Would you want this crossbreed?

[Milliways]

Just been at the vets. There was the most magnificent, huge, donkey size animal coming out a consultion room. My first thought was "dane" but the head was wrong.

I asked if it was a ridgeback, apparently everyone thinks that. It was a Dane/Rottweiler Cross. 9m old, beautiful and dangerous.

It was muzzled and they said it hates men/children/animals/strangers. In fact it bit a relative of theirs yesterday who was taking a photo. Has bitten a few times (indoors). They cannot control it on the lead.

I think it's a shame. They obviously love it and are trying to learn to control it, but it will never be allowed to run in a field (except dragging it's owner - they said he did this) and can't be trusted indoors.

Why would people choose to cross these breeds?

I hope they get good help with training though.

Calamity - so is he not allergic to dogs then? I'm allergic to both, to the degree that if I touch my face after petting one I get sore eyes or if I get even a light scratch it goes very red and the skin around it swells up a bit, but when one lives with me I build up quite a degree of immunity.

why do Danes have such a short life-span?

and whatis bloat?
I knew about the short life, which is too heartbreaking

Kangaroo, because of their size, puts a lot of strain on their heart. Danes can also suffer from stomach problems so need their dishes raised from the ground for feeding.

I'd love one, one of my neighbours has two (I live on a street with big dogs, my GR/Lab is tiny compared to them!).

To be honest the biggest danger from hers is the fact that although they are gentle giants they can be clumsy great oafs! She had a corker of a bruise on her leg from when one of them crashed in to her.

Cross-breeding dogs is always a lottery. My dog (I'm a Guide Dog puppy walker but have one who didn't make it as our permanent four-legged boy) was bred specifically for certain personality traits that were available in both breeds. Some people decide to breed for dubious reasons and some cannot understand how their non neutered bitch suddenly has puppies.

Bloat is bloody awful. Basically the stomach twists - as I was saying they need their dishes raised or this can be commonplace. It can be down to the type of food or them gobbling the food.

It can be fatal and it can come on so quick (minutes in some cases.)

A colleague has a much-loved GD cross, it's huge, grey & shaggy. Her words when dh & ds brought the puppy home were 'no way is that 10 weeks old' and 'look at the size of its @!#* paws! Take him back!'

Will a cross-bred GD live any longer or no way of telling?

OMG awful

No way of telling unfortunately. There may be averages, what is the GD crossed with? Look at the expected life expectancy of those two breeds. You always need to look at the parents as well, what are the sire and dam like in temperament and health.

Chipping - well, he used to be slightly allergic to dogs (not as bad as he is with cats though), hence me getting PoodleX's (yes I know that doesn't guarantee hypo-allergenic-ness lol).

He was fine with them, other than if I hadn't hoovered the car out for a while - then he'd get a bit sniffly.

But he's even fine with that, now. He obviously built up a tolerance. A friend of mine got two Chows despite her husband being VERY allergic and he built up a tolerance and he's now less sniffly, even in moulting season, than she is!

oh I would love to see this dog! And yes, the cross breeding of dane X rottie would not phase me a jot. The issues it has now, is highly unlikely to do with breeding and more to do with socialisation or more importantly lack of when a small pup.

As an aside I saw the hugest Dane last week at my local coffee shop. His owner was over 6foot and it looked like something out of a film.

the dog was sitting SITTING with his head leaning on the barrier thingy outside and could have swiped anything at all off the table top with his head/tail. He was only 18 months old and I struggled not to leg it with him. My friend and I stood in a little line to stroke him.

My friend also owned Danes and they are the biggest, gentlest thing, although the clumsiest of clumsyland.

Not sure entirely, vet said maybe sort of mountain type dog given the shaggy coat but definitely GD features. It's grey mostly with black and about the size of a small pony. Unfortunately dh & son got the dog off a builder friend of a friend so not much known about its history but son fell in love with it instantly. It's very gentle, likes jumping in rivers & not that bright except when working out how to get food (fridge has a lock on it now).

Sounds lovely, bit like an Irish Wolfhound. They are gorgeous too.