So would this dog be even more prone to hip dsyplasia. I may be wrong, but arent Great Danes prone to hip problems? Seems like a dog this big could have trouble..
I pulled this off of OFA's (Orthapedic Foundation for Animals) site.
Statistical data on a Great Dane compared to 2 other breeds. The reason I threw the German Sheperd up is because most people associate the German Sheperd as being very prone to Hip Dysplasia. But, take a look at the Rottweiler & you'll see the stats are worse in both hips & elbows. I personally think this has come from years of poor breeding of a popular breed. These stats were gathered from 1974-2007. I am curious to see what the stats would be from just the last 5 years. So to answer the question are Dane's prone to hip, elbow, or joint issues ...sure. But nothing hardly compared to some other popular breeds. Hell, the Rottweiler was rank #2 as being the worst with elbows. This is sort of the thing I was never aware of until we had to bring in our dog for his prelims. I didn't realize this breed has become so messed up. One other thing...sure Dane's may be prone to heart problems. But one thing I can say about people that I know who owns Danes is that they are very proactive people. I would bet these stats may reflect a good percent of heart tests, but the owners may have a lot to contribute to the better results by taking proactive measures early in the dogs life.
GREAT DANERegistry Rank Evaluations Percent Abnormal Percent Normal
BAER HEARING TEST N/A 1 0.0 100.0
CARDIAC 39 1712 0.2 98.9
ELBOW 51 1265 4.1 95.8
HIPS 77 10406 12.0 86.4
PATELLA N/A 49 2.0 98.0
THYROID 25 1360 6.0 78.0
GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGRegistry Rank Evaluations Percent Abnormal Percent Normal
BAER HEARING TEST N/A 13 0.0 100.0
CARDIAC 34 375 0.3 99.7
ELBOW 8 26464 19.4 80.4
HIPS 38 92736 19.1 78.9
LEGG-CALVE-PERTHES N/A 2 0.0 100.0
PATELLA 67 95 1.1 98.9
THYROID 48 364 3.0 90.4
ROTTWEILERRegistry Rank Evaluations Percent Abnormal Percent Normal
BAER HEARING TEST N/A 2 0.0 100.0
CARDIAC 36 3227 0.3 99.3
ELBOW 2 10956 40.8 58.7
HIPS 29 87814 20.4 77.7
LEGG-CALVE-PERTHES N/A 2 0.0 100.0
PATELLA 58 237 1.7 98.3
THYROID 44 542 3.3 82.5