Mr. Tran Quang Binh (40 years old, District 4) is raising two purebred Great Dane dogs (one male, one female). This dog breed originates from Europe and has been recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest dog in the world, with adults averaging nearly a meter tall.
“In 2010, I bought two 45-day-old spotted puppies to raise for nearly eight million VND each. These two puppies were bought domestically but had parents in Germany. Before that, I raised a Becgie dog but they died. , from there I have a hobby of raising puppies with large bodies,” Mr. Binh shared.
The outstanding feature of this breed is its tall but neat body, not bulky. They are on average 71-86 cm tall and weigh from 45 to 90 kg depending on their level of maturity. Due to its long legs and massive body, this species often suffers from bone injuries.
“Even though they are strong, this breed is gentle, affectionate, friendly, and rarely barks. Whenever my two dogs go out for a walk, they are often chased and bitten by the neighbor’s dog,” Mr. Binh said.
Binh’s two children, after nearly 10 years of raising them, are 80 cm tall from shoulder to toe and weigh 76 kg for the male; Females are 60 cm tall and weigh 70 kg. Meanwhile, if counted from the top of the head, the height reaches more than one meter and the length is 1.4 m.
According to Mr. Binh, this breed of dog can live in an apartment, but its characteristic is that it needs spacious space to run and jump. “However, it’s hard to find a garden in the city, so at first I kept them inside the house. Later, I saw that two of them often shed feathers, so I kept them in the yard and slept in the cage,” the owner said.
To keep them active, in his free time he often takes them for walks around the alley. Because of his massive body, if he wants to go far, the owner has to use a pickup truck to transport two children.
“At first, people in the neighborhood were quite scared when they saw the big dog, but later they got used to it. This breed is friendly, easy to train and loves to play with children,” Mr. Binh shared.
“Raising this giant dog breed is quite simple. Whatever the owner eats, the dog eats and grows very quickly. However, I have to separately cook more than a kilo of rice a day, buy more chicken heads, fish… for them to eat. Calculate In fact, every day I spend about 50,000 VND for two children,” he said.
Great Dane dogs are about two years old when they begin to reproduce, each year they can give birth to two litters of 8 to 15 puppies. The price of puppies in Vietnam ranges from 13 to 30 million VND per puppy.
Although the Great Dane dog breed has a large body, its lifespan is not long, they only live 10 to 13 years. Mr. Binh’s two children, after four times of breeding and reproducing, are gradually aging and no longer as flexible as before.