Dog breeders have been breeding two different purebred breeds of dogs together to create a new breed of dog for quite a few years. These puppies are called designer dogs or hybrid dogs.
The idea behind this cross-breeding is to have the very best qualities that people seek in two different dogs combined in one package for an extraordinary mixed breed dog.
What is A Great Dane Pug Mix?
A Great Dane Pug mix is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a hybrid dog that is intentionally made by breeding a purebred Great Dane and a purebred Pug.
Great Danes are a giant dog breed that is very sweet and loving in its nature while being quite sedate. Pugs are a small breed of dog that is very excitable and very playful and they never seem to meet a stranger.
Mixing these two breeds of dogs will make puppies that are smaller than the Great Dane with a medium level of playfulness and excitement that will also make a great family companion as a guardian and a protector.
Learning about both breeds and their history should help you to decide if the Great Dane Pug mix will make a good dog for your family.
Great Dane History
In history, the Great Dane was bred to be a very large dog who was used as a boarhound for hunting very large and vicious wild boars.
The personality of the Great Danes would then allow them to show their true colors in the evenings, as they would spend the night with royalty in the bedchambers for protection from others.
This earned the Great Dane the name of “chamber dog” many years ago and it speaks to the gentle and loving nature that we see today in this breed, as the aggression has been bred out of them over hundreds of years.
Pug History
Pugs were first noted as being the dogs of Chinese emperors. They later became the mascot of The Royal House of Orange in Holland. Pugs are very loving and love to play and love their families as well.
Today, they are sought after as a small breed of dog for families as a companion pet. The Latin phrase “multum in parvo” describes this breed of dog as “a lot in a little,” meaning there is a lot of personality and playfulness as well as high energy in a Pug.
Pugs are very happy dogs that love all people, no matter the age, and also love both the city and the country life to be a happy pup no matter where you live.
Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Get a Great Dane Pug MIx
This hybrid dog is a cross between a giant breed and a small breed of dog, but the puppies can still be quite large as a medium to large breed dog.
People that live in apartments or condos, may not have enough room for a dog of this size or they may not have the time to exercise their new pooch on walks for an hour or more per day.
Since a Great Dane Pug mix is a pretty large dog, you will need to start obedience training and socialization at a very young age.
Large dogs need to be taught how to act appropriately, especially before they gain a lot of sizes. This means that you will need to have a lot of time to spend with your new furry friend on a daily basis for training.
Reasons Why You Should Get a Great Dane Pug MIx
The combination of these two breeds will create a dog that is smaller in size than the Great Dane.
A Great Dane Pug mix pooch will be super loving and affectionate, as both of the parent breeds are and will guard your home and family like the Great Danes.
The Pug personality would likely allow a burglar into your home and offer them to play with his toys.
The Pug side of the mix will add more excitement to the sedate and laid-back Great Dane side to give you a jolly medium to a large-sized dog that loves to play and is very energetic.
If you have a home with a fenced-in backyard and a doggie door, your Great Dane Pug mix can go outside as he pleases and burn off some of his energy at any time.
He will still be delighted to see you when you come home and will at least not be so large as a Great Dane if he wants to jump on you with excitement.
Appearance, Coats, and Colors of a Great Dane Pug Mix
Each of the parent breeds is pretty much total opposites from each other, so it can be a bit hard to picture what your Great Dane Pug mix will look like when he matures.
Great Danes can reach a height of 32 inches tall and a weight of up to 175 pounds when they are mature, at about 1.5 to 2 years. Pugs can reach up to 13 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 18 pounds. Your designer doggy will be somewhere in between the two parent breeds in height and weight.
The expected weight of a Great Dane Pug mix is approximately 28 to 65 pounds and between 15 and 25 inches tall, depending on which of the parent breeds it takes after more.
Your precious puppy will have short straight hair as both parent breeds do. His tail may curl over his back like a Pug or it may be long and slender like a Great Dane.
His ears will be floppy and of medium size compared to his head. He may or may not have his ears cropped when he’s very little to take after the appearance of a Great Dane.
Great Danes are very tall and have a slender build, whereas Pugs have short legs and appear thick throughout the body. Your dog will likely be in between these appearances and be a medium-sized dog that is neither slender nor thick, but of a medium build.
Your designer dog’s face can look like a Pug, a Great Dane, or somewhere in between the two with a medium length of the snout that is medium in width as well.
The coat colors can be many amazing colors, as the Great Dane can sport coats in black, black and white, blue, brindle, fawn, harlequin, merle, silver, and mantle. The pug’s coat colors are black or fawn.
So, your dog can be just about any color that you can imagine. Since both parent breeds can have Pug coat colors, genetics will likely make most of the puppies in a litter either solid black or fawn with a black mask.
Personality, Traits, and Lifespan of a Great Dane Pug Mix
Your hybrid pup will have a great personality of being loving and loving others. He will likely bark if a stranger comes into your yard but will warm up to them very quickly as he just wants to play with everyone.
Your dog will be very loyal as both parent breeds are and very intelligent, making him really easy to train.
Your new four-legged family member will need mental stimulation to keep out of trouble as both parent breeds do. Pugs can also be quite mischievous and energetic at the same time, leading them to find their own means of play if necessary.
Interactive dog toys work well to keep them entertained while you are away at work or school.
Both the Great Dane and the Pug can often suffer from separation anxiety. Without enough to keep him busy, your pretty pup may decide to rearrange your living room in a way that you won’t like, such as a couch without any stuffing left in it.
The size and strength of the Great Dane with the energy of a pug can be a disaster unless you have interactive toys and other items to keep your pooch busy when you aren’t at home.
Both breeds of dogs also suffer from separation anxiety, which can make them act out when they are left alone for a considerable amount of time.
If you see this is the case with your Great Dane Pug mix, you should crate train him or put him in a confined and safe room so he is contained while you are away from the house.
Great Danes, being a giant breed of dog, have short lifespans of only 7 to 10 years. Pugs have a much longer lifespan of 13 to 15 years on average. So the good news is that your hybrid puppy may live much longer than a Great Dane and should reach about 8 to 13 years old.
Great Dane Pug Mix Puppies for Sale
This is a rather new hybrid dog breed that may make it pretty hard to find puppies that are a Great Dane PUg mix. Puppies of this designer dog should be about 500 to 800 dollars for a healthy puppy.
If one or both parents happen to be of show dog quality though, the price can be as much as $2,000 for a puppy.
Grooming Your Great Dane Pug Mix
The grooming needs for your new furbaby are extremely simple. Since he will have a short and straight coat, he only needs to be brushed about once a week.
When he sheds in the spring and fall, you should brush him daily to remove any loose hair. This will also keep the hair from depositing on all of your furniture, carpet, and clothes.
If your particular pooch has floppy ears, make certain to examine them each time you brush him. Ears that flop over don’t get very good air circulation and this leads to more ear infections than dogs with cropped ears that stand straight up.
Weekly cleaning of your dog’s ears with an approved canine solution will help to remove debris, wax, and any excess water to avoid infections as well.
Trim your dog’s nails as they need it and give him a bath when he is dirty or smelly or about once every 2 to 3 months. Make sure to use a dog shampoo that is specially formulated for the correct pH balance of your dog’s skin.
Great Dane Pug Mix Health Problems
Each and every dog breed has health issues that they may have due to them being passed down through the genetics of their ancestors.
The Great Dane can suffer from bloat, eye and heart issues, and hip dysplasia. The Pug may have health issues because of eye problems and breathing problems because of his very short nose and flat face called a brachycephalic dog who has trouble breathing when it’s hot and humid.
The great news is that both parent breeds of dogs don’t share any of the same health issues except eye issues.
The longer nose and face of your Great Dane Pug mix will eliminate the breathing issues and the Great Danes’ issue with hip dysplasia is due to height and weight, which is reduced by cross-breeding.
Good breeders will health screen the parent dogs before breeding them to make sure that they don’t have any health issues that are common to their breeds.
Ask to see this paperwork before adopting a puppy so you can be sure that your puppy will be healthy and live a long and happy life.
Great Dane Pug Mix Food Requirements
The feeding requirements for your new family member are quite simple. You should feed your pup for the correct stage of life of a puppy, adult, or senior dog.
Dry dog food or kibble is the preferred type of food to be more economical, easier to store, easy to feed and to aid in keeping your pet’s teeth clean.
Puppies should eat 3 to 4 times a day and change to twice a day when they reach about 6 months old. It’s best to always divide the daily amount of food into 2 or more meals to keep your pup from possibly having bloat, as Great Danes do, from eating too much food at one time.
Pugs also love to eat and may overeat as well. It’s best to supplement meals with some yummy pet treats, especially while your new family member is in training.
Great Dane Pug Mix Exercise Requirements
Pugs are a ball of fire and Great Danes are very docile dogs. Your puppy will likely be average on the level of energy that he has.
You should exercise your hybrid dog for at least an hour a day to keep him in good shape and to keep him occupied.
The old saying is that “A tired dog is a good dog”, which can be very true and keep him out of mischief.
Your Great Dane Pug mix will most likely love to participate in agility and other activities with his family as he wants attention from family members as much as possible.
Daily exercise and play are important to this hybrid dog or he will likely start jumping on and off the furniture and racing around the house for extended periods of time.
The zoomies are okay for smaller dogs, but as your dog gains strength and size, it can be a disaster for anything that is on a coffee table to be wiped off easily with a long and strong tail.
Great Dane Pug Mix Training
Training your Great Dane Pug mix should be really easy. This type of dog is very intelligent and willing to please his handler at all times.
This mixed breed dog is smart enough to learn many words for commands as well as hand signals that accompany the verbal commands.
This comes in handy when your dog is playing off-leash and can’t hear you at the dog park, so you can signal him to come to you, sit, lie down or stay.
You should start training him as soon as you take him home because he will grow quickly and can be quite a large dog if he takes more after the Great Dane side of his lineage.
The first command in obedience training should be sit, because the exuberance of a Pug, with the size of a Great Dane, makes for a jumpy and excitable puppy.
You can then build on the commands for stay, down, leave it, and come. You should also work on walking your new-found family member on a leash properly, as when he grows older he will be very strong and could easily pull you down when he tries to chase a squirrel while on a walk.
Socialization of a new puppy is a very important part of his training. While he’s young, take your pup with you wherever you go if possible.
This will expose him to different people–and who can resist petting an adorable puppy? He will learn that people aren’t scary and not to bark and growl at them, but to accept them, especially if you keep some tasty dog treats in your pocket to have others give him one.
The dog park is an excellent area for socialization. Your dog will see and interact with many other breeds of dogs of all different sizes and ages.
Most dog owners go to the dog park at about the same time and on the same day of the week.
When you do the same, your snuggly little dog will see the same “friends” over and over and interact with the ones he likes best. This is very important as your Great Dane Pug mix will eventually be quite a large dog.
Great Dane Pug Mix and Families
This is perhaps the most loveable family member you can ever choose. Both breeds of dogs adore their family members and want to spend all their time with them.
The mixture of the two breeds gives you a dog that is not particularly quiet like a Great Dane and not as high strung as a Pug, but a mixture in between.
Some of the puppies may be more or less outgoing than others, depending on which parent they take after the most.
Your Great Dane Pug mix will get along well with any age of a person, from infants to the elderly and they dearly love to play.
Your perfect pooch will also guard and protect your entire family and your home from any type of danger or strangers, but he won’t be aggressive to them.
Great Dane Pug Mix and Other Pets
Your new four-legged family member will get along very well with any other pets you may have or any you add to your family after you adopt him.
He even loves cats and is very accepting of other dogs coming to visit his house for a “playdate.”
If you have several members in your family, then this may be the perfect dog for you as he will love to play with everyone and adore each and every member while keeping careful watch over them to protect them.
The match of the two dog breeds gives you a smaller dog with the great traits of both breeds, a medium level of energy, and a dog that is less likely to have breathing issues in the hot and humid summers.