MorningStar Great Danes

10/07  From Bubba's mom...

2 Years ago I had decided to look for a dog. I hadnt had a dog in a while and since I was home most of the time felt like It was time. I was raised with St Bernards so I knew I wanted a big dog, but not one with so much fur. I looked around for a year and researched breeds. I checked the shelters regularly. I had decided on a Great Dane and was looking around for a local breeder when I found Danica's Morningstar Danes website. I was impressed right away with her attitude about raising Danes, having them in the home and part of the family. I really didnt want a puppy that was raised in a pen and didnt get any human attention. I went to visit Danica since she had a new litter just to check her out in person, not to actually pick out a puppy. When I got to her house I was amazed at how clean it was considering she had a few little boys running around, the momma Dane, another smaller dog, and a cat. The momma Dane was very friendly and had a great temperment. The cat and the other dog walked freely around the house and into the puppy pen with no issues. The puppy pen was clean and well designed and the puppies were clean and fat and cute. One little guy stood out for me. The runt of the litter. I picked him up and pretty much that was it for me. He was so cuddly and happy . I spent some time with him and knew I was getting this one. A week later I came back to visit the pups and put down my deposit. Danica answered many questions I had then and thru the past year. It was obvious this puppy got a lot of human attention and was very well adjusted. He has turned out to be such a good dog. Easily trained, and still very cuddly. I cant say enough about how much I respect Danica and her breeding program, her dogs, and her willingness to make sure you get a great puppy and plenty of support. She is an asset to the Great Dane Community. I wish I had room, I'd get another one.

Ann Mare Olsen

6/09 Another note from Bubba's mom

My beautiful Great Dane Bubba is getting ready to turn 2 and I thought it would be good to write what it's like to spend 2 years raising the best dog I ever had.

I knew Bubba was special when I got him. I chalk it up to Danica being a very conscientious breeder, having a momma dog with  a fantastic temperament, and the fact that he was the runt so he got a lot of early attention from everyone. He is the most loving cuddly dog I have ever met. Just like his namesake, my best friend Brent Westfield (RIP). Bubba wants to be in my lap all the time. Or in anyone's lap. Since I have moved to Florida to be closer to my parents he spends a lot of time with them and they can barely walk. He is very gentle and respectful of their physical frailty. When my girlfriend visited me in April he was very aware of her condition also. She has nerve disease and is quite tiny. She gets around with a walker and she actually crawls a lot  . He was so obedient and good with her. She is used to dogs and knows how to do the Calm assertive thing with them. He was very submissive to her, and sometimes protective. He also allowed her to use him to get up off the floor. He would stand completely still and strong and she just grabbed him and climbed up. I believe he could be a great therapy dog some day when he calms down.

Bubba can be a very excitable dog. He has a high metabolism and is usually always moving. This has caused him to be very underweight even though he eats like a pig most of the time. He has been on quite a few different types of food, but his sensitive stomach has kept him from doing the raw diet or some of the better dog foods. Right now he is on Rachel Rays Nutrish and he eats it like its candy most of the time. The Vets all say the same thing, that when he hits 2 he should calm down and gain some weight. For treats Bubba only gets marrow bones, those big knuckle roasted bones, and a very occasional giant rawhide which I don't allow him to finish off. I don't like pulling rawhide out of his butt. He gets it to play with as a distraction and to keep him occupied at my parents house.

As far as intelligence I can say he has a different kind of intelligence than other dogs I have had. He is more Border Collie than German Shepherd in that department. Bubba can distinguish between his toys. So if I say go get the cow, her gets the cow. If I say get the monkey, he gets the monkey. He knows the difference. He gets them, he doesnt bring them. He is not a retriever and will never chase a ball or bring something to me. We have been working on that in the hopes I could train him to bring things that fall and my dad cant pick up like keys. But he has no intention of doing that. And Bubba is not treat motivated (not for bacon or filet mignon) so training him has been very challenging. He isn't like a German Shepherd who has a natural instinct to please you. He only really wants to play. So that has been my way of motivating him. Everything is a game with lots of rough hugging as a reward. That is his favorite. He loves to get a good rough hug. Bubba doesn't kiss either. No licking for him. He will bop my face with his face but he is not going to kiss me. I sometimes wonder if thats because from when I got him I discouraged him from mouthing. He doesn't lick hands or really make any contact between me and his mouth ever. One time at the vet he growled and grabbed my hand when I was holding him down while they trimmed his nails, which is his most hated thing to do. That is the only time I have ever seen aggression from him. He is a good watch dog in that he will give a deep menacing bark if he hears something or sees something or someone comes to the door. But he never excessively barks and I can tell the difference between the hey there's a dog walking outside can we go see him and hey there's a person outside that shouldn't be there. He still barks when the pool boy gets here but its his friendly there you are again do you want to play bark. He is pretty brave, chasing snakes and lizards, although he is a huge chicken when it comes to things like frogs. Also once he goes to bed he really could care less what goes on. One night a cat walked in our house thru the open screen door and he just lifted his head, saw it, and went back to sleep. This is crazy because his whole life he has been dying to get close to a cat. Maybe he thought he was dreaming.

Bubba has been a great road trip dog. He loves the car and loves just driving around with me on errands, and was pretty good on our trip to Florida although Ativan might have had something to do with that. We often go through drive thru's and he talks to the people in the machine and often manages to get treats at the window or at least a few pettings. He does have his favorites. Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts and a cheeseburger from anywhere. No lettuce though. He spits that out.

Great Danes may not have much hair but they shed an awful lot. His shedding is worse when he is excited, which is often. They are very dusty dogs and people who are allergic to dogs have a hard time around him. He gets a lot of baths but he also does a lot of rolling in dirt. Keeping him clean is a challenge. And I mean clean enough to sleep in my bed. I do put a sheet over my comforter and over any furniture he is allowed to sit on so its easier to keep things clean. He knows not to jump on the bed till the sheet is on there or I will yell. He also picks up smells. I could not feed him fish based food even though its good for sensitive stomach dogs because I cant stand the way it makes him smell. I use a spray deodorant on him which cuts down on his BO. He also likes to get his face washed off with baby wipes whenever I am on the toilet (he follows me everywhere) so while I am at it I will often wipe his whole body down. He will put up with this for some reason but not a bath. Since its warm down here and the water comes from a well and is also warm I give him baths with the hose. Its like washing the car. But its much easier than doing it in the bathroom.

The only real command or trick he has learned is DOWN. He doesn't sit, he doesn't shake although I never tried to teach him that to keep him from using his paws (more on that later). He is not real big on Stay unless its in a controlled situation like in the house with no one else there. Outside Bubba loses just about all desire to obey and just wants to take off and run around. He has escaped our yard a few times by pushing on a part of the fence till he got thru and has taken a few tours of the neighborhood. He met all the neighbors before I did. He even brought a few over. Some of them fed him when they saw him thinking he is not fed well since he is so skinny. He visits them a lot. Lately he has been thwarted on escaping and although I am sure he could, he has never jumped the fence which is quite low. I think he has a natural fear of breaking his leg like he did when he was little so he seems to stay out of situations where his legs might get hurt. He will run and do zoomies but he doesn't jump over things and he is careful in the turns. We live on a street with virtually no traffic which is good because a few times he has yanked the leash right out of my hand and taken off across the street. He has no fear of cars so I am extra careful with him when we are anyplace with traffic. There are quite a few dog parks and a great dog beach near us but its a long walk from the car to the gates and its thru traffic and near heavily traveled roads. Bubba isn't one to heel if he is excited but lately I think he is getting better. As excited as he is he has been pretty good about not pulling me, but I have to be completely on top of controlling him from the second he is out of the car. Really before he even gets out I make him calm down and lay down before I let him exit. Once he has had his run, he walks like a perfectly trained dog right next to me in slow motion. It takes him a while to tire out but once he does he is way more obedient. However I am the only one who can walk him. I would never take the chance of let ting my parents hold his leash and anyone else who has tried to walk him except Kristin the Dog Walker has had a problem controlling him. He really needs more leash training.

When I first got him we lived in a little apartment. This was good and bad. Bad because he had no place to run, not even a hallway or stairs. Good because he learned not to knock stuff over and there is no jumping around. Now we live in a huge house with a COFFEE TABLE. He has been totally fine with all the tables which is good because they are all glass and he hasn't knocked anything off a shelf or table yet. Bubba isn't really a counter surfer. He can reach but he has only stolen food 3 times, and twice it was his food, it just wasn't time for him to eat it.
At my parents house he has quite a few opportunities to grab food off the table and he has never done it. He also has only once gone thru the trash can and that was when someone left chicken bones in there. I guess that was just too much temptation. Bubba has never destroyed anything. He doesn't eat the furniture or carpets or walls like
I have seen other Danes do. He does have some separation anxiety when I leave him alone, which is very infrequently, so he does have to go in his crate. He will absolutely do a spite poop if I leave him alone for even 20 minutes. I think this has only happened twice here and thats because I learned.  He goes in the crate if no one is here. Other than that he is totally house trained, although its easy down here because he has constant access to the outside. If it rains he wont go in the yard. He poops under the pool cage. Hates getting wet. Cant get that thru his head. But at least its outside. I can remember many days in Delaware when he would stand on the porch and look at me, completely refusing to go out in the rain no matter how bad he had to go. The first time I turn away he would sneak in the kitchen and pee. He just hates rain period.

Back to that head bopping. I have had 2 black eyes and one concussion from either being smacked in the face with a paw or hit in the head with his head (he didnt mean that one). He  literally could knock a person out and I was very apprehensive about that when I first brought him to my parents house. Also my dad cant be scratched on his legs and Bubba has some big toes and toenails. But he has been very good about not using his paws like that. I do think thats totally about not ever teaching him the shake trick.

Bubba gets along fine with other dogs. He is never aggressive. He is attacked a lot down here by the little rat dogs people insist on bringing into the big dog park but he never turns on them. He just runs away. Since running is his favorite thing anyway. He will follow the big dogs into the ocean or a lake but only once. After that he will stand on the side and bark at those crazy animals. He wont go in the pool, although he has pushed other dogs and my bottles of water in. I guess he thinks thats funny.

Bubba also doesn't really care about kids. He doesn't knock them down or jump on anyone ever. He will step on your toes and sometimes he will lean on you but thats about it.

Bubba used to drink out of toilets, but he was cured of that the first day here when he went to take a drink and there was a huge frog in the toilet. He has never drunk from a toilet again in any house.

Drool. Drool is a problem. Its everywhere, on every window and glass sliding door and its really hard to wash off. Its all over the inside of the car. Bubba will shake drool at the worst possible times. Like when his head is 3 inches from yours in the car and when you are eating. Food makes him drool more so of course he has to shake. I try to keep him out of the kitchen at my parents house when we are eating. He does not like dishrags so all we have to do is pick one up and show it to him and he runs away. Telling him to get out of the kitchen has no effect. I admit since he was a baby I have allowed him to do the terrible thing of sitting in bed with me while I eat and he drools waiting for the last bite, which is always his. This is fine when I'm alone but is not appreciated when other people are hanging out with me. I have never been one to eat at the dining room or kitchen table so he  has the bad manners I allowed him to have. When I have people over he normally gets sent to his room, which happens to be a really nice Lanai with air conditioning and a giant bed plus all his toys and the door to the yard. So its not like he is suffering when guest are here. After he calms down and the food is away he can come hang with guests and he is pretty well behaved. Except for with Sandy. Sandy is like his litter mate and he just drives him insanely excited. There is no controlling Bubba around Sandy. I have hopes that this summer when we visit, Sandy will be more assertive around Bubba and Bubba will be older and will have calmed down some, but I'm not counting on either. It really does have something to do with the person because all my mom has to do is look at Bubba a certain way and he calmly goes and lays down. My daughter is the same way but she hates dogs and he knows it. He can feel the vibe and he doesn't go crazy around her. With Sandy its like anything goes. We will see if thats changed.

Havign a Great Dane is hard. It's definitely more expensive and it limits you in some things like travel. It's much harder than having a smaller dog or a cat. But if I could I would get another one. I dont think I would ever choose a different breed. If I am going to have a dog at all it's going to be a Great Dane. Although I dont think there will ever be another one like Bubba.