge'
Great Dane appearance and size
Males typically weigh 64-79 kg and stand 76-81 cm at the shoulder; females 50-64 kg and 71-76 cm.
O que diz o padrão da raça
- Criado para
- Companion, watch- and guard dog
- Comportamento e temperamento
“Friendly, loving and devoted to his owners. Might be reserved towards strangers, but required is a confident, fearless, easily tractable, docile companion and family dog with high resistance to provocation and without aggression. Socially acceptable behaviour is of the utmost importance”
Quoted from FCI standard n°235. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Referência da raça de The Dog API.
Características
- Tamanho
- Large
- Necessidade de exercícioLida a partir daquilo para que a raça foi criada, nas palavras do próprio registo: “Companion, watch- and guard dog” Isso é uma função de trabalho, não uma necessidade de exercício medida — as necessidades de um cão em concreto dependem da idade, da saúde e da casa onde vive.
- 2 of 5
- Facilidade de treino
- —
- Queda de pelo
- 4 of 5
- Cuidados com o pelo
- 2 of 5
- Convivência com crianças
- —
- Custo de manutenção
- —
- Tolera ficar sozinho
- —
- Inteligência
- —
- Saúde da raça
- 8 conditions documented
Pros & cons
Prós e contras da raça Great Dane
O que ganha com a raça Great Dane
- Função declarada no padrão: «Companion, watch- and guard dog»
- O padrão descreve a raça assim: «Friendly, loving and devoted to his owners»
- Exige poucos cuidados com o pelo, adequado a quem tem pouco tempo — o pelo é «Very short, dense, smooth and close lying, glossy.»
O que tem de assumir
- Estão documentadas 6 doenças hereditárias graves, sobretudo em coração e circulação e ossos e articulações. O separador do guia de saúde tem o exame a pedir para cada uma.
Retirado de fontes e não escrito como opinião — investigação de saúde citada, o padrão do próprio registo, e estudos de longevidade revistos por pares. Padrão da raça, FCI; OFA / CHIC Programs. Os animais de um criador podem diferir de tudo isto, e uma coluna vazia significa que não temos nada desse lado, não que não haja nada a dizer.
Characteristics
Padrão da FCI · Great Dane
Pelo e cor
Tal como o padrão da FCI o estabelece. Cada linha abaixo está nas palavras do próprio padrão, etiquetada com preferred, permissible e undesirable.
Coat
Must never be coarse, dull or a double coat
- Very short
- Dense
- Smooth and close lying
- Glossy
Cor
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
«Preferred», «permissible», «undesirable» e «disqualifying» — preferida, admissível, indesejável e desqualificante — são as palavras da própria FCI sobre a raça, e ficam em inglês porque é assim que constam do padrão. Descrevem o que o padrão exige — não são uma avaliação de nenhum cão em concreto, nem nossa.
Resumido de FCI standard n°235 — cada etiqueta está nas palavras do próprio padrão, com o veredito passado para a etiqueta ao lado. Leia a cláusula completa na fonte.
O que o padrão penaliza
Aquilo que faz um juiz descontar pontos à raça Great Dane, e o que a põe fora do ring, nas palavras do próprio registo. Isto descreve o padrão da raça — não é uma lista de verificação para o animal que tem à frente, e um animal de companhia com um defeito desqualificante é um cão que não pode ir a exposição, não um cão doente.
Defeitos desqualificantes
Põem o animal fora do ring por completo.
- Temperament: Fear-biting, easily provoked.
- Blind or deaf Danes.
- Nose: Liver coloured.
- Nose: Split nose.
- Eyes: Ectropion, entropion, macroblepharia. Differently coloured eyes in all solid-colours.
- Muzzle: Permanent presence of a rolled in lip (covering of the lower jaw incisors by the lower lip) or rolled in lip with signs of injury, swelling or inflammation of the oral mucosa.
- Jaw/Teeth: Bite that is overshot, undershot or a wry mouth, pincer bite. Missing teeth apart from up to two P1 in the upper and lower jaw.
- Tail with kink.
- Colour: Fawn and brindle Great Danes: Silver blue or isabella- colored, with a white blaze, white neck collar, white paws or "stockings," and white tail tip. Harlequin Great Danes: White without any black (albinos), known as porcelain Danes (they exhibit mainly blue, fawn, brindle, or grey spots on a white base color). Blue Great Danes: White forehead stripe, white neck collar, white stockings, or white tail tip.
- Size: Below minimum height
FCI varieties
FCI divides the Great Dane into these varieties, listed in the registry's own words. Depending on the breed they separate colour, coat, size or line — they are not a full list of colours, which no registry we hold publishes. Ask a breeder which variety their line is.
- Fawn
- Brindle
- Black
- Harlequin
- Merle
- Blue
Informação ao nível da raça, de The Dog API. Descreve a raça Great Dane em geral; qualquer animal em concreto pode ser diferente.
Health guide
Health & screening guide for the Great Dane
Riscos hereditários conhecidos na raça Great Dane, e a documentação específica a pedir a qualquer criador antes de pagar um sinal. Um criador responsável tem esta documentação à mão; desviar a conversa é um mau indício.
8 doenças documentadasIsto é literatura ao nível da raça, não aconselhamento veterinário sobre um animal em concreto — o seu veterinário conhece o animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Heart & circulation
Dilated cardiomyopathy
Serious
A thin-walled, enlarged heart that fails progressively; Great Danes have one of the highest death rates from heart disease of any breed studied, and often die within weeks of the first signs of heart failure. The mode of inheritance is only suspected (possibly X-linked), not confirmed, and there is no gene test.
O que pedir
No genetic test exists. Echocardiogram and 24-hour Holter ECG by a cardiologist, repeated every 2 years, is the only way to check — early disease has no outward signs.
Shortened lifespan and orthopaedic/cardiac strain tied to giant body size
SeriousInerente à raça
Great Danes are among the heaviest breeds in a 2026 study of UK veterinary records; giant breeds as a group had a median age at death under nine years, well below smaller breeds, alongside elevated rates of joint and heart disease — a pattern tied to the size the standard itself calls for.
O que pedir
No document changes this. Ask how the breeder manages growth rate in puppyhood and what age dogs in their own lines have actually lived to.
Bones & joints
Hip dysplasia
Serious
Malformation of the hip joint causing pain, lameness and early arthritis.
O que pedir
OFA hip evaluation, on both parents, from around 24 months old, under the Great Dane Club of America's CHIC programme
Cervical spondylomyelopathy ("wobbler syndrome")
Serious
Compression of the spinal cord in the neck, causing an unsteady, wobbling gait that can progress to weakness or paralysis; unlike in most other affected breeds, it typically appears young, between one and three years old.
O que pedir
No screening test exists for breeding stock. Ask whether the sire, dam or their close relatives have shown an unsteady gait, neck pain or hind-limb weakness — the diagnosis itself is made by radiograph or MRI in an affected dog, not by a pre-breeding test.
Eyes
Loose eyelids
MonitorInerente à raça
The FCI's own judging guidance names loose eyelids as a specific area of risk for this breed, which can let in irritants or roll inward and rub the cornea.
O que pedir
No test; ask whether a vet has checked both parents' eyelids.
Immune system
Autoimmune thyroiditis
Monitor
The immune system attacks the thyroid gland, usually leading to hypothyroidism; manageable with lifelong medication once caught.
O que pedir
OFA thyroid panel (including TgAA) from an approved laboratory, on both parents
1 source
Digestion & liver
Gastric dilatation-volvulus (bloat)
Serious
A gas-filled, twisted stomach that is fatal within hours without emergency surgery. Great Dane had the highest risk of any breed in a major prospective study — about ten times that of the average breed studied, and the highest raw incidence of all breeds followed.
O que pedir
No test exists. Ask whether the breeder discusses prophylactic gastropexy and feeding management rather than expecting a document.
Cancer
Osteosarcoma
Serious
An aggressive bone cancer usually treated with amputation and chemotherapy. A UK case-control study found Great Danes had more than 30 times the odds of osteosarcoma compared with crossbred dogs — among the highest of any breed studied.
O que pedir
No test exists. Ask about bone cancer in the line, particularly in dogs that died before ten years old.
Quanto tempo vive a raça Great Dane, nos registos
Sobrevivência mediana de 10,6 anos
Intervalo de confiança a 95% de 10,4–11,0 anos, a partir de 864 mortes registadas entre 1981 cães
Risco de mortalidade de 1.2 (1.13, 1.29) em relação a cães de raça indeterminada, cuja mediana é de 12,0 anos.
Medido no Reino Unido a partir de 584 734 cães. A sobrevivência mediana não é uma previsão para um cão em concreto.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
Gallery
Ainda sem fotografias
É aqui que vão aparecer as fotografias dos próprios donos de Great Dane, a partir dos perfis dos animais que mantêm aqui. Ninguém acrescentou ainda nenhuma a uma página pública.
Uma fotografia num perfil de animal fica privada do seu dono. Não colocamos nenhuma aqui sem que nos peçam.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Great Dane breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.