Team Blitz India
Just days after his title was announced, the world’s tallest male dog, a Great Dane named Kevin, has died Guinness World Records (GWR) said on June 24. The 3-year-old record holder died after becoming ill and undergoing an unplanned surgery.
His family, who live in West Des Moines, Iowa, have been left “devastated,” his owner Tracy Wolfe said in GWR press release.
Kevin measured 0.97 meters (3 feet 2 inches) tall from his feet to his withers – the area just above his shoulders – and when he stood on his hind paws, he reached an astonishing height of about 2.13 meters (7 feet), towering over his owner Roger Wolfe.
Gentle giant
Yet despite his size, Kevin was the “epitome of gentle giant,” his owner Tracy said and was actually “scared of most things.”
Even the measuring tape used to verify his record spooked him, while Tracy added that he was “terrified of the vacuum” and would “jump and run to get away from it.” And when Kevin was taken to his first training class by Tracy and Roger’s 12-year-old son, Alexander, he got so scared that he pooped in the middle of the class.
“I don’t think he’s aware he is as big as he is,” Tracy said. His favourite activity was to take naps, she added, and he ate six to 10 cups of food every day, as well as occasionally stealing food off the kitchen counters.
Inspired by ‘Home Alone’
The family brought him home as a puppy, named him after Kevin in the movie “Home Alone”.
Great Danes have relatively short life expectancies compared to smaller dogs, living for an average of 8-10 years, and males are typically about 2.5 feet (0.76 meters) tall, according to the American Kennel Club.
