I am adopting a 4 1/2 yo Male Great Dane who is 160lbs. He was adopted from a foundation for Parkinsons aide at 1 yo. Over the last year with his family, he has gone through some challenges and is now aggressive and desocialized. He was chased down by cocker spaniels while being walked. He never attacked back towards the human or dogs. The 2 dogs then got out of the yard one day (gate left open by child)when the woman was walking the cockers down the street. The danes did not attack however the woman wound up face down and had a concussion etc...Since that episode, neighbors do not want to see him on the street and he has been desocialized. From what i understand he has never bitten and adult or child, however, he is very protective of children and has growled towards the adult with the child. I have an adult household with 3 other dogs (no adult males). I have had years of experience with training dogs, etc...and have owned danes in the past. I would like to know the best way to handle and retrain him to be accepting. Here is a letter from a person who tried to adopt him.

I am so sincerely sorry that Duke did not turn out to be a good match for us. He has so many great qualities and I do hope you find a good home for him. We loved meeting you and your family and are truly sorry that we were not able to share Duke’s life with you.

Clearly Duke is a very solid Alpha Dog with a lot of protective instincts that definitely extend to his family and especially to children.

While here with just Ray and me, he was fine. As you know he bonded best with Ray, and I think it was definitely because he knew that Ray was the softie in the family. He liked me, but Ray was definitely the chosen one. I am the dog trainer in the family. So I really worked on being very mild with him given his instincts to assert himself. However, his protective nature definitely extends to all children. He did not do well with our neighbor when he met him, largely I think because he had his child with him, and kept her close. Duke growled and barked aggressively at him the entire time he was here until his child separated from him and came over to me on the other side of the room. Then Duke got between him and his child and just kept a very watchful stance that basically kept our neighbor at bay. On Saturday he greeted our granddaughter well and was wonderful with her . However, once he realized that our daughter was in charge of her daughter, he became VERY AGGRESSIVE with our daughter.

The situation was this. He had done so well with our daughter, that I went into the kitchen, and Ray was in the bedroom. Our daughter was on the floor about 2 feet from Duke, talking with him and congratulating him on what a good dog he was. She was between Duke and her daughter. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Duke lunged at her growling and baring his teeth. She assumed a very meek position and he continued to be aggressive. I went into the living room and held him by the collar and soothed him. He backed off a bit and our daughter got up. She then remained in the living room with Duke and me, and Ray took our granddaughter away so that we could work with Duke. Our daughter continued to make eye contact with him and talk with him firmly, but consistently, Calling him to her. He refused most of the time, but any time he took a step forward she congratulated him, and any time he became aggressive I calmed him with soft but firm “it’s ok.” We spent about a half hour with this, until he finally took a few steps and went to his bed. At that point we went out for a while. When we returned to the house he was somewhat neutral to our daughter, and as she said, he seemed like a different dog.

This morning, Duke was with Ray and our granddaughter in my office while Ray played with our granddaughter. When our daughter called our granddaughter to come get dressed, Duke came to the doorway, bared his teeth at her growled and aggressively barked again. We ended the confrontation there by Ray handing me our granddaughter over Duke’s head and our daughter removing our granddaughter from the room, with either Ray or me standing between Duke and our Daughter at all times.

I truly believe Duke is one of the most Alpha dogs I have met. I think he would do well with a family where both are familiar with Great Danes or with a breed that is known for Alpha tendencies. It is my opinion that he should definitely not be with children and that his next home should know a lot about how to work with Alpha dogs. His protective instincts are extremely high and if he were to continue to be with children I think these instincts would continue to grow.

I hope this description of our experience with him helps you to communicate Duke’s needs to MAGDRL, and that you find a great home for him. He was a great friend to Ray and me, as long as we did not have any one else here.

Thanks!