Welcome to the Great Dane Club of America
     Welcome to the official web site for the Great Dane Club of America Inc. Within these pages you will find information regarding the Club, its structure, philosophy, and also a comprehensive collection of material concerning the Great Dane.

Today at the Great Dane Club of America

Purchasing a Great Dane Puppy
Great Danes make wonderful family pets for a household which wants a large, affectionate short-haired breed who will offer a measure of protection. They are a very people-oriented breed and need to be a part of the family. Great Danes do not do well in kennel situations or where they are exclusively outdoor dogs. They need and crave human companionship. Great Danes are loving, easy to housebreak, simple to groom, and of average intelligence. The Great Dane Club of America's web site provides additional information, including our Code of Ethics, the AKC standard for the Great Dane, Affiliate Club listings, breeder referral and rescue groups.
Great Dane Breeders
The GDCA has a Code of Ethics enjoins all breeders and requires its members to abide by certain practices designed to preserve and improve the breed and protect the Great Dane puppy buyer. Among them is a requirement that breeders be fully up to date on the latest in genetics and strive to eliminate hereditary defects in the breed.  The best place to obtain a well-bred Great Dane is from a reputable breeder. The key here is “reputable”. At all costs, avoid backyard breeders, on-line brokers and puppy mills, who work with poor quality bloodlines which may be genetically prone to a host of health problems.
Great Dane Club of America Charitable Trust
The Great Dane Club of America Charitable Trust supports Great Dane welfare and rescue efforts, educational programs, Scholarship Programs for junior handlers, initiatives to create great awareness of breed-specific health problems and medical research efforts to improve the quality of life of the Great Dane.
Through your support, the GDCA Trust will have the necessary resources to respond to calls for help in the most critical areas of concern…the health and welfare of the breed.
Great Dane Health and Welfare
Bloat - is the number one killer of Great Danes & Great Danes are the #1 breed at risk for bloat. For reasons not fully understood, in certain deep-chested breeds in particular, the stomach distends, then has a tendency to rotate, which cuts off the blood supply to various parts of the body, as well as effectively shutting down digestion. This condition is extremely painful as well as a true emergency that is rapidly life threatening. A dog with a bloated, twisted stomach (technically called "Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus") will die in great pain in a matter of hours unless drastic steps are taken: surgery is normally necessary. The reasons for GDV are currently not understood, however most would agree that multiple small meals per day and preventing vigorous exercise around mealtimes can help reduce the chances of bloat.