Just Grrreat!
HAVE A GANDER AT THESE SCOOBY FACTS
THE Great Dane is on the wane… with The Kennel Club warning that the popularity of the dogs has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years.
The colossal canines, which gave us the famous TV and movie character Scooby-doo, have fallen foul of the fashion for smaller pooches.
Just 855 of the pups were registered last year – but this could be set to change with a new Scooby-doo film, as we told yesterday.
Here JAMES MOORE reveals some facts you never knew about Great Danes and some of the other breeds that are at risk from changing trends…
1 Originally bred for hunting boar, Great Danes actually originated in Germany and probably got their current name from a French naturalist who happened to spot one in Denmark.
2 Similarly giant dogs have actually been seen on monuments from ancient Egypt, but Great Danes were probably bred from the Irish wolfhound and the old English mastiff.
3 They are one of the tallest breeds, often growing to more than 3ft. The world’s tallest-ever dog was a Great Dane, called Zeus, from Michigan, US. He stood 44in high – and over 7ft 4in when standing on his hind legs. At 155lb, he ate 30lbs of food every fortnight. Zeus died aged five in 2014.
4 The world’s current tallest dog is another Great Dane called Freddy at 41in from foot to shoulder blade. The humongous 15st hound, above, which lives in Norfolk, recently turned eight.
5 Despite their size, the massive mutts are nicknamed the “Apollo of Dogs” for their grace and known as gentle giants for their generally friendly and loyal temperaments.
6 Numbers boomed after the ghostbusting cartoon show Scooby-doo, featuring a talking Great Dane, first hit TV screens back in 1969. His lovable nephew Scrappy-doo followed in 1979.
7 The character was named after words sung by legendary crooner Frank Sinatra. He was drawn to look the opposite of a “perfect” Great Dane, with hump back,
bowed legs and a small chin. Ironically the breed was once thought to be able to ward away evil spirits.
8 Celebrities who have owned Great Danes include actress Cameron Diaz, 47, One Direction’s Liam Payne, 26, and late singer Elvis Presley who owned two, called Brutus and Snoopy.
9 Rinka, a Great Dane owned by Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe’s lover Norman Scott, was famously shot in 1975 in a scandal that would end the career of the politician.
10 In 1941, as Nazi bombs rained down on Britain during World War Two, a Great Dane called Juliana was given a medal for diffusing a bomb and saving her masters by urinating on it.