This wonderful
canine has been around for a long, long time. There are drawings that resemble
the Great Dane in great detail on ancient Egyptian drawings. There are also a
number of mentions about huge mastiff-type dogs in the Greek history, ancient
China as well as Roman times.
Looking at the chain of events it looks like
these dogs originate either from the highlands in Tibet or from the Assyrians.
It could be that the Great Dane reached the other corners of the world when they
were traded by the Assyrians to the Romans and Greeks. The Romans in turn bred
these dogs with the English Mastiff and hence, the Great Dane has the characteristics
of both dog breeds.
The German Bloodline
Some naturalists are of
the opinions that the Great Dane has also the bloodline of the Irish Greyhound
since these Roman dogs were taken to Ireland during the 17th century where they
were mixed with the Irish wolfhound. It seems that around the 1680 there is mention
of these dogs in Germany where they were called Kammenhunde or Chamber Dogs.
The
name of the Great Dane was almost stumbled upon by a remark of the French naturalist,
Comte de Buffon, who commented on this breed during one his travels through Denmark.
He observed that these dogs were thinner in this country and remarked that the
conditions of Denmark had made these dogs “Grand Danois” after which the name
of the Great Danish Dog stuck. This is how these dogs are called ‘Great Danes’
even though they have nothing to do with Denmark.
As mentioned a little
earlier, these dogs were one of the most pampered species in Germany in the late
16th century. They had imported the English Boar Hounds (where they were used
to help in hunting) until the end of the 18th century and developed the breed
that we see today, which is quite different from the original English Mastiff.
The Germans named this breed of dogs Deustche Dogge or German Dog and in the 1880s,
the Deutsche Doggen Club was founded. The name was accepted widely in parts of
Europe. In Italy, this dog is still known as Alano (Mastiff) while in England
and US the dog kept its old name as the Great Dane.
Hence, the ancestry
of this wonderful giant dog is quite mixed spanning over hundreds of years and
many continents. It seems the Great Dane has come through a series of breeding,
each improving the line and developing the breed to the present standard. The
last addition, i.e. of the German ancestry, when it was used as indoor pets or
Chamber Dog, has thrown a great deal of influence on Great
Dane temperament as we see it today.
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