A német (dán) dog kutya fajta – DogCast TV S01E06
I am Nándor Almási and I live in Hungary
I breed Greta Danes, our kennel’s name is Folton Folt (Patch on Spot).
We breed black and Harlekin Great Danes. Our breeding activity started as a hobby
first I had a Harlekin bitch and the I chose a high quality black male.
The Great Dane is a giant size dog which belong to the 2nd breed group as a guard and protection dog
but basically it is not the main characteristic of theis breed. It is not an aggressive dog breed
basically a calm breed, which looks gently to other dogs. In general, never starts a fight with other dogs.
Originally I chose the Harlekin dog because all of them are unique,
there are no two Harlekin dogs which are the same and I like uniqueness
The Harlekin dogs are usually called by books and experts the „dog of millionaires”
as its breeding is very difficult. As it is very difficult to formulate a Harlekin
which has ideal spots on its bogy and whom people like. I would say that such a dog has never existed (laugh).
The German dogs originate from ancient war dogs but their character has changed a lot in the past centuries
Basically they became a boar catch dog and then slowly became a coach/chariot accompanying dog.
Because of hunting activities, its ears were cropped for a long time, by now
the breed standard prohibits cropping because of animal protection laws.
Presently, the owner of the breed is Germany, where they standardized the breed,
this is why they are are called German Dog all over the world (except the English speaking ones).
It was Danemark, where the yellow and striped ones were bred
and German territories around Ulm where the black and Harlekin type.
Basically it is the same breed in different colors and finally the FCI decided that the common name of this breed will be German Dog
In spite of this decision people still call them The Great Dane in Anglo-Saxon territories.
This is the reason why the majority of people still does not know whether it is a Danish or a German dog
and where they are originating from. According to FCI, presently this breed is called German Dog
and the Great Dane is an older form of name, left behind from before this decision.
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The Great Danes are bred in five colours: yellow, brindle, black, harlekin and blue (grey).
The yellow and brindle are considered one color group, so you can breed yellow with yellow, brindle with brindle
and yellow with brindle
Black and harlekin are also considered one colour group.
Breeding is allowed between black and black, black and harlekin and in Hungary, harlekin with harlekin.
If you breed a harlekin with a black, a new colour will be the result, the so called Merle.
This colour was accepted fully in 2012, when the German breed standard accepted it.
The blue can be bred with blue, or blue bloodline black, in which case black and blue puppies are born.
The Great Dane presently has three main types, the so called Mediterranean, which are mainly from Spain and France
which are nice, big, sculpture like dogs. The Central European type has shorter legs
stronger bogy and a wider head. The Scandinavian type is a very long legged,
elegant dog with shorter neck and head than the Central European.
The Greta Dane is growing very fast and they are usually not aware of their size and strength.
When they are 6-9 months old, it is very important that you deal with them with tough hands and teach them how to behave.
It is definitely a good idea to enroll in a dog school, where both the dog and the the owner are trained.
As they become extremely large and very strong, if they do not listen to their owner, they can be like a loaded weapon.
I suggest that the Great Dane should be kept in a house with a big yard, but of course there are some
who have them in flats as well. I would like to emphasize that it becomes a huge dog (like an adult person)
with a lot of energy and strength. Ideal for strong personality people, who libe sporty life style.
A lot of people buys them because they want a jogging partner for themselves
and some because they like hiking, walking long distances and would like to feel themselves safe
Some prefer them because they are very big and deter unwanted visitors from the yard.
In the old days it was quite the same: a castle was not finished without at least two Great Danes in the yard
The Great Danes’ life expectancy is 7-9 years, which is not too long.
Of course there are some, who has longer life spans, even 13 years, buti t is very rare.
As the Great Dane is a very good companion, it can be very sad to loose them
it can be very sad to loose them, who are usually considered as family members.
This should also be taken into account, when you choose a Great Dane.
One of the characteristics of this breed is that they have a very deep desire to be close to their owners
to feel the owner’s smell. One example, if I walk my dogs and stop for a moment
to talk with somebody, they take may hands out of my pocket with their nose so that I pet him.
When we stand, they always lean on my legs, so that we feel that we are close.
When the Graet Dane concentrates on its owner and wags it’s tail, you should be very careful.
They wag so strong like a whip blow, what they do not feel as there are few nerves in their tails.
If somebody buys a great Dane, who has small kids, should take care, a hit with the tail tot he head of a small child can be dangerous.
The Greta Dane is not conscious of his strength and size when he is young, or young adult.
As in this age he still behaves likea puppy, he can easily destroy its environment, so the owner should take care.
He is a guard and protection dog, but a certain part of the Great Danes are not able to perform this task any more.
Those, who have kept these traits, usually never initiate any attacks, when the owner is close and controls the situation
If the owner is not present, they defend their territory.
In a situation when a Great Dane feels that the owner is in danger, they usually stand between the attacker and the owner
and defends, which is quite frightening event as the dog is so huge.
In my breeding career it happened sometimes even with those one, about whom I would never think it so.
In some bloodlines there are aggressive dogs, but these should be excluded from breeding.
Of course, aggression should never be mixed up with the dominance of the males for example.
The Great Danes have one very special health problem that you have to take care, which is the stomach twisting.
If stomach twisting happens, only medical intervention can save the life of the dog.
The susceptibility can originate from inheritance from the bloodline, the special characteristics of the given dog
and feeding problems. What I usually suggest to our buyers is that until 1 year of age
a puppy should be fed with a high quality kibble and from this age with quality meat and bony meat.
Unfortunately, in the past years breeding has turned into the direction of breeding big headed dogs, with wider skull and shorter nose.
As a consequence, the head of the Great Danes is having more and more loose leather, which can lead to eye problems
In average, 90% opf Greta Danes have eye problems: enthropyum, ecthropyum, Harder glent problems and others.
In our breeding program we quit the breeding of dogs with serious eye problems.
It is extremely important with this breed that you should not let the dog get fat, or too muscular
until its bone structure was formulated and muscle building should start only after that.
If you do this, you will have a nice Great Dane by the age of 3, with no movement problems.
In our kennel, the first litter was born in 1997. We have a lot of dogs and my favorites are the Harlekin ones.
The dogs we are very proud of are my first bitch, Ariel, who you can see on my front door.
Origami, Cheyenne Gadiva and now Natalie, they are all very nice and successful dogs of ours.
We usually have black and harlekin puppies, as you see, in this litter as well.
Our feedbacks are very good, buyers are usually very satisfied with the quality of the Great Danes they get from us.
As they are nice and elegant dogs, our breeding program is always recognised by the movement of our dogs.
