Dane pup’s first rainstorm… and medical update

Princeton looks happy at the park at age 7 months. This is a rare shot of him looking out of his left “ghost eye.”

Our Dane pup Princeton saw rain for the first time this week and went wild. He loved racing around the backyard getting wet and barking at puddles. Then the next morning when it was still raining he watched it from the doorway with a puzzled look, then lay down right next to my feet, not wanting to get wet again.

Princeton was neutered 10 days ago and came through surgery just fine. He’s recovered quickly -- you can’t even see the scar anymore. He weighed in at 94 pounds! And he’s 29 inches at the shoulder. I wonder how that compares to his brothers? He's not 7 months old.

The vet also checked his eyes because he acts like he can’t see as well out of his left (lighter colored) “ghost eye.” The vet turned out the lights and shined a flashlight into each eye. No problem with the right eye, but when she shined it in his left eye he kept squirming to get away, then finally bit her! (Not hard.)That’s not like Princeton! He’s usually very friendly and never bites (except in play). So that side is a lot more sensitive to light, but the vet couldn’t see any differences other than the color of the eye. She said we should see a specialist (ophthalmologist) if we want to pursue it. It seems to be a genetic condition because he's a merle color.

My partner asked the vet how big she thought Princeton would get. She said it was hard for her to estimate because they don’t have any other Great Dane puppies in the practice. Then she added, “There’s probably some other clinic nearby that’s getting all the Great Dane puppies.”

“Every profession has its conspiracy theories,” my partner teased, and we all started laughing.

When I walked Princeton in the weeks leading up the neutering, I kept feeling like he was a stallion prancing and resisting as his handlers try to get him into the starting gate for a race. I wonder if he will still be like that after neutering. Our neighbor’s nickname for him is “Bounce” because he’s so bouncy.

Best age to neuter a Great Dane pup?

Princeton likes to hide under the bed -- while he's still small enough to fit!

Soon we’ll have to decide when to neuter our Great Dane puppy, and we’re getting mixed messages from experts.

Our breeder requires neutering before Princeton is one year old because his coloring is merle, and therefore not “show quality.” We don’t want to add to dog overpopulation anyway. But we don’t want to damage Princeton’s health by neutering him too early.

We had planned to wait as long as possible (one year based on our contract). However our veterinarian said the surgery is less traumatic for the dog if done at 4-1/2 months, before sexual maturity. She says that if it’s done early, he probably won’t even have to wear a surgical Elizabethan collar afterward for protection. That collar was more traumatic than the surgery for our old dog.

The vet said that when the surgery is done later, the sudden dramatic hormone change is hard on the dog. She said that if Princeton is neutered before adulthood, he will grow taller with bones that are not as thick -- and she thought that this might provide an advantage against hip dysplasia.

On the other hand, some Great Dane experts say that Danes are so giant that they mature more slowly than other breeds. They say it’s best to wait until the dog is a year old.

So down the road we will have decisions to make about whether Princeton will ever know what it is to be a sexually intact and mature adult male… or be a little Prince forever.