How big will my Dane be? Anubis is now 191 lb and Nifi is 164 lb
First let me say that those who down-play the size factor forget that a "great" size is a major characteristic of the GREAT Dane. Without the great size, he just isn't GREAT!
German Danes and several American Danes are too small, and as a result, the Dane's head too is proportionally small and the dog just doesn't have the graceful Dane image, in fact at times it doesn't even look like a Dane!
Of course size isn't everything and sometimes bigger isn't better, but a GREAT Great Dane is both, bigger and better.
The Dane's title, the gentle giant, means that he must have both features, the good characteristics and the giant size.
The height of the Dane is measured in inches at the shoulder; at the highest point in contact with the start of the neck "withers". A large Dane is about 3 feet at the shoulder, plus a foot of neck length and another foot of head height which makes him almost 5 feet tall at the top of the head, and if he is standing on his back legs jumping on you with his front paws of your shoulders, he would about 6 or 6+ feet high.
The official standard height which is required in order for a Dane to qualify for showing and to get official certification, is 30 inches (at the shoulder) for a male and 28 inches for a female. We believe this is too small. Sure there are Danes 26 inches only, I have seem some of them and they are sold as "imports" as if they are a different breed of Danes .. Those are simply sub-standard and an excuse for a Dane. There are many small Danes with pointed smaller head sold as expensive imported line. There is only one standard of Dane conformation; and those sub-standard are just poor Danes.
There are very healthy large Dane lines like ours. Yes, some Large Danes have health problems .. someone was telling me about a breeder known to have hips and heart problems .. well, those Danes should not be bred! But again, there are small size Danes under 27" who also have the same health problems.
Now .. there are good looking GREAT Great Danes in the 34-35" or even 36" category who are perfectly healthy and lead a wonderful long life. Shoulder height isn't a problem.
So back to what a Dane size should be .. it should be GREAT! Great & Healthy!
Weight should be more of a concern because it is often associated with fat buildup.
The chart below will show you the acceptable (good) range of the large Dane's weight and height
expected of a good line of the gentle giant:
Age. Weight in Lbs Height in inches at the shoulders
At birth 1-2
week-1
2-3
2-3week-2 3-5
3-5week-3 5-7
5-7Month-1 6-10
week-6 10-18
10-18Month-215-25 12-18
15-25 12-18Month-325-40 16-23
25-40 16-23Month-440-65 20-25
40-65 20-25Month-560-85 23-28
60-85 23-28Month-670-100 25-29
70-100 25-29Month-775-110 26-30
75-110 26-30Month-880-120 28-31
80-120 28-31Month-985-125 29-32
85-125 29-32Month-10 90-130 30-33
Year-1 100-14031-34
100-14031-34Year-2 "adult male" 135-180 32-36
32-36Year-2 "adult female" 110-150 31-34
110-150 31-34Many Danes are smaller, even considerably below the chart's size and weight. We don't vote for them.
Very few are slightly larger in size and weight than the figures shown above (ours are) . Some Danes make the 37" and very very few make the 38 inches shoulder height. The difference of one inch or so between 35-37 M or 31-33 F is insignificant but the diffrence between 29 and 32 F or 31 and 34 M is not because past the 34 or 35" M and 31 to 33" F the difference is mainly in the legs and if the legs get too long and not attractively propotional it affects the general Dane image.
On the subject of unusual growth, there has been one single case that made a world record and still in the Guinness book of record as the tallest dog in history. It was a Dane. Just like we see on TV, once in a while a human would make the 7.5 feet tall .. this is an exceptional or abnormal glitch! That Dane was 3 inches taller than any previous dog height record (which was 38.5"). Ironically, his mother was only 29" and his father was 34". Just like there are few few men in the world who are near 8' tall - and just like it is not better, attractive nor a plus to be that tall. In fact, when this Dane was hosted on TV as the tallest Dog in history, it was negatively obvious that the 3 or 4 extra inches difference were not proportional and they were in the legs height which makes the legs look like goat's legs and it looked like a deformity! As indicated, this is a rare genetic "unexplained glitch" and this height was not passed on to his offspring nor appeared in his relatives and at the moment this Dane is the only one with such long (and unusual) legs (about 3 inches longer than the norm) to give him this extra abnormal 3 inches. Otherwise, a "large" Dane is 34-35" tall / 140 Lb and a "very large" Dane means 36" and 160+ lb. The weight however can be greater depending on diet and body fat ratio, but the height is not affected by diet.
The following table will compare how a healthy-attractive or within the norm height of a human ("H" in ft/inch) would compare to a Dane ("D" in inches), considering the table of human height that states that:
5.7 is average/normal 5.8 is good 5.9 to 5.10 is average/healthy tall
5.11 to 6 is TALL in social perception (taller than average national tall and is within the healthy & attractive target)
6.1. to 6.2 is very tall and still within the healthy & socially attractive range
6.3 to 6.4 is unusual (attractiveness decreases at this point)
6.5 to 6.6 is abnormal and rare
and: 6.6 to 6.9+ is very rare/ too tall for ideal healthy circulation and is considered unexpected and undesired genetic glitch.
Based on the above, I came up with what I called it the Dane VS Human height chart, quoted by and referred to as the Gouda Dane height table by the Great Danes magazine. Here is my illustrative - comparative chart:
Dane height Human total height
in inches = in F/I at the top
= in F/I at the topat the shoulders of the head
D30 meaning a Dane resembles: H 5.7 meaning a human
30 inches tall at 5 ft & 7 inches tall
5 ft & 7 inches tall the shoulder
D31 H 5.8
H 5.8D32 H 5.9 healthy - good
H 5.9 healthy - goodD33 H 5.10
H 5.10 very good / tall. D34 H 5.11
H 5.11 D35 H 6.0
H 6.0 Very tall.
D36 H 6.2
H 6.2 D37 H 6.4 Rare
H 6.4 RareD38 H 6.6 abnormal, leaning
H 6.6 abnormal, leaning towards undesired appearance.
D39 undesired too long H 6.9 abnormal genetic glitch
H 6.9 abnormal genetic glitch goat-appearance legs. .The extremely rare genetic glitch of 39" is very rare and to my knowledge no breeder has a Dane at the that height alive except for the famous one that
made the world record, and as I indicated, the extra 3 inches height are in his legs and made his legs appear like goats legs, not an attractive feature.
Again, officially, a certified, qualified champion Dane can be 30" Male or 28" Female. We don't think this is "great" enough. We think that the minimum
should be 32M / 30F and the ideal - (in order to be "great" in size) should be 33-36M and 31-34F.
Note that the two pictures above show Anubis standing up against my son Pele and I. Of course he would be over 6 or 7 feet height. This is not how you measure a Dane; I say it because you'll hear someone say I saw a Dane that was "thaaaaat" tall!
Even when holding a Dane by the collar walking him, with 3 feet height at the shoulder, a foot or so neck and another foot or so the head & ears height, he would look like 4 to 5 feet high without standing up and you'll hear about a 5 ft tall walking Dane . Still, this is not how a Dane is measured, nor he is measure by how high he reaches standing on his back legs. If it was, Anubis would be 6 or 7 ft tall.
Below is how a Dane is measured.
As explained above, remember again that the officially acceptable height of a Dane to even enter a championship competition is 28" at shoulder for a female and 30 inches if a male. Many Danes are below that standard. Most professionally bred Danes are between 32 to 34 inches at the shoulders and that's a good size. Very few are 35-36" and that is a large Dane. Very rarely you will find a 37-38" Dane (I know of only two other Danes in North America that made that extra inch or two - and as I said, the inch or two difference at this stage (that rarely and unexpectedly may appear in a pup), is insignificant.
You need to be careful as many Danes are under-size and they just don't have the graceful Dane appearance. Many American breeders produce Danes as small as 25" and most - from what I have seen - are in the 27-30". That's perhaps why sometime you hear exaggerated perceptions when that person runs into a real Dane. I heard someone refer to our Anubis as a 6 ft tall Dane!
Below is how a Dane is measured. Not the at the top of the head (highest red line). Not including the neck (the second red line). The Dane is measured at the tallest shoulder point where the neck starts (the first red line extended in yellow colour). To measure your Dane, let him stand straight up against a wall in a show position, and with his head pulled up high, use a pencil to mark a dot or a line against the wall at the highest shoulder point at the start of the neck.
The chart above gives you a healthy and ideal expectation of the good range of a GREAT Great Dane.
Anubis at age 19 months, 36" at the shoulder and is now 191 lbs at this point. Note his impressive chest cage and head which are persistent with his line.
Nifi at age 16 months. 34" tall at the shoulder and is now 164 lb at this point.
Anubis & Cleo
greeting a friend
