Freddy The Great Dane, The World’s Tallest Dog, ᴅɪᴇs Aged 8 And A Half
Freddy the Great Dane, who held the ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ for tallest dog living (male), has sadly ᴘᴀssᴇᴅ ᴀᴡᴀʏ. He was 8 and a half years old. The gentle giant was a much adored and pampered pet who became an international superstar when his ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ was announced in 2016. A total sᴏᴘᴘʏ bugger who was hand fed,” Freddy’s owner, Claire Stoneman, said in a statement.
When measured by a vet and Guinness World Ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅs’ Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, Freddy was a towering 103.5 cm (3 ft 4 in) from foot to withers. Standing on his hind legs – not a measurement that GWR officially counts – his height was an imposing 226 cm (7 ft 5.5 in). Freddy was initially suspicious of the vet’s tape measure, and measuring the skittish giant took longer than anticipated, but he calmed down eventually and his 103.5-cm height was registered officially for the ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ books.
Freddy celebrated his 8th birthday on May 17, 2020, with a garden party in his hometown of Weeting, Norfolk. At the time, he was also considered one of the world’s oldest Great Danes.
Freddy eats over $120 worth of food a week, including whole roast chickens and, at one point in his life, entire couches (he apparently destroyed 14 sofas when he was just a puppy). He’s also tall enough that he can drink from the kitchen sink.
Claire walks Freddy for 40 minutes every morning, in the wee hours of the morning so that they don’t encounter other dogs. “If he wants to run after a dog, I wouldn’t be able to stop him,” his 5′ 4″ owner says, noting that she also doesn’t want other dogs to be ɪɴᴛɪᴍɪᴅᴀᴛᴇᴅ by him.
Freddy’s owner Claire Stoneman from Essex, UK, was ᴅᴇᴠᴀsᴛᴀᴛᴇᴅ at her beloved pet’s ᴘᴀssɪɴɢ: “He was my life. My reason. My joy. My annoyance. My happiness and my ultimate sadness. He was my heart Dane. My one in a million and loved by the entire world.”
Recalling his arrival in her life when the ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ was first confirmed, Claire told Guinness World Ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅs: “As a puppy, he was the runt of the litter. I actually got him a couple of weeks earlier than I should have, as he wasn’t feeding off [his] mum. I had no idea he was going to get this big at all.”
“I still can barely believe that he was the runt of the litter. Freddy brought a smile to everyone’s face and will be missed by every at Guinness World Ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅs. I’m just pleased that we got the chance to celebrate his ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ-breaking immensity in the books and share his story with millions of people around the world. RIP, Freddy.”
Freddy’s story immediately caught the public’s imagination, and he proved to be a big hit all around the world, with the incredible photographs instantly appearing in social-media feeds and newspapers across the planet.
