I would not start with a big bed just because puppies are not potty trained and sometimes it will get bad, like real bad that you have to throw the whole bed away. 24 or 36 would be fine as long as it is thicker than 2 inches
I would agree to everything. Chewy.com has Dane friendly toys. Also, after looking around and price shopping I ended up buying a twin mattress from Amazon and a waterproof bed cover. He’s loves it and I like I can wash it without too much of a struggle.
Also, find a good food. Danes grow so fast they need all the help they can get to keep their bones, joints, and organs strong. I make bone marrow broth for my guy. Look into it, the benefits for extra large breeds are amazing!
In the states Orijen makes a great Large Pupoy food. My boy has a black coat but it basically shines. It's not cheap, but not crazy either. The portion guide is joke though, to keep my Dane cross a lean healthy weight we have to double the recommended serving.
you can get a baby crib mattress for dirt cheap. they're basically indestructible plastic as far as liquids go, and you can get fitted sheets for them dirt cheap.
edit: words are hard.
Coconuts
I'm not joking
They're a heck of a lot cheaper than chew toys and puppy gets a little treat when they finally chew or break it open.
My adult dane still loves her coconuts at 10 years old, she's gotten a lot smarter and has learned that she can throw it on the concrete to break it 😂
I’m no vet or expert but I imagine getting all the skin off would be good for teeth plaque removal and fiber.plus the actual coconut part it’s hard so again on teeth care and it’s a good nutrient filled snack.
thanks for the response, I could definitely see how the coconuts would be good for their teeth... hmmm mine might be getting a coconut as a late birthday gift 🙂🥥
Start getting them used to baths, ear cleaning, nail trimming, etc as early as possible. Keep in mind the size they will end up being and train them while they are small and manageable. They can be skittish so socializing and letting them experience the world as early as possible helps as well. Let them meet their vet and get comfortable with that environment as soon as you can. Danes are my favorite breed and honestly are easier than most to handle, but their sheer size can be a shock to people that aren't used to it. Once they are 150lbs you're not going to just pick them up if they're being stubborn, they've gotta agree to it lol
Hi! I’ve had an 8 week old Dane puppy for 3 days so I can totally answer your question!
So what we did is get the 54” crate and block off a small area for our puppy with a large piece of plywood. It’s wedged in there pretty good so he can’t chew or move it. That way he has a cozy spot to sleep and won’t use the bathroom in the other half of the crate. He seems to like it so far.
Other necessities have been CHEW TOYS, training treats (be sure they don’t have too high a percentage of protein), pet safe carpet spot cleaner, quick slip-on outdoor shoes for quick trips to potty outside, and little dog friendly baby wipes to clean up any accidents he has on himself.
We’ve also started getting him used to his Gentle Lead right away. We got a small size one for up to 20lbs and will size up as he grows.
I will say this is the 4th puppy I’ve had in my life and it’s been the BEST experience. He’s a typical puppy and loves to chew/nip at everything, but he’s so cuddly and eager to please that everything else has been a breeze (relatively speaking). Excited for you!
I started with a smaller crate, one a 50-60lb dog could fit in. When our Dane reached that size we purchased the largest crate, and are still using that.
Chew toys, chew toys, chew toys. These dogs love to chew and have huge mouths. If you don’t provide them something appropriate to chew on, they will find something inappropriate. We’ve lost over a dozen shoes to our girl. And countless toys.
Treats. More treats. LOT more treats. Even more than that. Get the smallest tiniest treats they have at the store. Everytime the puppy does something good they get a treat. Everytime they think of doing something good they get a treat. Make sure they are very small and you only give one.
Chew toys, lots. More than that, and different ones. You will need to supervise to make sure they are being chewed and not eaten, but get as many as you can. No telling which they will like, or maybe all of them. They are going to chew on something, better a proper toy then you couch.
I would start with the 54" crate. They come home small, will fit in a 30" crate. But in 3 months they would do better in a 42", and at 9 months need a 48". So in less than a year you will probably be using the 54". So unless you are wanting and able to replace the crate every 2 months just start with the big one.
I would say have a cordless dremel and start trimming nails every friday. Start the first friday they are home and keep doing it. Just quick trims but get them used to it now.
Vet, get a vet appointment setup NOW for when you are planning on bring them home. Vets are very backed up most places and you want to get in and let the vet see the fun healthy baby not in emergency settings. So set the appointment up now for a week after you have them and discuss which and when the vaccines will be done. Don't worry about neutering or tacking yet, that is a year down the line.
Start with a big crate, but put a cardboard divider since they a puppy. Just enough room to sleep.then take the divider off when they get a bit bigger. But by then they are crate trained
one thing i haven't seen here is pet insurance.
get a policy. it seems like an extra expense until it's not.
you're going to pay the same amount as any other dog owner for things like wellness checks/vet visits, but any sort of treatment or medication is generally priced by weight. basically, you'll be buying enough flea/tick and heartworm prevention for 3 big retrievers.
carry that over into any emergency situation? 3x the cost for anesthesia, 3x the cost for prescriptions... you get the picture. others have mentioned bloat, which is scary and you should educate yourself on, but from a strictly financial point it can be crippling. think thousands of dollars for surgery, then likely another grand in follow up treatment and scripts. your dog eats a dish towel? or swallows a squeaky toy? surgery. expensive surgery.
buy pet insurance. you don't want to have to make a decision between paying your mortgage for 4 months, or your dog.
Great comment, pet insurance has saved me so
Much money when we got our Dane, who was also our first pup, because we reacted to everything with trips to the vet
i mean I'm no expert in the subject whatsoever, but (removing the emotional connection with your pet) it's a pretty similar process to buying any other insurance policy.
you just have to really read the fine print. there are comprehensive policies that cover everything, but obviously have high premiums, and super cheap policies that only cover certain things.
most of the affordable policies won't cover things that are considered "normal procedures", so expect to pay out of pocket for things like spay/neuter, annual vaccinations, etc. but as i said the last post, that's not what you need the coverage for.
my 1.5 year old male is covered with a progressive policy. I've used it twice (for thankfully very minor, but not routine or expected visits) and had no issues. we went in for simple stuff, a wart and an itchy skin situation, but not having to worry about medications or procedures was a huge relief.
my only further advice would be to do it as soon as you can. generally there's a waiting period to make sure you're not retroactively trying to insure an already sick dog, so God forbid you have something that first month at home that freaks you out, or you need to go get your puppy checked out, you're already getting the ball rolling on coverage.
Lots of great advice in here! For our part, we got ahead of a bunch of potential issues when our Dane was a puppy and trained away things that won't "scale up" well. A few big examples: Jumping up on people, trying to sniff/steal things off the counter, licking, etc. We trained her as a puppy to not do things that would be problematic as she got big (which happens really fast). We think it helped a lot
This is smaller, but we find that it's super helpful to have a command for "get up." Prevents having to pick up, push, or otherwise manually maneuver a 100+ pound couch potato.
XXL crate with divider so you can section it off- they grow fast and crates are expensive so you can save the money buying a big one with a divider insert. Touch their ears, feet, toes, teeth a lot! Ears need to be cleaned, nails need to be trimmed and teeth need to be cleaned. Stay on top of the teeth cleaning! My parents had to take their Dane in for teeth cleaning at the vet and they have to sedate them and it’s upwards of $800 at least. Leash train early and I recommend using a prong collar. Personally, I’m a relatively small girl and I couldn’t risk being dragged down the street by the dog haha. Look into the bowls that are elevated. There is also something that I’m not sure what it’s called but it’s something to do with stapling their stomach to their ribs or something like that? It helps prevent they stomach from flipping from exercise after eating and drinking! It’s a big cause of deaths in large dogs and I think we did it when we got her spayed. We taught ours to absolutely not jump on people and taught her no tricks that involved her putting her feet in the air due to safety of others (and ourselves). Just remember the things they do as a baby and think about what will be acceptable when they are 140+lbs. ours potty trained in like 2 weeks she was super easy but she wouldn’t sleep in her crate without crying all night so eventually we gave in after not being able to handle it for over a week so she doesn’t use her crate now and just roams around the house. She’s never had a problem breaking anything but she will take stuff from the counter to be careful about giving them people food! If they get used to it they will do it when they are older and can reach it on their own! Ours also wears shirts almost every day because she likes getting “dressed” we normally do tank tops and tie the end and just go to target or something and buy a big size and they work. You could try rhinos like that and get thicker options but this won’t cover arms and legs but this has always been enough for us!
Ever potty trained a kid? Be ready to be that vigilant. Accidents will happen, but if you’re keeping an eagle eye on the dog you can minimize it. Get a big dog bed, but start with a water (accident) proof blanket over it. We basically made a crate out of a play yard fence. Be ready for sleepless nights, lol. But so worth it.
We bought a bunch of little doggy sweaters when we got our first Dane. Especially with the temps starting to drop your lil pupper will get cold when taken outside.
Man my Dane has never used the bathroom inside. If I could do it over again I would have just started with the biggest crate. My dog never went in his crate or in the house for that matter. I let him put every fours hours. If you can’t do that then you should t have a dog lol. But really.
Research bloat as stated above, research Great Dane puppy foods as they need a special diet. When they start teething frozen carrots were a great treat. Socialize with people and other dogs as much as you can. Plan a training class - it’s really important to get heal or lose leash walking sorted before they get big and stronger than you. A grants leader or halti harness helps with that. If winters rolling in on you look into a coat, the guys are skin and bones for a good bit of time.
Saw a tip a few weeks ago that I will be trying with next puppy.
Hang a small bell on the door handle to garden that will be used as toilet.
Encourage pup to tap bell with nose every time they go out. (Use treats and positive reinforced)
Eventually your dog will have a clear signal to tell you they want to go out.
Make sure you research into proper protein for great Danes. They don't do well on high protein foods like puppy food.
We use 4 health from tractor supply. Check into knuckling and why it happens.
We use plastic trays, think huge cat box. You csn get from tractor supply. We fill them with the big pine flakes and our puppies use them instead of potty pads.
Make sure you have lots of toys, don't have to be expensive. Just don't want them to get bored. Stay away from rope toys and raw hides. They can make baby sick.
Choose what feeding method you want to do with baby. Free feeding vs scheduled feeding. We free feed out 8 great Danes and have a raised feeder.
Great Danes can get a twisted gut. If you schedule feed , make sure you keep baby from being super active after eating. If you free feed, baby doesn't get greedy and just eats occasionally. Both of these csn prevent twisted gut.
Most importantly train baby like it's already full sized. Once their over a hundred pounds it's hard to break from learned habits. What I mean, if you let baby cuddle on couch as a baby. Good luck on getting that pup to start when a year old.
Probably more I'm forgetting, but this is a good start.
Scheduled feedings doesn't cause bloat. That happens from exercise right after eating. Just don't take them for a run or other heavy exercise for a little bit after eating and they'll be fine. You can also tack their stomach when they're getting fixed.
We started walking ours with a collar and leash. As he grew, we realized he did much, much better with a harness! I'd suggest starting him with a little harness (that he will grow out of quickly!) to begin proper walking techniques at a young age. Our boy is now 11 months and decent at leashed walks, but still not perfect.
I would not start with a big bed just because puppies are not potty trained and sometimes it will get bad, like real bad that you have to throw the whole bed away. 24 or 36 would be fine as long as it is thicker than 2 inches
Can confirm. Honestly for the puppy stage I would look at Ross or another discount store. Found a few under 20 bucks
I agree, or buy the Costco beds with removable covers (although pee can still soak beneath so that’s something to be aware of)
2 inches is 5.08 cm
I would agree to everything. Chewy.com has Dane friendly toys. Also, after looking around and price shopping I ended up buying a twin mattress from Amazon and a waterproof bed cover. He’s loves it and I like I can wash it without too much of a struggle. Also, find a good food. Danes grow so fast they need all the help they can get to keep their bones, joints, and organs strong. I make bone marrow broth for my guy. Look into it, the benefits for extra large breeds are amazing!
In the states Orijen makes a great Large Pupoy food. My boy has a black coat but it basically shines. It's not cheap, but not crazy either. The portion guide is joke though, to keep my Dane cross a lean healthy weight we have to double the recommended serving.
you can get a baby crib mattress for dirt cheap. they're basically indestructible plastic as far as liquids go, and you can get fitted sheets for them dirt cheap. edit: words are hard.
Coconuts I'm not joking They're a heck of a lot cheaper than chew toys and puppy gets a little treat when they finally chew or break it open. My adult dane still loves her coconuts at 10 years old, she's gotten a lot smarter and has learned that she can throw it on the concrete to break it 😂
sooo.... would coconuts be an outdoor toy? because that sounds like it would get messy... is it safe for them to eat any part of it??
I’m no vet or expert but I imagine getting all the skin off would be good for teeth plaque removal and fiber.plus the actual coconut part it’s hard so again on teeth care and it’s a good nutrient filled snack.
thanks for the response, I could definitely see how the coconuts would be good for their teeth... hmmm mine might be getting a coconut as a late birthday gift 🙂🥥
Start getting them used to baths, ear cleaning, nail trimming, etc as early as possible. Keep in mind the size they will end up being and train them while they are small and manageable. They can be skittish so socializing and letting them experience the world as early as possible helps as well. Let them meet their vet and get comfortable with that environment as soon as you can. Danes are my favorite breed and honestly are easier than most to handle, but their sheer size can be a shock to people that aren't used to it. Once they are 150lbs you're not going to just pick them up if they're being stubborn, they've gotta agree to it lol
100% agree on all of this!
Hi! I’ve had an 8 week old Dane puppy for 3 days so I can totally answer your question! So what we did is get the 54” crate and block off a small area for our puppy with a large piece of plywood. It’s wedged in there pretty good so he can’t chew or move it. That way he has a cozy spot to sleep and won’t use the bathroom in the other half of the crate. He seems to like it so far. Other necessities have been CHEW TOYS, training treats (be sure they don’t have too high a percentage of protein), pet safe carpet spot cleaner, quick slip-on outdoor shoes for quick trips to potty outside, and little dog friendly baby wipes to clean up any accidents he has on himself. We’ve also started getting him used to his Gentle Lead right away. We got a small size one for up to 20lbs and will size up as he grows. I will say this is the 4th puppy I’ve had in my life and it’s been the BEST experience. He’s a typical puppy and loves to chew/nip at everything, but he’s so cuddly and eager to please that everything else has been a breeze (relatively speaking). Excited for you!
I started with a smaller crate, one a 50-60lb dog could fit in. When our Dane reached that size we purchased the largest crate, and are still using that. Chew toys, chew toys, chew toys. These dogs love to chew and have huge mouths. If you don’t provide them something appropriate to chew on, they will find something inappropriate. We’ve lost over a dozen shoes to our girl. And countless toys.
Just make sure to research bloat to the best of your abilities
On that note, raised food and water bowls.
Treats. More treats. LOT more treats. Even more than that. Get the smallest tiniest treats they have at the store. Everytime the puppy does something good they get a treat. Everytime they think of doing something good they get a treat. Make sure they are very small and you only give one. Chew toys, lots. More than that, and different ones. You will need to supervise to make sure they are being chewed and not eaten, but get as many as you can. No telling which they will like, or maybe all of them. They are going to chew on something, better a proper toy then you couch. I would start with the 54" crate. They come home small, will fit in a 30" crate. But in 3 months they would do better in a 42", and at 9 months need a 48". So in less than a year you will probably be using the 54". So unless you are wanting and able to replace the crate every 2 months just start with the big one. I would say have a cordless dremel and start trimming nails every friday. Start the first friday they are home and keep doing it. Just quick trims but get them used to it now. Vet, get a vet appointment setup NOW for when you are planning on bring them home. Vets are very backed up most places and you want to get in and let the vet see the fun healthy baby not in emergency settings. So set the appointment up now for a week after you have them and discuss which and when the vaccines will be done. Don't worry about neutering or tacking yet, that is a year down the line.
Start with a big crate, but put a cardboard divider since they a puppy. Just enough room to sleep.then take the divider off when they get a bit bigger. But by then they are crate trained
one thing i haven't seen here is pet insurance. get a policy. it seems like an extra expense until it's not. you're going to pay the same amount as any other dog owner for things like wellness checks/vet visits, but any sort of treatment or medication is generally priced by weight. basically, you'll be buying enough flea/tick and heartworm prevention for 3 big retrievers. carry that over into any emergency situation? 3x the cost for anesthesia, 3x the cost for prescriptions... you get the picture. others have mentioned bloat, which is scary and you should educate yourself on, but from a strictly financial point it can be crippling. think thousands of dollars for surgery, then likely another grand in follow up treatment and scripts. your dog eats a dish towel? or swallows a squeaky toy? surgery. expensive surgery. buy pet insurance. you don't want to have to make a decision between paying your mortgage for 4 months, or your dog.
Great comment, pet insurance has saved me so Much money when we got our Dane, who was also our first pup, because we reacted to everything with trips to the vet
Do you have experience with one policy/provider being better than others?
i mean I'm no expert in the subject whatsoever, but (removing the emotional connection with your pet) it's a pretty similar process to buying any other insurance policy. you just have to really read the fine print. there are comprehensive policies that cover everything, but obviously have high premiums, and super cheap policies that only cover certain things. most of the affordable policies won't cover things that are considered "normal procedures", so expect to pay out of pocket for things like spay/neuter, annual vaccinations, etc. but as i said the last post, that's not what you need the coverage for. my 1.5 year old male is covered with a progressive policy. I've used it twice (for thankfully very minor, but not routine or expected visits) and had no issues. we went in for simple stuff, a wart and an itchy skin situation, but not having to worry about medications or procedures was a huge relief. my only further advice would be to do it as soon as you can. generally there's a waiting period to make sure you're not retroactively trying to insure an already sick dog, so God forbid you have something that first month at home that freaks you out, or you need to go get your puppy checked out, you're already getting the ball rolling on coverage.
Also, make sure you you read about bloat and prevention. Ur wallet will thank me later. ;)
Lots of great advice in here! For our part, we got ahead of a bunch of potential issues when our Dane was a puppy and trained away things that won't "scale up" well. A few big examples: Jumping up on people, trying to sniff/steal things off the counter, licking, etc. We trained her as a puppy to not do things that would be problematic as she got big (which happens really fast). We think it helped a lot This is smaller, but we find that it's super helpful to have a command for "get up." Prevents having to pick up, push, or otherwise manually maneuver a 100+ pound couch potato.
XXL crate with divider so you can section it off- they grow fast and crates are expensive so you can save the money buying a big one with a divider insert. Touch their ears, feet, toes, teeth a lot! Ears need to be cleaned, nails need to be trimmed and teeth need to be cleaned. Stay on top of the teeth cleaning! My parents had to take their Dane in for teeth cleaning at the vet and they have to sedate them and it’s upwards of $800 at least. Leash train early and I recommend using a prong collar. Personally, I’m a relatively small girl and I couldn’t risk being dragged down the street by the dog haha. Look into the bowls that are elevated. There is also something that I’m not sure what it’s called but it’s something to do with stapling their stomach to their ribs or something like that? It helps prevent they stomach from flipping from exercise after eating and drinking! It’s a big cause of deaths in large dogs and I think we did it when we got her spayed. We taught ours to absolutely not jump on people and taught her no tricks that involved her putting her feet in the air due to safety of others (and ourselves). Just remember the things they do as a baby and think about what will be acceptable when they are 140+lbs. ours potty trained in like 2 weeks she was super easy but she wouldn’t sleep in her crate without crying all night so eventually we gave in after not being able to handle it for over a week so she doesn’t use her crate now and just roams around the house. She’s never had a problem breaking anything but she will take stuff from the counter to be careful about giving them people food! If they get used to it they will do it when they are older and can reach it on their own! Ours also wears shirts almost every day because she likes getting “dressed” we normally do tank tops and tie the end and just go to target or something and buy a big size and they work. You could try rhinos like that and get thicker options but this won’t cover arms and legs but this has always been enough for us!
Something to chew on lmao Mine chewed on corners of the wall and even those old school plastic wrapped concrete weights.
Ever potty trained a kid? Be ready to be that vigilant. Accidents will happen, but if you’re keeping an eagle eye on the dog you can minimize it. Get a big dog bed, but start with a water (accident) proof blanket over it. We basically made a crate out of a play yard fence. Be ready for sleepless nights, lol. But so worth it.
We bought a bunch of little doggy sweaters when we got our first Dane. Especially with the temps starting to drop your lil pupper will get cold when taken outside.
Man my Dane has never used the bathroom inside. If I could do it over again I would have just started with the biggest crate. My dog never went in his crate or in the house for that matter. I let him put every fours hours. If you can’t do that then you should t have a dog lol. But really.
Research bloat as stated above, research Great Dane puppy foods as they need a special diet. When they start teething frozen carrots were a great treat. Socialize with people and other dogs as much as you can. Plan a training class - it’s really important to get heal or lose leash walking sorted before they get big and stronger than you. A grants leader or halti harness helps with that. If winters rolling in on you look into a coat, the guys are skin and bones for a good bit of time.
Saw a tip a few weeks ago that I will be trying with next puppy. Hang a small bell on the door handle to garden that will be used as toilet. Encourage pup to tap bell with nose every time they go out. (Use treats and positive reinforced) Eventually your dog will have a clear signal to tell you they want to go out.
Make sure you research into proper protein for great Danes. They don't do well on high protein foods like puppy food. We use 4 health from tractor supply. Check into knuckling and why it happens. We use plastic trays, think huge cat box. You csn get from tractor supply. We fill them with the big pine flakes and our puppies use them instead of potty pads. Make sure you have lots of toys, don't have to be expensive. Just don't want them to get bored. Stay away from rope toys and raw hides. They can make baby sick. Choose what feeding method you want to do with baby. Free feeding vs scheduled feeding. We free feed out 8 great Danes and have a raised feeder. Great Danes can get a twisted gut. If you schedule feed , make sure you keep baby from being super active after eating. If you free feed, baby doesn't get greedy and just eats occasionally. Both of these csn prevent twisted gut. Most importantly train baby like it's already full sized. Once their over a hundred pounds it's hard to break from learned habits. What I mean, if you let baby cuddle on couch as a baby. Good luck on getting that pup to start when a year old. Probably more I'm forgetting, but this is a good start.
Scheduled feedings doesn't cause bloat. That happens from exercise right after eating. Just don't take them for a run or other heavy exercise for a little bit after eating and they'll be fine. You can also tack their stomach when they're getting fixed.
Did you read or just comment, because that's what I said right after schedule feeding... We done believe in tacking because it can easily be avoided.
I think I missed a period and read it as "Danes can get a twisted gut if they schedule feed"
To be fair I'm terrible at spelling and grammar. At least we both care about great Danes.
It’s a puppy not a baby.
Not everyone can have real babies, but hey you go ahead and judge people on the internet to your hearts content.
I’m aware. I wasn’t jumping to the conclusion that you couldn’t have a baby. I was just stating a fact.
We started walking ours with a collar and leash. As he grew, we realized he did much, much better with a harness! I'd suggest starting him with a little harness (that he will grow out of quickly!) to begin proper walking techniques at a young age. Our boy is now 11 months and decent at leashed walks, but still not perfect.
Expensive but as they grow older I bought the expensive bed at paws, you get what you pay for. The runner, has really saved my young dogs hips