I feel there is a bit of politics in dog showing, think of the movie Best in Show its borderline real. Having a handler allows you to navigate the circuit quickly, likely finishing your dog far faster than you, the novice can. All in all, you never know if the dog will finish quickly, but I believe my handlers finish my dogs faster than I do. The handler devotes their schedule to the circuit schedule, while as an owner handler you tend to stick to shows close to you that work around your schedule.

I’ve had some Great Danes finish with a handler in one season and others take as long as three seasons. If your dog hasn’t finished in three seasons, you should probably ask yourself if your dog is a great representation of the breed. Showing is just that… proof that your dog is a great representation of the breed. Also ask yourself, how much money are you willing to invest in showing. It can get expensive especially using a professional handler. They cost $50 to $100 a show, plus if you win you should tip about 20%. Unless it’s a major and then tip your heart out!

Having a professional handler has other benefits as well… you can dress casually at the show, you won’t be stressed attending the show, and you can enjoy yourself at the show.

Handling my own dogs is fairly new to me, as I have always used a professional handler and I have found the ring here in New England to be welcoming. People have been really kind and supportive, plus I have met so many new acquaintances who have the same interests as me… Great Danes.

It was quite nerve wracking getting in the ring. Judges want different things, dogs need a lot of training and training at home versus being in the ring is drastically different. Lots of people, noises and smells to distract the dog, and YOU. In the beginning you will both be ungraceful, but like anything, with practice, it gets better.

My first show handling, my dog and I weren’t put together, we forget to run the whole circle, she was tempted by a spectator’s hotdog, we were both hot messes. After getting a few more shows under our belts, both our confidence levels grew and I could tell my Dane was enjoying herself, as was I. There is no better feeling then having a beautiful, well behaved, loyal Great Dane on the end of your lead.

As a breeder, you should be showing your Danes. Isn’t the whole point of breeding to better the breed, and if you’re not competing to show the conformation of your dog, then why breed your Great Dane? If money immediately springs to mind, you are doing it for the wrong reasons.

As a Great Dane pet owner, I urge you to go to show, see new bloodlines, see good examples of the breed and bad examples.

I urge everyone to show their dog. Even if not for conformation, there are shows for agility, tracking, etc. It is truly a great opportunity to bond with your dog and get to know the “working” side of the Great Dane breed.

I can’t stress enough the importance of starting nail maintenance while your dog is a puppy. I dropped the ball on my dog, Suzy’s, nails when she was a puppy and now trying to do her nails is a complete cluster. I can’t even touch the Dremel without her sneaking away from me. Then we have a 20 minute wrestling match, which as you can imagine isn’t pretty. The whole event obviously stresses her out, and me for that matter. I feel horrible about it all, especially considering it’s my fault and it could have been avoided if I had started and kept up her nail maintenance when she was a puppy. Life piled up and I neglected her nails. Between shuttling two kids around, health issues, dealing with winter and everything else, when I would go to trim her nails she would buck, and I let her win. Which I now immensely regret, considering wrestling a 40-pound puppy would have been easy, wrestling a 120-pound dog is not easy. My advice to anyone who gets a puppy, no matter the breed, trim their nails starting day one and touch their feet frequently!

Aside from the Dremel tool, another must have for nail trimming is a over the counter medicine called Quick Stop. You can get it from your local pet shop or pet magazine. It’s a miracle powder that aids in coagulation of blood. No matter how good you are at trimming nails, you are bound to cut the quick of the nail. Its not a matter of IF, its just a matter of WHEN, so be prepared with Quick Stop. You pour a bit of the powder in your hand and dip the dogs bloody toe nail into the powder. Keep holding their paw for another minute or so until the wound coagulates.

I recommend trimming your dogs nails every two weeks. The more you trim the nails the more the blood vessel will retreat back into the claw and eventually you won’t have to trim them as frequently.

After the trim I give my dogs treats and cuddles so they know they did a good job, and they immediately move on to their next adventure rather than dwelling on the idea of the nail trimming.

Over the years our household has had many children and Danes Coexisting in harmony. I have two young children, 3 and 7, and sometimes I feel that they are part of my Dane pack. I also have two sibling puppies, Pilot and Tula, 4 months old. They chew, nip, wrestle, are constantly into something, and in this mix are my children, who also do the same things.

There are so many tips and rules to raising children with dogs, I could talk about it for hours, these are just a few of my top suggestions that I personally follow and have worked for us.

• EVERYONE in the house should use the same language. Sit down as a family and agree on a word for every command and stick to it! If everyone uses different words for the same command the dog gets confused, it takes the dog longer to learn and it also creates an issue with who the dog chooses to listen to. When children use the same words it makes for a quicker response from the dogs. Children love to feel accomplished by seeing the Danes follow their commands and it makes the children and dog bond faster.
• I make a daily effort to incorporate the children into the feeding regiment, with adult supervision. This confirms that they are the hand that feeds them. My dogs are very food motivated so this allows the children to own that position of being in charge of the food. It’s cute when they say “crate time” and the dogs will run and get in the crate and wait for the kids to feed them. However, at the beginning it is important to have adult supervision at all times and of course if there’s any food aggression issues DO NOT include young children (that’s a whole other blog).
• Allowing the children, depending on the age, to walk the dog on a lead gives the child a sense of control and ownership. However, not all puppies are gentle enough to allow a child to walk them on the lead without the constant pulling. With a lot of training and some lead help from an adult this can be achieved, followed by a glass of wine for the adult!
• Play time; it is important that all play between children and puppies/dogs be supervised. Children, depending on their age, can be too rough and puppies will get extremely excited. Play between children and their dogs is important, a special bond is created through constructive play. Training can be incorporated into this play as well. It is extremely important that there is always adult supervision so nobody gets hurt. A Great Dane puppy gets big quickly, sometimes there’s up to 5 pounds of weight gain in one week! They are clumsy and do not understand how big they are. It’s very rare that kid and puppy play occurs that a child does not come out of the situation crying, because the puppy is holding them down and licking them, sitting on them, or chewing on them. So being there to stop the puppies and kids from crossing the line of light play mode into the full blown wrestling mode is important. I try to limit the horse play in the house and allow it to happen outside. This way when the puppies are inside we have a more relaxed atmosphere. More kisses and cuddles less barking and toy fetching. Let me tell you between my kids toys and all these dog toys sometimes the dogs can’t tell whose is whose. Having a basket specifically for puppy toys helps.
• Raising children with puppies can be an up hill battle when it comes to toys. Keeping plenty of dog toys available at all times reduces the amount of children’s toys that will end up in the mouth of your pup. Another thing that I like to do is update their toys. Dogs, just like children, get bored of the same toys after a while. I even give my dogs butternut squash or sweet potatoes, this keeps them occupied while teething. A bit of a mess, but I am ok with that, especially outside. Whenever I catch my pups chewing on one of the kids toys I take it away, say “no” and automatically give them one of their toys. This reinforces the idea that there are some items they are not allowed to have. When I catch my kids chewing on dog toys I do the same thing to the kids!
• Crate training. I understand that not everyone is OK with the crate. A dog or puppy should not technically be in a crate for more than 3 to 4 hours at a time. It is unfair to the animal, they get bored and it can cause other health issues. However, for the puppies safety and the sanity of the household, it is nice to have a spot where your puppy can relax and get away from the children. It allows breaks, it also keeps you from worrying that the pups are getting into something that could possibly cause them death when you aren’t home. Before these dogs were Great Danes, their ancestors were wolves and they dug themselves dens. I feel that a crate is very much equivalent to a den. After the crate training process has been successful and served its purpose, meaning the puppy is no longer chewing on random things like children’s toys and licking electrical outlets, and the puppy can be trusted home alone for longer periods of time the crate can stay. You can just leave the door open and it is a place where your Dane will go when it wants to be by itself, depending upon the age of your kids, it might be frequent.

I have heard of many horror stories of unattended puppies suffering accidental death. In my personal opinion crates could have prevented most of the puppy deaths. Crates save puppies and young Danes lives. It also saves rugs, furniture, clothes, drywall, etc.

Throughout, this blog I have wrote “with adult supervision” because when it comes down to it these are animals and animal instinct takes over, they can be rough and because of their size you just need to pay attention to when tough housing becomes too rough.

This breed is amazing, they are the gentle giants of the working dog breed. I have found my Danes to be very tolerant of children. I often have to remind my children when they’re playing with my older Danes, that not all dogs will let you do whatever you want to them. Our dogs are amazing, but not every dog is tolerant of children. The pros to raising my kids with Danes is they have had good experiences, the cons are that they tend not to be afraid of other dogs. So this is something that I constantly work on with my kids. I reinforce that not all dogs are friendly and not all dogs will let you pull on the tail, play with their ears, pinch their butts or hang all over them. It is important that you teach children (and adults) to ask the dog owners permission before they approach or touch any dog.

I feel like I could give many more suggestions to raising children with Great Danes; this is my first blog, so maybe at a later date but feel free to comment any questions.