Great Dane from San Diego is named world's tallest dog

In the midst of it all, Guinness World Records officially named Titan, an ailing 4-year-old white Great Dane from San Diego, as the world's tallest dog.

Titan is blind, deaf, epileptic and undergoes acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments every three weeks, owner Diana Taylor said.

Great Danes are built like giraffes one way and submarines the other, Taylor said, so they have spine issues. Titan is doing well on his treatments and medication. He hasn't had a seizure in a year.

He is a gentle soul who befriends everyone during his daily walks on the beach and is often mistaken by young children for a horse or cow, Taylor said.

Titan's official height, as measured by a veterinarian, is 42.25 inches from floor to shoulder. You could add eight inches if official measurements included the head, Guinness spokesman Stuart Claxton said.

Titan weighs 190 pounds and doesn't stand on his hind legs because it isn't good for him. If he did, Taylor figures he would stand 80 or 82 inches tall.

Titan takes over the title held by Gibson, a 7-year-old harlequin Great Dane from Grass Valley, Calif., who died earlier this year after battling bone cancer. He had measured 42.2 inches tall.

“I stay close,” she said, noting he still seems to sniff out every friendly face.

Taylor has a female white Great Dane named Ari, who is also deaf, stands 38 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. Then there's Diego, a 9-year-old German shepherd who tips the scales at 125 pounds.

Some breeders try ao pass off white Great Danes as rare and exotic. Then when they find out they are deaf or blind, they take them to the shelters, she said.

“They are not rare, they are an anomaly,” said Taylor, 49, a communications adviser with San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

A project to give victims of disasters a place to stay with their pets following natural disasters is on Taylor's to-do list.

Many shelters refuse to accept animals, so if owners don't want to be separated from their pets, they have to sleep outside with them. If there were a converted train car or shipping container that could be rolled in during earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes or fires, people wouldn't have to be away from their animals at a turbulent time, she said.

Nov. 12 is officially Guinness World Record Day, and more than 30 records around the world were announced or set.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email