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Dog Articles
Past and Present: Great Dane
Not quite
so swift as the Greyhound, Deerhound, or Wolfhound, the Great Dane
is more powerful than any of them and fast enough to overtake most
things that run. At his best he is a huge dog, built on Greyhound
lines, but much more massive.
This is
probably one of the very oldest breeds, and has been used for ages
in hunting all kinds of wild animals. In Germany this dog is still
used for hunting the wild boar, but in most places he is now
regarded as a companion and a guardian of property.
The Great
Dane is a typical German dog, and is in fact a synonym of ‘Deutsche
Dogge’, by which name he is known throughout central Europe.
Like all
oversized dogs, the Dane is given to many weaknesses, both of body
and of disposition. The perfect Dane is a most statuesque and
magnificent animal; the ordinary one is indeed an ordinary dog. Very
seldom, and for an exorbitant price, we may get a dog that lives up
to the standard, with strong, straight legs and back, massive deep
head, strong, close feet, and, most essential of all, even and
trustworthy temper. Far more often, though, promising puppies grow
up to be saggy in the back, cow-hocked behindhand rabbit-footed in
front, and while elephantinely playful as pups, they can be surly
and really dangerous as grown dogs. When properly housed,
restrained, and exercised, they are splendid creatures.
But often
they outgrow the capacity of their owners to care for them, when
they become the bane of the neighborhood; for the truth is they are
too big and too dangerous to be allowed unhampered freedom, and the
fright they cause, even in play, among people unacquainted with
their ways, renders them frequently very unwelcome adjuncts to a
neighborhood. In addition to their power and size, they have a
rather excitable and impatient disposition, which unfits them at
once as children's playmates.
There are
few things which have such a healthful moral effect upon a criminal
as to find a big, resolute Great Dane standing squarely across his
path. If the criminal is a judge of dogs, he may read in the grim
face a look which says, ‘You shall not pass’, and if he isn't a
fool, he'll ‘go while the going is good’.
A few
years ago a burglar in Missouri met a Dane in this way, and either
failed to read the danger sign or thought the dog was bluffing. He
was strangled to death in front of the window by which he was
attempting to enter the house, and the verdict for the dog was
‘justifiable homicide’. When one walks down the street with a great
Dane, about half the people one meets refer to him as a bloodhound.
This mistake is largely due to the fact that the managers of the
numerous Uncle Tom's Cabin shows traveling about the country
usually select Great Danes instead of Bloodhounds as the dogs
required in the play. They do this because the Danes are much bigger
and more spectacular, and therefore attract more attention when led
through the streets of a town before the performance. They also are
easily excited into the spirit of the act, whereas the kind,
sentimental, and heavy Bloodhounds would walk through the part
without the slightest thrill to themselves or to the palpitating
audience.
Source:
National Geographic 1919
Recommended Reading
Dog Training
Mastery - An Owners' Manual
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