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Emma is our eleven-month-old Great Dane puppy.

Yes, she really is just a puppy.


Dane's come in various colours and patterns - Emma's in particular is called 'blue merle'. You won't find many like her because the blue merle coat is considered a mutation in the breed. The AKC does not accept it as a colour, either, and when two merles breed it results in deformed puppies. So she's unique.




True to the breed, Emma really is a 'gentle giant'. Most of the time. We bought her through a breeder when we discovered their ad in the paper. In hind-sight, it may have actually been considered a mild puppy mill. A puppy's peak learning point is from 8 to 12 weeks. Most puppies don't leave their mothers until their 8th week and in that time they learn the way of things: the pecking order, respect, human interaction. We got Emma at 4 weeks which severely deprived her of the time she needed with her littermates and mother. Her mother was extremely aggressive which may account, in part, for Emma's aggression. Without knowledge of proper socialization, we kept Emma with us and only discovered later that she had developed fear-aggression towards humans.


She was fine with her own pack, both canine and people, but when strangers would come to the door or we would meet people on our walks, things were different. Due to her size, most people tend to feel apprehensive and even fearful toward her anyway. Their negative attitude, or energy, combined with her uneasiness made for an instantly bad situation. She never did bite anyone, but there were a few close calls. It doesn't help when people insist to pet your dog despite the fact that teeth are showing, lips are foaming and hackles are raised. With alot of prayer and Cesar's techniques, along with some willing passersby, Emma is getting to the point where she can walk down a sidewalk without wanting to eat the poodle and its owner on the other side :)