Great Dane Trivia
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48 free Great Dane trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Great Dane trivia quiz starts with the puzzle in the name: a German breed, called the Deutsche Dogge at home, that English speakers named after Denmark by way of the French. Questions cover the boar-hunting Englische Dogge of the princely courts, the chamber dogs that guarded sleeping nobles, the 1878 Berlin renaming, Bismarck's Reichshund and the 'Apollo of dogs' label. There is plenty on the standard itself: minimum heights and weights, the square outline, ear cropping and 1930s 'Easter bonnets', and the seven colours from fawn and harlequin to mantle and steel blue, plus the lethal genetics behind harlequin. Health questions take in bloat, the heartbreak-breed nickname, wobbler disease and the sobering lifespan studies. Famous Danes get their due: Zeus and Giant George on the Guinness list, Able Seaman Just Nuisance of the Royal Navy, Scooby-Doo, Astro, Marmaduke, Brutus in The Ugly Dachshund and Pennsylvania's state dog. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and English Mastiff quizzes next.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Why are owners told to wait until a Great Dane is two before taking it running?
Its bones are still growing
Its bones are still growing, and hard running can damage the developing joints of so heavy a dog; until then a brisk walk two or three times a day is exercise enough.
Q 02Which breed does the American Kennel Club rank as its tallest, ahead of even the Great Dane?
Irish Wolfhound
Irish Wolfhound: it helped hunt Ireland's wolves to extinction and then nearly died out itself, until Captain George Graham set out in the 1860s to revive it from the few dogs said to descend from the old strain.
Q 03On a medieval big-game hunt, what job fell to the Great Dane's ancestors?
Seizing the quarry and holding it
Seizing the quarry and holding it: these catch dogs were sent in only after other hounds had found the animal, and had to grip it until the huntsman arrived to make the kill.
Q 04Why did princes keep favourite 'chamber dogs', ancestors of the Great Dane, in their bedchambers at night?
To guard against assassins
To guard against assassins: only the finest and strongest of a court's hunting dogs were picked as Kammerhunde, and they were given ornate collars to mark their rank.
Q 05In which American Kennel Club group does the Great Dane compete at dog shows?
Working Group
Working Group: the AKC sorts breeds by the job they were bred for, so at shows the Dane lines up with Dobermans and Siberian Huskies, not with the hounds its hunting past might suggest.
Q 06The AKC standard lets a Great Dane's ears be cropped, but which other alteration rules a dog out of the ring?
A docked tail
A docked tail: the standard wants a full tail that reaches the hock and tapers evenly, while it expressly permits trimmed whiskers and removed dewclaws.
Q 07The French gave the Great Dane its name, Grand Danois; what is the breed's official French name today?
Dogue Allemand
Dogue Allemand, German mastiff, is the name on the breed's French standard today, while Denmark, Sweden and Norway still call the dog a Grand Danois.
Q 08Great Danes were called 'Reichshund' in the late 19th century through association with which statesman?
Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck: the nickname spread after his Great Dane Tyras went for Russia's foreign minister, Gorchakov, at a summit of the great powers, and a satirical magazine answered with a poem, 'To the Reichshund'.
Q 09The Great Dane is often nicknamed after which Greek god?
Apollo
Apollo: both the American and the international breed standards call the Dane the Apollo of dogs, and show judges are told to fault one that looks clumsy or coarse.
Q 10What happens at an AKC show to a male Great Dane under 30 inches tall?
Is disqualified
He is disqualified: the AKC sets no minimum weight for the breed, so height, 30 inches for males and 28 for females, is the only size rule a Dane has to meet.
Q 11In the ratio between body length and height, the AKC says a Great Dane should be what shape?
Square
Square: a male should be about as long as he is tall, and judges fault a back that runs long, though females are allowed a slightly longer body.
Q 12Strangers often asked whether Zeus, the Great Dane named the tallest dog ever in 2012, was a dog or what?
A horse
A horse: 'Where's his saddle?' was the other favourite, his owner said, and with reason, since Zeus stood 44 inches at the shoulder.
Q 13Flying to a 2010 TV appearance, the record-setting Great Dane Giant George was given what on the plane?
A row of three seats
Q 21The 'mantle' Great Dane colour is nicknamed after which other breed with the same black-and-white pattern?
Boston Terrier
Boston Terrier: Canada's kennel club lists these dogs as 'Boston or black-mantled Danes', while 'mantle' simply means a cloak, for the black that covers the body like a coat.
Q 22Breed standards want dark eyes on a Great Dane, but which eye colour is tolerated in the white coat with black patches?
Blue
Blue: pale, ice-blue eyes are tolerated in the patched coat, and so is one eye of each colour, which the international standard bars outright in a solid-coloured Dane.
Q 23The standard describes the 'blue' Great Dane's colour as a pure what?
Steel
A row of three seats: so many passengers came forward to photograph him that the pilot switched on the seat-belt sign to get everyone to sit down.
Q 14Giant George, a 245 lb Great Dane from Arizona, slept at home on what?
His own queen-sized bed
His own queen-sized bed: George weighed about 100 lb more than a typical Great Dane, and Guinness sent a judge to his Tucson home to settle conflicting reports of his height.
Q 15Breed standards want a Great Dane's round, tightly arched paws to look like those of which animal?
Cat
Cat: breeders call a neat, round paw with high-arched toes a 'cat foot', and the standard counts flat, splayed or long feet as faults.
Q 16Why were Great Danes' ears historically cropped?
To reduce ear injuries while hunting boar
To reduce ear injuries while hunting boar: now that Danes are companions the crop is purely cosmetic, and the AKC standard accepts natural and cropped ears alike.
Q 17What grooming does a Great Dane's coat need for most of the year?
A weekly brushing
A weekly brushing: the coat sheds little for most of the year, but in shedding season a dog this size drops enough hair to make brushing a daily job.
Q 18Which Great Dane coat is golden yellow with black stripes in a chevron pattern?
Brindle
Brindle: the stripes run over the same golden base as a fawn's, and judges mark a dog down for either too much or too little striping.
Q 19A fawn Great Dane is yellow-gold with what distinctive marking?
A black mask
A black mask: the dark muzzle comes with black eye rims and eyebrows, and judges mark down a fawn whose gold looks grey, sooty or dirty.
Q 20Which Great Dane colour is a pure white base with torn black patches?
Harlequin
Harlequin: the black patches should look torn and be spread over the whole body, and judges fault any patch big enough to look like a blanket.
Steel: the blue coat even changes the nose, which the standards allow to be a dark blue-black or anthracite instead of the usual black.
Q 24Many Great Dane owners choose which precaution against bloat, a leading killer of the breed?
Stomach-tacking surgery
Stomach-tacking surgery: a vet attaches the stomach to the abdominal wall so that, even if it swells with gas, it cannot twist shut.
Q 25Which type of bite do both major breed standards require of a Great Dane?
Scissors bite
Scissors bite: the lower incisors rest just behind the upper ones, and judges treat an undershot or overshot jaw as a serious fault.
Q 26Titan, a deaf Great Dane named the world's tallest dog in 2009, first learned his commands how?
By sign language
By sign language: when Titan later lost his sight as well, he and his owner learned to communicate by touch instead.
Q 27Why is the Great Dane poorly suited to cold weather, despite its size?
It has no undercoat
It has no undercoat: the standard rules out a double coat, so a Dane's only insulation is a layer of very short hair, and the breed does best in mild weather.
Q 28What happens to a Great Dane embryo with two copies of the gene behind the white-with-black-patches coat?
It is not viable and dies
It is not viable and dies: the patched coat needs exactly one copy of this gene on top of merle, so no line of these dogs can ever breed true.
Q 29Which condition, in which malformed neck vertebrae press on the spinal cord, affects young Great Danes?
Wobbler disease
Wobbler disease: named for the swaying, unsteady walk it causes, it often needs an operation, and the Dobermann is the other breed most at risk.
Q 30Why did the Royal Navy formally enlist the Great Dane Just Nuisance in 1939?
To give him free rail travel
To give him free rail travel: the railway had threatened to have him put down for riding without a ticket, and enlisted men travelled free.