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Why?


Utah Bob #35998

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I was watching a veterinarian show and they said the Great Dane breed originated about 4-500 years ago in Germany and was popular with the nobility. I can see that. Big, impressive noble looking dog. 
So why isn’t it called a Great German??

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5 minutes ago, DeaconKC said:

@Utah Bob #35998 you have me worried, this is an @Alpo question.

Yes. I understand they like Alpo. And several other brands.

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Or Big Bavarian? Or The Fritz. The Grossenhund?

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Perhaps because there was no "Germany" until 1877, and therefore, nothing was "German" per se.  The Danes populate the northern part of Germany quite heavily; I wonder if it was Northern Germany Danish people who created the breed?

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Just now, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

Perhaps because there was no "Germany" until 1877, and therefore, nothing was "German" per se.  The Danes populate the northern part of Germany quite heavily; I wonder if it was Northern Germany Danish people who created the breed?

This is where I was going with this...

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Quite possibly the same reason the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family change its name to Windsor in the early 1900s. Germans had a bad reputation. People might not want one if it was a Great Deutsch.

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Quote

Some German breeders tried to introduce the names "German Dogge" and "German Mastiff" on the English market, because they believed the breed should be marketed as a dog of luxury and not as a working dog.[5] However, due to the increasing tensions between Germany and other countries, the dog later became referred to as a "Great Dane", after the grand danois[17] in Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière in 1755.

 

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57 minutes ago, Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 said:

Ya know, if you keep your mind open, you can learn something every day in the SALOON!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                        .......... but not so open that your brains fall out .......

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Great Danes originally were called Boar Hounds, because boars were what they were bred to hunt. Their ears were cropped to prevent boar tusks from tearing them. In the 16th century, the name of the breed was changed to "English Dogges."

Late in the 1600s, however, many German nobles began keeping the largest and most handsome of their dogs in their homes, calling them Kammerhunde (Chamber Dogs). These dogs were pampered and wore gilded collars lined with velvet. Talk about a sweet life.

The name Great Dane arose in the 1700s, when a French naturalist traveled to Denmark and saw a version of the Boar Hound who was slimmer and more like a Greyhound in appearance. He called this dog Grand Danois, which eventually became Great Danish Dog, with the more massive examples of the breed called Danish Mastiffs. The name stuck, even though Denmark did not develop the breed.

Most breed historians give credit to German breeders for refining the breed to be the well-balanced, elegant dog we love today. In 1880, breeders and judges held a meeting in Berlin and agreed that since the dogs they were breeding were distinctly different from the English Mastiff, they would give it its own name--Deutsche Dogge (German Dog).

They founded the Deutscher Doggen-Klub of Germany, and many other European countries took up the name as well. The Italians and English-speaking countries didn't accept this name, however. Even today, the Italians call the breed Alano, meaning Mastiff; and in English-speaking countries, of course, they're called Great Danes.

Throughout the late 1800s, wealthy German breeders continued to refine the breed. They turned their attention to the dog's temperament, because Great Danes had aggressive, ferocious temperaments due to the fact that they were originally bred to hunt wild boar, a particularly ferocious beast. These breeders tried to produce more gentle animals, and--luckily for us today--they succeeded.

We don't know when the first Great Danes were brought to the US, or even where they came from, but the Great Dane Club of America was formed in 1889. It was the fourth breed club allowed to join the American Kennel Club

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I knew my post would stimulate research.

You're welcome.

Tonto, my work here is through. :lol:

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3 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

 

Tonto, my work here is through. :lol:

 

Tonto:  name of the Masked Man's Indian companion and also the second largest city in Canada (Rocky and Bullwinkle Show) 

 

Sorry, couldn't help myself

 

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On 4/30/2021 at 12:00 PM, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

Perhaps because there was no "Germany" until 1877, and therefore, nothing was "German" per se.  The Danes populate the northern part of Germany quite heavily; I wonder if it was Northern Germany Danish people who created the breed?


Even though it wasn’t a united country until 1871 Germany has existed as a location since at least Roman times. In addition the German language has existed for centuries.  One of the rallying cry’s of the 30 Years War in the 1600s was preserving German liberties under the Holy Roman Empire.  Poland is another example of a country that existed as a sovereign nation at times but even when they were not everyone knew where Poland was. 
 

Seamus

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On 4/30/2021 at 5:04 PM, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

all things in moderation BMC 

 

  whiskey on the other hand is BEST used in EXCESS 

 

  CB :rolleyes:

CB, you get smarter every day!   Make mine Irish.

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