While Great Danes are typically patient and gentle, they can be protective when they need to. A Great Dane’s characteristics are what make the breed an excellent option for a family guard dog. Even the gentlest Great Dane can scare off people who may try to invade your home or harm you or your family.

While Great Danes are not known to be especially violent, any breed can display aggressive tendencies. When Great Danes attack, they are more dangerous than many other dogs due to their size and raw power.

According to the AKC breed standard, “The Great Dane must be spirited, courageous, always friendly and dependable, and never timid or aggressive.” Despite their regal good looks, the Great Danes have a reputation for being, well, goofballs. I imagine this is what all Great Dane owners are doing all the time.

Though this may be true, great Danes are also very intelligent and easy to train. In fact, potty-training a great Dane is a very manageable task as long as you go about it correctly.

A lot. You would reasonably expect a human-sized dog to take human-sized poops. But a Great Dane actually poops like a horse, up to four times per day.

Some Great Danes avoid water like they’re deathly afraid of it. Others can’t help but jump in at the first sight of water. It really all depends on the individual dog. But regardless of which your Great Dane is, there are things to consider before letting your dog go into the water.

Great Danes are big-time jumpers. They will jump on people, over fences, and even jump from side to side during playtime. Thankfully, there are ways to prevent your Great Dane from jumping fences, including: Training.

Don’t all dogs instinctively know how to swim? Don’t all dogs love water? It shouldn’t really be surprising but not all dogs can swim and not all dogs want to be in the water. Fortunately for us, with a good amount of persistent training, Mastiffs can swim.

Most Great Danes are not the best natural swimmers, but with a little practice, they can quickly become competent. Getting them comfortable being in and around the water is one of the first places to start. To say Great Danes are good swimmers would be a stretch, but that doesn’t mean that they are unable to swim.

Great Danes are usually affectionate and friendly dogs, however they are a another dog breed that causes fatalities due to their size. They are responsible for 37 attacks doing bodily harm and three deaths between September 1982 and Dec.