San Diego Great Dane named world's tallest dog

[November 13, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Only one animal got credit for a record Thursday, the same day Norway registered the world's largest gingerbread man; the most people hugging in one minute were in the U.K.; Italy set the mark for the fastest consumption of a bowl of pasta; Finland had the most nationalities in a single sauna; and a team from Mexico assembled the world's longest paper clip chain.

In the midst of it all, Guinness World Records officially named Titan, an ailing 4-year-old white Great Dane from San Diego, as the world's tallest dog.

Titan is blind, deaf, epileptic and undergoes acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments every three weeks, owner Diana Taylor said.

Great Danes are built like giraffes one way and submarines the other, Taylor said, so they have spine issues. Titan is doing well on his treatments and medication. He hasn't had a seizure in a year.

He is a gentle soul who befriends everyone during his daily walks on the beach and is often mistaken by young children for a horse or cow, Taylor said.

Titan's official height, as measured by a veterinarian, is 42.25 inches from floor to shoulder. You could add eight inches if official measurements included the head, Guinness spokesman Stuart Claxton said.

Titan weighs 190 pounds and doesn't stand on his hind legs because it isn't good for him. If he did, Taylor figures he would stand 80 or 82 inches tall.

Titan takes over the title held by Gibson, a 7-year-old harlequin Great Dane from Grass Valley, Calif., who died earlier this year after battling bone cancer. He had measured 42.2 inches tall.

Taylor was living in Atlanta when she adopted Titan as a puppy from the Middle Tennessee Great Dane Rescue. When he could see out of one eye, she taught him sign language. As he went blind, they learned to communicate by touch.

"I stay close," she said, noting he still seems to sniff out every friendly face.

Taylor has a female white Great Dane named Ari, who is also deaf, stands 38 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. Then there's Diego, a 9-year-old German shepherd who tips the scales at 125 pounds.

Taylor and the dogs do a lot of charity events and therapy work, and she hopes Titan can help educate people about Great Danes.

Some breeders try to pass off white Great Danes as rare and exotic. Then when they find out they are deaf or blind, they take them to the shelters, she said.

"They are not rare, they are an anomaly," said Taylor, 49, a communications adviser with San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

"Titan is magical," she added. "He's low-key, calm and has a wonderful demeanor about him. He gets along with all dogs, even the tiny ones ... He's also great to travel with. We've gone across the country twice."

A project to give victims of disasters a place to stay with their pets following natural disasters is on Taylor's to-do list.

Many shelters refuse to accept animals, so if owners don't want to be separated from their pets, they have to sleep outside with them. If there were a converted train car or shipping container that could be rolled in during earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes or fires, people wouldn't have to be away from their animals at a turbulent time, she said.

Nov. 12 is officially Guinness World Record Day, and more than 30 records around the world were announced or set.

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On the Net:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

http://www.titanandfriends.com/

[Associated Press; By SUE MANNING]

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