german shepherd/great dane mix

[borzoimom]

Does any one have experience with GS/GD mixes? What they tend to look like, their size or temperment? I have one of both and I am debating on ot breed them or just get them fixed. They are both awesome, well tempered, beautiful pure breds. Any pros or cons that anyone can let me in on? Any pictures also would be AWESOME. Thanks

Well I had shepherds and two danes. I would imagine its alot of intellegence but size as well. Also danes are rather short lived, but shepherds arent.
I am not really into mixing breeds but some mixes do work. Don't get me wrong but I have had several mixes, I have just mostly been into showing that doesnt come up.
I had a harlequin dane I loved. But they do call them the "heart break breed' as they dont live very long.
What are you looking for as far as companionship. If you want size, elegance, beauty, long lived, but calm may I suggest a Borzoi???

[cynicallynn]

I know this thread is long dead but I just wanted to add my experiences for anyone who might find this in a search like I did. I rescued a German Shepherd/Great Dane cross eight months ago. I love her dearly, but she is a handful and I imagine many less-than-passionate dog owners would have given up on her by now. She was only six months old when I got her, but she had already been adopted and returned for being "destructive". These are a few of the issues I've had with her:

-She has severe separation anxiety. When I leave the house, I have to lock her in a crate and secure the door with around 5 or 6 carabiner hooks to keep her in. The hooks get replaced often as she can sometimes break a few of them in the time I'm away for work, especially if it rains as she has a bit of storm anxiety as well. If she manages to escape and finds the house empty, she will tear the molding off the walls and chew on the furniture. If we are shorthanded a work and I need to put in overtime, she becomes so distressed by the decreased time together that she acts neurotic and is nearly unmanageable.

-She is extremely timid. As far as I know she's never been abused, yet if she is spoken to in a harsh or angry voice she will panic and thrash around like a spooked horse. I've ended up with scratches on my face and neck from her doing this.

-She does not learn commands easily. So far the only thing she will do reliably is sit, and sometimes she will lay down or roll over. She is not completely housebroken yet.

-I am beginning to suspect she may have sebborhea. I bathe her every Monday and by Thursday she is as dirty and smelly as my old roommate's Dalmatian mix who was only bathed once or twice a year.

Don't misunderstand me, I love my dog and I am totally committed to working with her through any issues she has now or may develop in the future. But I know most people just want a dog to be a companion and are not willing to make a lifestyle of it, and for that reason I STRONGLY discourage anyone from creating more GSD/GD mixes. You may get lucky and end up with a litter of well-behaved, even-tempered pups, or you may end up with a whole bunch of near-impossible-to-adopt-out 100lb. maniacs. I see that others before me have already covered the overpopulation/euthanasia angle, so I won't go too far into that except to say that ANYONE who considers breeding ANY dog for ANY reason should visit a shelter in a high-kill community first. If you have the resources to care for a litter of puppies and are willing to deal with the unpredictablity of mixed breeds, please consider fostering a few for your local shelter or rescue group!

[Karen]

She was only six months old when I got her, but she had already been adopted and returned for being "destructive". These are a few of the issues I've had with her.

Poor thing, who knows what she went through before you got her. My older brother rescued a 3/4 Great Dane from a household where she was "only beaten when she barked or made noise .." The poor thing was terrified of everyone and everything when I first met her, and clung to my brother like he was a security blanket.

In time, Princess (named by my then 6-year-old niece - only a small girl would name a big black galoot of a dog (130 pounds when full grown) Princess!) became a calmer, braver dog, and helped raise her three human siblings.

I am so glad you have her, and love her, and are working with her to overcome her issues. I wonder if her "stinkiness" could have to do with food allergies, if it's not the sebborhea.

What's her name?

[cynicallynn]

Poor thing, who knows what she went through before you got her. My older brother rescued a 3/4 Great Dane from a household where she was "only beaten when she barked or made noise .." The poor thing was terrified of everyone and everything when I first met her, and clung to my brother like he was a security blanket.

In time, Princess (named by my then 6-year-old niece - only a small girl would name a big black galoot of a dog (130 pounds when full grown) Princess!) became a calmer, braver dog, and helped raise her three human siblings.

Aw, poor baby! Glad to hear she's doing so well now. Mine is slowly but surely getting better with meeting new people. One thing that's really helped has been taking her to the dog park. She loves other dogs and tends to take her cues from them if she's unsure of a situation.

I am so glad you have her, and love her, and are working with her to overcome her issues. I wonder if her "stinkiness" could have to do with food allergies, if it's not the sebborhea.

Thanks! I'll look into getting her a limited ingredients diet to see if that helps. She's very greasy and itchy, could that fit with a food allergy as well?

What's her name?

Her name is Meme. My computer geek boyfriend named her. Her nametag reads "No, you can't have a pony. NOT YOURS. My name is..." My friends and family refer to her as "The Horse" or "The Mule". I don't think she's THAT big though, I mean, not compared to a full Dane. She weighs just under 100 lbs and stands right at my hips (I'm 5'4").

[Sighthounds4me]

I have not read all the replies, but I want to say this: Breeding is not, i repeat, NOT to be undertaken lightly. So much needs to be considered.

DH and I have been discussing things with our boys' breeder(They are Borzoi). Cooper is neutered, and has never been shown. He is a beautiful, typey example of his breed, and has fantastic health and temperament. Many, many attributes about him are something that many lesser breeders would have chosen to showcase, and breed. He has a fantastic head, beautiful front assembly, and his temperament is among the best I have encountered. Yet, his rear is too straight, which affects his movement. He is sound, but not correct. Because movement is so very important in this breed, his breeder neutered him, and placed him with us as a companion.

His litter-brother, Manero, is also very typey and beautiful. He has a pretty head (though there are faults), a VERY nice front, and when well-muscled, a nice rear. His coat is to die for. He has a very nice temperament, as well. He is also an AKC champion, and will soon be a UKC champion (just needs two competition wins!). Hopefully, we can get to Canada, and show him to a Canadian championship as well, but that depends on money.

Right now, we are weighing our options, debating on *if* he will be bred, and to whom.

But evaluating all that is to evaluate is not easy. There are so many things to consider, such as how the male's physical attributes will complement the bitch's and vice versa. And it's not just them to consider, but those further back in their pedigree, as well. But then you have to consider temperament, health, etc.

THEN, the breeder really should be experienced, so he/she can assist, if necessary. This is especially true if you have two inexperienced individuals.

Wait, what, you say? Won't instinct guide them?! NOT ALWAYS! Same is true of whelping. Would you know what to do if a pup were presented breech? Or if the dam's labor slowed or stopped? What if she wants to hide under the basement stairs?

And, worse yet, what would you do if the dam did not produce enough milk to feed her puppies? Or if she developed mastitis? Or worse, if she died in whelp? Would you have the wherewithall to care for a litter of 6 or more puppies, feeding them every hour, cleaning them, etc?

Breeding is not something to be undertaken lightly. There are so many things to consider, and I have barely scratched the surface. But if you are not prepared to do extensive testing to rule out certain hereditary conditions, screen applicants thoroughly, to ensure your pups going into a good home, keep puppies you can't place, etc, you ARE NOT ready to breed a litter. And, you must also be prepared to lose the bitch in whelp. It CAN and DOES happen!

Here is a good link for you to check out. It really illustrates the realities of breeding a litter: http://www.geocities.com/virtualbreeding/

And here's another one, with many links illustrating the realities of breeding: http://learntobreed.com/

Oh, yeah, in addition, people who intentionally breed mixed breed puppies are thorns in my side. But even though I have not read all the replies, I won't go there, because I am quite sure others have...

**ETA: I just saw how old this thread is. Well, whatever. I thought about removing the text of my post, but I will leave it, in hopes that someone else will see it at some point, and learn from it.

[lute]

I am glad I didn't see this when it was originally a thread. This is so stupid! It just shows that there are people out there that just want cute little puppies no matter what may happen to the puppies or what happens to all the other THOUSANDS of dogs of this exact mix that are killed every day! How sad. I really hope this person didn't go though with the breeding. I wish you could take people's dogs away for even thinking like this.

It's like a stab in the back to REPUTABLE breeders! They work so hard to produce the best quality of purebred dog. Spend hours upon hours researching pedigrees and genetics. Spend thousands on dollars a year just to produce the best puppies.

[jonsidneyb]

I love extra large dogs that you can play with in the yard. In spite of me being fasinated with extra large dogs I don't want to see more born when so many are homeless.

If there where no homeless dogs I would say go for it as long as we knew the puppies would be cared for but it is just not the case.

I however would sure like to see a photo of an existing Shep Dane mix.

[LPicardster]

I'm considering adopting an 8 month old Great Dane German Shepherd mix that I met this evening at a local SPCA. I've been scouring the net for info on the mixed breed and am not finding much useful information. This medium (Pet Talk) appears to have fairly active membership so I'm posting this request for feedback. I see that Jenny25 posted a GD/GS breed question back in 2006 and some folks jumped her pretty hard about even thinking of breeding her GD and GS. Well somewhere near Seattle, someone did let a GD and GS breed and the result is "Rex," who's been at the local shelter since October, 2008.

About Me:
I lived with and helped care for a Harlequin Great Dane, named Sophie, for approximately eight years and feel competent and comfortable with the breed's size, care requirements, expenses, issues and personality traits. However, Sophie attended puppy school as soon as she was old enough, received strict reinforcement to maintain her training, prevent jumping, property destruction and other bad manners. She was crate trained, kept on a regular diet of high quality kibble with moderate boiled chicken and rice on occasion (i.e. no people food). She was also not allowed on furniture and was restricted to her own giant bed/pillows. Sophie was used to being bathed, having her teeth brushed, her nails trimmed and ears cleaned on a regular basis and when seasons changed, she tolerated being vacuumed. She respected cats, parrots and most other dogs with a few exceptions. Sophie knew her place in the home and to this day is an exemplary dog.

Sophie lives with my ex in Virginia and I'm across the country in Washington. I really enjoyed the goofy, emotional, affectionate traits of the breed. The size is pretty cool too. I'm a horse nut and grooming Sophie sometimes felt like grooming a pony I've been thinking about getting my own Great Dane on and off for over a year now. I purchased a decent sized home a few months ago and it's adequate to share with a large indoor dog. The yard is fenced but may need to be heighten. I'm just .2 miles from a great dog park (Westcrest Park) and I work from home.

About Rex:
During my visit this evening with Rex, he initially looked really depressed in his kennel but maintained good eye contact. Once we were in the visiting pen, he continued the eye contact, permitted considerable handling all over his body, obeyed a few commands acceptably for an untrained dog after just a few instructions (sit, stay, come). He fetched with vigor and amped up the energy the longer we were together. Physically, he's remarkably clean and fit for a shelter dog with a shiny, short Brindle coat, clean ears, nice teeth and breath, bright eyes, etc. His body, legs and paws look GD while his tail and head look more GS. He doesn't really know how to walk properly, which is somewhat expected, and responded to some body language with jumping. Rex has been neutered, micro-chipped, vaccinated and comes with six weeks of free dog training classes. He's getting cat-tested [again] tomorrow at my request.

My Quandary:
I feel I have the space, experience, income and interest to take on Rex, but am unsure about how the German Shepard part of him may differ from what I'd expect from a Great Dane. My only exposure to German Shepherds has been limited to police and service dogs. This is a huge decision and commitment I'm facing. Taking on a brand new, pure bred Great Dane puppy would be more predictable than gambling on an 8-month old mixed breed who spent his first 6 months as a yard dog and the past 2 months as a shelter dog, with a 2 week foster care respite reportedly due to his increasing depression. This indicates his personality may be largely Great Dane since they are super sensitive. However, his intellect was exceptionally sharp, focused and quick. I had him sitting on voice command after maybe 3-4 physical instructions. As I sharpen my own training skills, I suspect he may be a very eager and adept student. But who knows?! Argh!! Should I visit him every day for the next week and see how we progress through 'Beginner' dog training lessons? (Katharina Schlegl-Kofler). I'm not worried about someone else adopting him since he's not moving now because of his size, energy level and jumping behavior.

[Taz_Zoee]

I am not familiar with the GD breed, but my sister had 4 GSDs and we even found two on the side of the road back when I was very young. They are very smart dogs. The one we had in the house was not destructive at all. Many people think of GSDs as vicious because of the police dog aspect of them. None of the Shepherds we've had were ever vicious. Not even the ones we found. In fact, one of those was a scaredy cat (appropriately named Boo).
I personally love German Shepherds and all of the Danes I've met have been very sweet as well. I would like to think that mix would be a great (big) wonderful dog.
But every dog is different and has their own personalities. Visiting with Rex is a great idea. I think you'll know if he is right for you or not after visiting a few times.

Good luck! And if you get him, please come back and post some pictures of him.

[Karen]

This indicates his personality may be largely Great Dane since they are super sensitive. However, his intellect was exceptionally sharp, focused and quick. I had him sitting on voice command after maybe 3-4 physical instructions. As I sharpen my own training skills, I suspect he may be a very eager and adept student. But who knows?! Argh!! Should I visit him every day for the next week and see how we progress through 'Beginner' dog training lessons? (Katharina Schlegl-Kofler). I'm not worried about someone else adopting him since he's not moving now because of his size, energy level and jumping behavior.

Definitely visit him regularly and see what progress you can make. Both shepherds and Danes can be very, very people-sensitive. Our our Great Dane Gracie would just shrivel up as small as she could if you scolded her, but I suspect she wouldn't have noticed if you clubbed her with a baseball as long as she thought you were happy to be with her.

He may be a challenge, but so completely worth it - read my post above about "Princess" - who did eventually become a sweet as pie big galoot, and she came from worse circumstances.

[Dane-Shepherd]

About Rex:
During my visit this evening with Rex, he initially looked really depressed in his kennel but maintained good eye contact. Once we were in the visiting pen, he continued the eye contact, permitted considerable handling all over his body, obeyed a few commands acceptably for an untrained dog after just a few instructions (sit, stay, come). He fetched with vigor and amped up the energy the longer we were together. Physically, he's remarkably clean and fit for a shelter dog with a shiny, short Brindle coat, clean ears, nice teeth and breath, bright eyes, etc. His body, legs and paws look GD while his tail and head look more GS. He doesn't really know how to walk properly, which is somewhat expected, and responded to some body language with jumping. Rex has been neutered, micro-chipped, vaccinated and comes with six weeks of free dog training classes. He's getting cat-tested [again] tomorrow at my request.

My Quandary:
I feel I have the space, experience, income and interest to take on Rex, but am unsure about how the German Shepard part of him may differ from what I'd expect from a Great Dane. My only exposure to German Shepherds has been limited to police and service dogs. This is a huge decision and commitment I'm facing. Taking on a brand new, pure bred Great Dane puppy would be more predictable than gambling on an 8-month old mixed breed who spent his first 6 months as a yard dog and the past 2 months as a shelter dog, with a 2 week foster care respite reportedly due to his increasing depression. This indicates his personality may be largely Great Dane since they are super sensitive. However, his intellect was exceptionally sharp, focused and quick. I had him sitting on voice command after maybe 3-4 physical instructions. As I sharpen my own training skills, I suspect he may be a very eager and adept student. But who knows?! Argh!! Should I visit him every day for the next week and see how we progress through 'Beginner' dog training lessons? (Katharina Schlegl-Kofler). I'm not worried about someone else adopting him since he's not moving now because of his size, energy level and jumping behavior.

I adopted an 8 month old (at the time) Great Dane-German Shepherd mix (Banner) in Dec '08, very recently. He has been a great dog so far, but some of your concerns are valid.
He definitely shows some amount of separation anxiety typical of danes, and also because he wasn't properly socialized as a young puppy some minor aggression (barking) towards strangers; mostly when we're out at night or in small spaces.
He is amazingly smart and eager to please, because he's not a young puppy we've had hardly any problems training him or with him chewing the "wrong" things.
Crate training was a must for us because of the separation anxiety, as well he sleeps in our room with us at night otherwise no one sleeps - we tried for a while with him downstairs.

I think that's all for now, if you have any other specific questions I can let you know how the mix plays out in Banner.

[mikemike]

i just want to say that i adopted my dog (a GD/gs) in november of 2007 and it was the best decision ive made. it was my first dog, and i rescued him from a shelter. im a medical student and knew that i would be away from the apartment, and i asked the people who worked at the shelter to pair me up with a dog who wouldn't bark due to seperation anxiety (since i live in an apartment), wouldnt chew (since i have 3 grand worth of books), and was potty trained... they went straight to the gd/gs.



i must say that i didnt realize how great a dog he was when i first adopted him as i do now. he was so well-behaved that i felt bad attempting to crate train him in the beginning because he just didnt need it at all... he followed every command perfectly! my girlfriend's family has 5 dogs and her brother has 3 and ive since adopted a second dog, and i must say my gd/gs is one of a kind in the behavior department. since the day ive adopted him he has never gone to the bathroom in the apartment, never shown aggression, never chewed anything... he has been a little saint. very playful, large and extremely strong but not aggressive in any way. he is just the best behaved dog in the world. i couldnt have asked for any better.

the only way that he is less than perfect in the behavior department is when we are out for a walk. he tends to pull a lot. i have either gotten it under control or just gotten accustomed to it by now, because it doesnt bother me as much. i was using a no-pull harness for a while and that worked rather well, but i dont bother anymore. regardless, this doesnt put a dent in my fondness for this breed whatsoever.

[oakleydane]

Her name is Oakley. She is one year old and the best dog in the world. I would not trade her for anything. she has big ears that stand straight up like a german shep. they arent cropped. and she has a snout that slightly droops like that dane. a beautiful dog. Her color is merle and she is about 100 lbs now..still growing.She is very affectionate and loves giving kisses! The awesome thing about her is she is protective of me and my siblings and parents. Just yesterday she ran 2 bears off that were outside walking in the backyard. She jumped in front of me kicking her feet back and growling. You never see her aggressive unless she feels that i am threatened or she is scared. She plays well with other dogs and loves babies. She is very gentle. She has a huge personality and carries around stuffed animals like they are her babies. You tell her "oakley bring me your baby" and she brings a stuffed animal to you. She is very intelligent and literally opens doors with her mouth or paws by turning the door nob. she was potty trained by 2 months old and has never had an accident. she loves being outside. she was never big on chewing things up. its like she knew better! she hates being alone and loves car rides. her only flaw is she sheds a lot! i dont believe breeding them is a bad idea at all considering there are so many good traits that come out of the two breeds to form such a great dog. could go on for days about her. wish i knew how to put a pic up.

[Cowgirl in the Sand]

Ditto, could not have said it better!

Yes, she may find all loving homes and they may not end up in a shelter. But every dog born, is another dog in a shelter that is put to sleep.

There are plenty of mixed breed puppies needing a home, it's a really depressing thing.

Good luck and if money is ever a problem with spaying and neutering, there is shelters that will help pay for them.

[BBel]

Please don't breed or buy while shelter pets die.
Besides you'll never really know who or where the puppies will end up, if their being mistreated, abused, neglected, tied out, the list goes on.
People will tell you anything you want to hear in order to get what they want be aware!
My Deja was just DOTD and she's a Aussie Dane rescue, that may give you some idea of what the puppies may look like. But the responsible thing to do is S/N.
Good luck to you.