12-year-old Great Dane celebrates birthday with special dinner

Briva has been a loyal pet, friend, and family protector for 12 years. Most Great Danes live to about 8 years and anything beyond that age is considered a bonus. A few get to 10. But to have a Great Dane live to the age of 12 is remarkable. Briva may not know she is a dog though. She is enormous and she takes up an entire couch when she spreads out. She will also sit with her rear end on the couch and her front paws on the floor. The result is a surprisingly human like pose that makes everybody laugh.Show more

Great Danes are very relaxed dogs that are extremely affectionate. Like most Danes, Briva likes to walk up beside people and lean on them, asking for attention. Unaware of her size and weight, unsuspecting people are often knocked off balance by this. It's very endearing to have such a gentle giant asking to be petted.

But Briva wasn't always so low-energy and relaxed. As puppies, Great Danes are high-energy, mischievous, and even destructive due to their size and power. Briva would run from room to room, bouncing off furniture sideways to spring back in the direction that she had come from. She pushed off so hard from the back of the family couch that she put the couch through the drywall.
Briva's owner, Kristy, took her to work when she was a few months old and Briva bounced through the drywall while she was on an excited tear around the staff room.

But Briva has grown very ladylike in her golden years and she prefers to lounge quietly on the front porch of the family cottage now. She enjoys walks in a local forest and she freely wanders the property where she lives.

On special occasions, such as her birthday, Briva is served a gourmet meal to show her how much she is loved and adored. Here, she is given a large tenderloin steak, a baked potato, and glazed carrots. She eats 10 or 12 slices of beef in two bites and inhales the potato. She even munches away happily on the carrots. Briva may not fully understand birthdays, but she knows that when a steak is in placed in front of her, it's a special day!

Briva's owner is a veterinarian. It's more than likely that her long life is due to having very attentive and thorough care, as well as proper diet and exercise, but it's also likely that Briva has lived so long because she is so well loved!