7-foot-tall Great Dane Named Freddy Sets Guinness Record for ‘World’s Largest Dog’

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You take a look at the adult woman on the coach, and then you look at the dog sitting next to her and do a double-take. Wowzers, that’s a big dog!

Freddy the great Dane from the United Kingdom isn’t just any old dog, but rather, he’s officially the “world’s biggest dog” according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

There was nothing in Freddy’s beginnings to suggest that he would live up to his title. Ironically, he was the runt of the litter of 13 puppies.

“I actually got him a couple of weeks early than I should have done as he wasn’t feeding off mom,” Claire Stoneman, Freddy’s owner, who lives in Essex, told The Telegraph.

Though Freddy’s premature weaning at 7 weeks should have meant that he ended up on the smaller side, the pup defied expectations.

Along with Freddy came his sister Fleur into the Stoneman household, who started out as the bigger sibling. Freddy soon caught up and has never looked back since. Nowadays, Freddy measures at 3 feet, 4.75 inches (about 1.04 meters) tall, making the massive dog the world’s biggest according to the Guinness World Records’ team.

As Stoneman explained to ITV, dogs are measured on all fours from the ground to the “withers” (the ridge between an animal’s shoulder blades). When Stoneman got Freddy to stand up straight on his hind legs, she measured his height at 7 feet, 6 inches (about 2.29 meters), according to Daily Mail.

But it isn’t just Freddy’s height that impresses—this tall guy happens to weigh around 200 pounds (approx. 91 kg, or 14.5 stone, as it is commonly reckoned in the United Kingdom). His sister isn’t outdone by too much, as she weighs 175 pounds (approx. 79 kg or 12.5 stone). Together the two dogs weigh about 375 pounds (approx. 170 kg), significantly heavier than the average NFL lineman—these pups are truly massive!

As is easy to imagine, the costs of keeping up with Freddy and his not-so-little sister are considerable. “On Freddy alone, I probably spend £80 to £90 a week [$95 to $110 US],” Stoneman told Barcroft TV, back when Freddy was just 18 months old. These days, the cost has gone up to a whopping 12,500 pounds (around US$15,100) per year.

The adult great Dane still has a great appetite for all things meat, including a daily diet of “1 kilogram [2.2 pounds] of minced beef, 250 grams of casserole steak [8.8 ounces] and about 300 grams [10.6 ounces] of liver,” his owner told the Telegraph.

When Freddy and Fleur were younger, the fearsome siblings unfortunately also had a taste for upholstery, and when Stoneman was doing her shifts as a taxi driver, they were busy devouring sofas—over 26 in total, per the Telegraph. “They were eating them when they were puppies, until they were about 12 or 15 [months old], just blatantly chewing and destroying them while I was out working.”

Of course, living with these massive dogs doesn’t leave too much space for much else in Stoneman’s life. While she says that the dogs are like her children, when asked if she would like to have someone special in her life, Stoneman said yes—but on one condition:

“I‘d love a guy to come along, but he would have to be a dog lover [...] I couldn’t separate myself from them,” she told ITV. “If there’s a guy that treats their dog like they’re his babies, then he’ll absolutely understand where I’m coming from.”