04/28/2025
First Police Guard Dog was a Great Dane. First NYPD K-9 was a Belgian Sheepdog aka Groenendael!
The Hunting Great Dane.
Nowadays, the Great Dane is often called the gentle giant, because the absolute majority of dogs are really gentle. But you should know, the race was not always like that, the Great Dane was a hunting dog for large animals, with emphasis on wild boars. Hence the original name Boarhound (wild boar dog). As you can see, the Dogs were bred with a high functional ability to suit this task, not ascetics.
