The Great Dane is known as a gentle giant. It is a huge dog, but very sweet, affectionate and kind. Great Danes absolutely love to be around people and make great pets. This dog is a low maintenance dog compared to other breeds.

The origin of the Great Dane is not entirely clear. Some people believe Great Danes originated from the German Bullenbeisser dogs which were used for hunting wild boar. However, other people believe that they came from breeding a Greyhound with an English Mastiff. The Dane is often called the "Apollo of Dogs".

The Great Dane is a very large, muscular dog. The average height of these dogs is 30 to 34 inches for males and 28 to 32 inches for females. Most of the dogs weigh between 120 to 200 pounds for males and 100 to 130 pounds for females. People tend to like the larger dogs of this species. The Great Dane comes in several different colors, including fawn, brindle, blue, black, mantle harlequin and merle. Merle is not a recognized color though. The largest recorded Dane is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest dog. "Gibson" measured 42.2 inches at the shoulders!

The ears of the Great Dane are usually cropped in the United States. This is not as common in Europe and is even banned in some other countries. If the ears are not cropped they will hang down.

This dog is extremely kind, sweet, dignified, spirited, brave, friendly, affectionate and is great with children. They are very intelligent, strong dogs who are loyal and protective of their owners. The Dane doesn't bark that much and is not aggressive. However, this dog needs to have obedience training when young so that you can manage it when it gets big. The Dane tends to like to lean on people and needs to be taught not to do that because it could knock people over, especially children. This breed can be fairly difficult to train.

Most large dogs have slow metabolism problems and the Great Dane is no exception. Another problem that this dog shares with large breeds is bloat. This is a very painful twisting of the stomach. It is not that common but does affect Great Danes. If it is not taken care of quickly, the dog will die. Some people have the dog's stomach tacked to prevent bloat. Great Danes also have problems with hip dysplasia, dilated cardiomyopathy and congenital heart diseases. This dog usually does not live very long; most only live to be 10 years old.

This dog does the best if it has a large yard to exercise. While it is inside it is not very active, so it could be kept in an apartment if it was brought out regularly for exercise. It needs to be walked daily.

The Great Dane doesn't require much brushing but you should use dry shampoo when needed so that you won't have to give the dog a bath. Bathing this dog can be very difficult because of their size.

Although this dog is very sweet and loving, it does need lots of training when young so that it doesn't become difficult when it gets larger. It also needs exercise every day. Make sure you can give this dog all it needs before purchasing one.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Dogs