Great Danoodle

The Great Danoodle is a designer cross between a Great Dane and a Standard Poodle, sometimes advertised as a Danoodle, Danedoodle or Great Danepoo. It combines the Great Dane's enormous frame and famously gentle nature with the Standard Poodle's intelligence and lower-shedding, wavy-to-curly coat, producing a calm giant that typically stands 56-69cm tall and weighs 32-45kg. It is one of the rarest doodle crosses in the UK — litters appear only occasionally, unlike the Cockapoo or Labradoodle — so most buyers will need patience and a willingness to travel. Because it is a crossbreed, the Great Danoodle is not recognised by The Kennel Club: puppies cannot be KC registered, there is no breed standard, and breeders of the cross cannot join the KC Assured Breeder scheme for it. That puts the responsibility on the buyer to check that both purebred parents have been health tested under the relevant BVA/KC schemes. The cross suits experienced owners with a large home and a secure garden who want a giant companion dog with a more manageable coat — and who can absorb giant-breed costs for food, insurance and veterinary care.

The Great Danoodle has no documented single originator. Deliberate breeding of the cross is generally placed in North America during the designer-dog boom that followed the Labradoodle's appearance in 1989, with the type becoming visible from the late 1990s and 2000s; it remains far less established than the Cockapoo, Labradoodle or Cavapoo and has never developed a UK breed club. Both parents have long, well-documented histories. The Great Dane was developed in Germany as a boar-hunting and estate dog, and has been bred in Britain since the Victorian era — the Great Dane Club, founded in 1883, is one of the oldest breed clubs in the UK. The Standard Poodle is the original water retriever of Germany and France, and its non-moulting coat and trainability are the reason it underpins almost every modern doodle cross. As a crossbreed, the Great Danoodle is not recognised by The Kennel Club, the FCI or any major registry, and that is unlikely to change. In practice this means there is no closed studbook and no standard: two Great Danoodle puppies, even littermates, can differ noticeably in size, coat type and shedding. First-generation (F1) puppies from a Great Dane x Standard Poodle mating are the most common; F1b puppies (a Great Danoodle bred back to a Poodle) tend to have curlier, lower-shedding coats.

The Great Danoodle is a giant cross, typically standing 56-69cm at the shoulder and weighing 32-45kg, with some individuals from larger Great Dane lines reaching 76cm. The coat varies from a shorter, smoother Dane-type coat to a wavy or curly Poodle-type coat, and even littermates can differ noticeably in coat and build. Colours include black, blue, fawn, cream, apricot, silver, grey and white, while brindle, harlequin and parti patterns are possible from the Great Dane side.

Great Danoodles are consistently described by owners as calm, loving and loyal — the "gentle giant" of the doodle family. The Great Dane contributes a placid, people-oriented temperament; the Standard Poodle adds genuine working intelligence, so the cross is typically quick to learn and eager to please. Basic obedience usually comes easily — which matters, because an untrained adult of 40kg+ can pull an adult off their feet. Energy levels are moderate for a dog of this size. Most are content with around 45 minutes to an hour of activity a day and are surprisingly settled indoors between walks. They are not natural guard dogs: a deep bark may deter strangers, but the underlying temperament is friendly rather than protective, and excessive barking is uncommon. With family they are affectionate to the point of being velcro dogs, and both parent breeds are known for forming strong attachments — separation anxiety is a frequently reported problem when they are routinely left alone for long periods.

Great Danoodles generally do well with children, and the underlying temperament from both parent breeds is gentle and people-oriented. Supervision is essential purely because of their bulk — a friendly lean or bounce from a 40kg+ dog can easily knock a small child over. With early socialisation they also live happily alongside other dogs and cats. Puppies should be socialised carefully through the long giant-breed adolescence, when a bouncy, oversized teenager can unintentionally knock people over.

A first-generation cross draws its health risks from both parents, and both the Great Dane and the Standard Poodle carry serious, named conditions. Hybrid vigour may help — the cross's typical 8-12 year lifespan is meaningfully longer than the Great Dane's 8-10 — but it is no guarantee. From the Great Dane side, the headline risk is gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV or bloat), where the stomach fills with gas and twists. Great Danes are the highest-risk breed of all — research has put their lifetime risk near 40% — and any deep-chested Danoodle inherits substantial risk. It is a life-threatening emergency: know the signs (unproductive retching, swollen abdomen, restlessness) and discuss preventive gastropexy with your vet. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a progressive heart-muscle disease that can cause sudden death, is the Great Dane's other major problem and the subject of long-running UK research at the University of Liverpool supported by the Great Dane Breed Council. Hip dysplasia affects both parent breeds and is screened in the UK under the BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme; given the cross's weight, keep adults lean and restrict puppy exercise. From the Standard Poodle side come progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) — incurable, progressive blindness for which the KC operates prcd-PRA and rcd4 DNA testing schemes — plus sebaceous adenitis (an inflammatory skin disease causing hair loss and scaling, screened by skin biopsy), Addison's disease (underactive adrenal glands, treatable once diagnosed) and bloat again, as Standard Poodles are themselves a deep-chested at-risk breed. Entropion (inward-rolling eyelids) is reported in the cross and is picked up by the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme. Insure from day one at giant-breed premium levels, and buy only from litters where the parents' BVA/KC scheme results and DNA tests are documented — with no KC oversight of the cross, those certificates are the only quality control available.

This is not a flat dog. A Great Danoodle needs space to turn around, a large bed, an estate-sized car and a garden. Once mature, however, it is a famously low-key housemate that mostly wants to lean on its people.

Coat care depends heavily on which parent a puppy takes after. Wavier, Poodle-type coats are low-shedding but need brushing two to three times a week and a professional groom roughly every 8-10 weeks to prevent matting — budget for grooming a very large dog, which costs more than for a Cockapoo-sized one. Shorter, Dane-type coats shed moderately year-round and need only a weekly brush. No Great Danoodle should be assumed hypoallergenic: allergy sufferers should spend time with the individual puppy first. Drop ears inherited from both parents trap moisture, so ears need checking and cleaning every couple of weeks.

Exercise needs are moderate: around an hour a day split into a couple of walks, plus free time in a secure garden. Critically, exercise must be restricted while the dog is growing — giant breeds' growth plates do not close until 18-24 months, and over-exercising or stair-running a heavy puppy raises the risk of joint problems including hip dysplasia. Because of the bloat risk inherited from the Great Dane, avoid strenuous exercise for at least an hour either side of meals and split food into two or more smaller daily feeds.

Pricing is variable precisely because the cross is unestablished. UK adverts for Great Dane x Standard Poodle litters have appeared from as little as £400, while well-bred litters from fully health-tested parents are typically advertised in the £800-£1,500 range — broadly in line with KC-registered Great Dane puppies (average around £1,000) rather than carrying the premium of fashionable smaller doodles. Beyond the purchase price, budget for giant-breed running costs: large-breed food volumes, higher insurance premiums, and grooming priced for a very large dog.

Great Danoodles are genuinely rare in the UK. There is no breed club and no established breeder network, so litters are advertised sporadically — often as "Great Dane cross Standard Poodle" rather than under the Danoodle name. Expect to wait for a litter and to travel; you can check current availability on the Pets4Homes Great Danoodle listings page, and it is worth searching Great Dane and Standard Poodle cross adverts as well. Well-bred litters from fully health-tested parents are typically advertised in the £800-£1,500 range. Because the Kennel Club does not recognise the cross, there is no Assured Breeder route, so vet the breeder yourself. Ask to see, by name: BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme scores for both parents (hip dysplasia affects both breeds; elbow scores are a bonus for the Dane); heart screening for the Great Dane parent — ideally a recent echocardiogram, given the breed's dilated cardiomyopathy risk; and for the Poodle parent, a BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme certificate plus the KC-approved prcd-PRA and PRA (rcd4) DNA tests, and ideally a sebaceous adenitis skin-biopsy result. See both parents (at minimum the dam), check the puppies are raised in the home, and walk away from anyone selling "rare" status at an inflated price without paperwork.