Great Danes are known for being pretty big dogs — after all, the clue’s in the name! In fact, the Great Dane is one of the two largest dog breeds in the world.
However, some Great Danes are bigger than others. Indeed, the new tallest dog in the world is a Great Dane. Bigger than his peers, he must get through more of the best dog treats than most.
Kevin, who’s named after the iconic Macaulay Culkin character in Home Alone, measures 0.97m (3ft 2in) from his feet to his withers — the ridge between the shoulder blades — and goes up to almost two meters (7ft) when he’s on his hind legs.
New world's tallest dog makes humans look small 👀 pic.twitter.com/aJqSwKP3cKJune 13, 2024
The three-year-old “gentle giant”, whose height the Guinness World Records has officially verified, lives in West Des Moines in Iowa with his parents, Tracy and Roger Wolfe, their 12-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter, three other dogs, and four cats. According to Tracy, he’s gentle with the dogs and gets on well with the cats. She says, “He does once in a while try to chase them, but if he catches them, he just licks them.”
Kevin enjoys hogging the couch, and often crouches and crawls when he’s around other dogs to make himself less intimidating — this is perhaps unsurprising, as Great Danes are among the friendliest dog breeds.
Meanwhile, he’s “terrified” of the family’s vacuum cleaner, Tracy says: “He won't let it come within six feet of him. He will jump and run to get away from it.” And when he was measured for the record, he was a little spooked by the measuring tape.
Tracy also says that, while Kevin’s in shape — despite enjoying ten cups of food daily as well as whatever he can get from the kitchen counter — he often gets comments from people when they’re out, asking if he’s a horse and if he has a saddle.
But while Kevin is certainly tall, he’s not quite the tallest dog ever. That accolade goes to another Great Dane, Zeus, who was a whopping 1.118m (3ft 8in) tall, and died in 2014 at the age of five.
Another Zeus was the tallest living dog before Kevin — he died after a bone cancer diagnosis at the age of three in September 2023. After being diagnosed, he had surgery to remove his front right leg. But sadly, he developed pneumonia after the operation.
Zeus’ dog mom said after his death, “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved dog, Zeus, the Guinness World Records title holder for the tallest living male dog. Zeus died Tuesday morning of amputation-related pneumonia. Zeus died with his head in his mom’s lap getting ear scratches and kisses until the very end. He was three-and-a-half years old.”
If you’d like to learn more about these sizable dogs, here are nine Great Dane facts that will surprise you.
