how-healthy-will-my-dane-be

Our Danes have very healthy lines. Most important, we have a special diet programme for the mother prior to and

during pregnancy scientifically proven to eliminate certain health risks known to appear in large dogs in nature.

It's an expensive diet but it works. We never had a single problem with our Danes or pups. They all enjoyed a long

healthy life. That's why we offer the longest health guarantee any breeder offers anywhere. You'll notice that

some breeders offer only a month, 6 months or a maximum one year guarantee. Now, here are the facts:

1- Both parents have passed all health checks with flying colours. Both parents had their hearts, shoulders, thyroid, hips, ears, elbows, teeth & eyes checked and were reported very healthy. And:

2- Our pups are dewormed beforw they leave us. Although we never has a wrom problem, we don't take a chance. We don't just give them the heart worm medication, we give them a complete medication to deal with any tape worms, roundworms, hookworms and whipworms. The y are vaccinated when examined at age 6 to 8 weeks (a booster is a must after 3-4 weeks).

3- Both parents come from champion bloodline. If you look at for example Cleopatra's pedigree, you'll find something like 20 champion dogs (CBQ: Certified

Breeding Quality) in about 4 generations. This means that those champions, their parents and grand parents, went through a qualification process that involved careful exams - both medical and by judges in order to qualify for show points and the champion "CH" or "CBQ" (Certified Breeding Quality) title. If they had any visible problem such as eyes, teeth, bone structure, body conformation .. etc they would not have been approved by judges. And if they had any heart, hips or other problem that can be detected by blood test, x-ray or ultra sound they would not have obtained their breeding qualification.

4- Our pups have all been Vet-examined at age 8 weeks and documented healthy before leaving for their new homes.

That involved examination of eyes, teeth, hips & bone structure, shoulders, heart & lungs. And the pups that were sold as show-breeding pups to breeders have all passed their additional required medical tests. If fact, at the age of just one year they have already obtained most of their show points; not only that, they also made "best in show" & "best in breed" and are scheduled to obtain their champion title at such young age.

So if the puppies, the parents, and the breeding background line are all documented healthy, does it mean that absolutely and definitely I shall never have a health problem with the pup?

You shouldn't. The pup's chances are much much better to have a long healthy life. It means that the breeder did his part and the pup comes from a healthy line and yes it means that it is most likely and expected that the Dane will enjoy a great health provided that the special care pre and during pregancy and during the pup's first 8 weeks is done right by the breeder. You now have your part of the job. One person who purchased a pup, as soon as he got him home at age 8 weeks, he sent me a picture of the pup hanging onto his shoulder - while the man is cooking, both hands busy, no protection or support. What if that pup fell from 5 feet high on a hard floor?

Otherwise, as far as the problems you hear about, the odds are in your favour by far. As I said, we NEVER had a problem.

We know a healthy family with athletic and longevity background, one of their healthy-born children in a few years developed what can be described as an unexplained and unexpected genetic glitch that was never experienced by the parents or grandparents.

Another healthy couple we know, are exceptionally fit and yet their 22 years old has just been diagnosed with cancer! These are rare exceptions. And these rare exception becomes much more likely without the indicated proper pregnancy related care

There are different categories of health problems:

We see a person who never smoked gets cancer; a healthy child from athletic parents when becomes a teen develops a bone or other problems. I knew a family whose healthy born child at age 2 developed extra 3 teeth and needed surgery - something that never happened in the parents' background. Again, this is the rare exception that shouldn't happen and has not happened. And again it has never happened to us. Generally, vets may refer to such as cases at first as potential genetic problem or a genetic defect. Now remember that there are three different types of genetic problems:

1- inherited genetic defect: if the parent or the background has a genetic problem, most likely the offspring will. Someone told me about a breeder whose Danes are known to live for about 4 or 5 years and often developed a heart problem. The Sire has a heart problem and died at 5 years old. He should have never been bred. If the parent or grandparent has a problem such as the heart, eyes, hips or any disorder, the chances are very high that the pup will have it. Such dog must never be bred.

2- a genetic glitch that may unexpectedly appear. I explained how we see it even in us humans. This is the rare exception, the hand of god act shall we call it! Something beyond the breeder's control - and this is extremely rare. The genes suddenly malfunctioned maybe due to an industrial radiation or pollution in the environment, stress or even the food! Genes and cells don't always function perfectly the way they are supposed to. But, as I said, this is extremely rare and it has never happened to our Danes' off spring or in the parent's lines! All our dogs and their parents and grand parents had no problem .. they all had healthy heart, eyes, teeth, bones .. no problem, none! To date, all our pups have been reported by their happy homes to be healthy Danes.

And, there is a 3rd case:

3- a) Genetic negative development influenced by physical factors.

b) a problem caused by an injury due to accident or gradual excessive physical activities..

a) Some genes can be triggered to mal-function by negative influence such as severe exposure to viruses or even emotional/psychological factors. Meaning, if

the dog is not well taken care of in terms of vaccinations and emotional and health care. This part is the new home's responsibility. And again, we never had

such a problem either. All our pups have gone to good caring homes and all our pups were reported happy & healthy.

b) A real case example comes to mind. A friend in Ontario breeding Mastiffs with exceptional health line. His dogs, their parents & grandparents never had a

shoulder or hips problem. One of the pups had a shoulder problem. The vet told the owner of the pup that you should contact the breeder because it could be a

hereditary factor.

The causes of shoulder & hip problems are several - including possible hereditary; but also, even a healthy line, no hereditary factor, the

healthy dog (rarely) can develop such problem (especially in large breeds) as a result of other factors including:

i) wrong diet: excessive specific mineral such as calcium or imbalanced diet.

ii) lack of sufficient care during the pregnancy and the pup's early fetus formation stage as explained above.

iii) severe physical activities that could irritate a shoulder or a joint. Apparently, the young (but almost as heavy as a Dane) Mastiff I mentiond was

routinely made to play by jumping high to catch a toy and land with all his weight on his front paws several times a day even after he was limping with an

apparent shoulder injury.

Of course the vet has to tell the owner that there are several possibilities; diet, wrong physical activities in an excessive manner that may cause an injury accident, or hereditary. The vet doesn't know whether the parents had this problem and as such he couldn't eliminate the hereditary possibility.

Well, we can tell you right now, our dogs have no health problems and our pups didn't thus far. As well, our pups have the ideal - and costly - pregnancy and 8

weeks diet.

Such sad stories by irresponsible breeders of puppy mills give the common person every reason to worry.

It is not true that large breeds have a lower chance of a long healthy life. Every Dane I had, enjoyed a very log healthy life. And at the same time, several friends and neighbours who have small dogs had many health problems including several who had toy dogs that didn't live half the average life span of the Dane. I truly believe that the care factor plays the main role, including the foundation stage during pregnancy and the pup's first 8 weeks.

With our record of long-lived healthy lines, certified healthy champions and healthy pups; and with your love & care for your dog - especially the pre and during pregnancy health care, if are blessed with one of our pups, you have every reason to expect your Dane to live a healthy long and happy life.

Finally, this is written to convince you that there are GREAT Great Danes, if the breeder does the job properly and spends the money it takes during pregnancy and the pup's first 8 weeks. It is not written as sales talk at all. Again, we breed on average once a year and we select the homes out of several applicants, so please take these notes seriously and regardless of which breeder you approach, make sure they did the job right and will support it with a solid health guarantee.

Warm regards;

Paul.

To shed some light on this issue, here are two actual emails I received and I obtained permission to enter them here even without removing names. ?They show an example of poor breeding that produces poor health that had to be inherited.

Mr. Gouda,

I want to first thank you for your noble contribution to the Great Dane lines of the world. I have never seen such high quality Danes in my entire life.

I have owned Great Danes for the past 5 years and am an advent lover of the breed they are member of our family and reside indoors. I have worked with many Dane rescues to help my beloved breed find there forever homes. For 6 years I worked as a veterinary technician and have extensive knowledge of all animals but especially Great Danes. I have come across so many Danes that are very poorly bred. My first dane who I named "Pharoah" was the love of my life I got him at 6 weeks and was unaware of his congenital heart defect. By 1 year old I had him on Digoxin, Lasix, and Enacard. I was doing everything in my power to save my love. I worked closely with my Veterinarian to save Pharaoah. Yet it was to no avail because at almost 2 years old his heart could not compensate and he passed away.

Ever since I have been on a mission to obtain my own high quality Danes so that I may avoid the heart break that I still carry with the loss of Pharaoh. I wish to one day show Danes if I ever owned an amazing one or two. I love Egyptian names and was pondering Egyptian names for my future Great Dane. I currently have one Dane named "Egypt" and was considering the name "Cairo" when I thought of "Anubis". I typed it into google and there the most amazing Danes I have ever seen in this world stared back at me.

I live in Hawaii currently, I am a 26 year old nursing student, and my husband is a Marine in the US Marine Corps currently deployed to Iraq. We are stationed here in Hawaii until I graduate in August 2010 where then we will be moving to Virginia. I am hopelessly devoted to this breed and wonder if I may be blessed with the honor of perhaps being on your waiting list and one day being apart of your "good home list". At the very least know that you have a friend in Hawaii if you ever want to vacation here and one day and if I am so blessed and honored as to own a Dane or two from your litter it will be the happiest day of my life!

Aloha and God Bless from the state of lousy bred Danes...but beautiful beaches,

Samantha Isberner

6575 Kekahuna Pl APT B

Kailua, HI 96734

This is another example of the difference between puppy mills with low breeding cost and a proper breeding.

In nature, large breeds sometimes develop shoulder and hips problems starting at age 8 months and up. This is not the type of unavoidable problem caused by unescapable inherited genes; it's a developed (introduced) potential health condition that only appears later if certain nutrients are not available at the early pup formation stage. And because we addressed this issue, we NEVER experienced such concern.

In other words, it is not a genetic confirmation that cannot be escaped, it's a genetic potential that can be avoided.

With proper and specific diet prior to and during pregnancy, this potential is eliminated as the developed fetus is given that extra special nutrients that are often missing in nature. This is a fact and our breeding records proves it.

Yes, this potential problem can be 100% corrected with proper care of THE MOTHER prior to and during pregnancy. A careful experienced diet including glucosamine, chondroitin, folic acid, methyl sufonyl methane (or msm), several specific B vitamins such as riboflavine, chlorthydate, cyanoncobalamine as well as several other vitamins and minerals in a very specific ratio - given a month prior to pregnancy and throughout pregnancy totally eliminates such potential danger.

Again I emphasize the importance of ratio and the danger of over dose. I would be glad to advise breeders on this issue.

For example calcium though essential, if not balanced with other specific elements can cause joint problems in large breeds and often shoulder and hip problems as early as age 16 months - and some even vets may assume its genetic i.e. the line, while in fact it's a developed not an inherited problem.