Meet Sven

Updated: 6-19-2025

Sven is approximately 5 years old and has truly come into his own in his current foster home. This goofy, affectionate Great Dane has a huge heart, a strong personality, and a serious love for lounging in the sun (or on your couch).

What We Love About Sven:
🎉 Playful and silly — a true clown who loves soft toy thrashing and the occasional zoomie
🛋️ Couch potato with expert-level snuggle skills
🧀 Obsessed with cheese, hot dogs, and whipped cream
🚗 Rides great in the car—just roll the window down a bit and he’s in heaven
🌞 Loves basking in the backyard or supervising the neighborhood from a sunny windowsill
📣 Talkative and expressive — he will keep you informed if the neighbors are out
🐾 A leaner and cuddler who bonds closely with his people

Manners & Training:
✔️ Housetrained and will politely nudge the door or bells to go out
✔️ Trustworthy with free roam—no destructive behavior
✔️ Knows “sit,” “stay,” and “off” (but hey, he’s a stubborn gentleman sometimes!)
✔️ Leash trained and walks well… as long as there are no bunnies, birds, or squirrels in sight 🐿️🦜
✔️ Not a jumper or escape artist—he respects his yard and fences

Social Life & Needs:
Sven is very affectionate with humans and has done beautifully with respectful older kids (he’s been loving with his foster’s 9 and 13-year-old niece and nephew). He’s also comfortable being left alone, spending most of the day calmly snoozing on the couch. He doesn’t love when people play with his jowls…so boundaries are important.

That said, Sven is not a fan of other animals. He has a strong prey drive and will chase or lunge at squirrels, birds, bunnies, cats, and other dogs—even from a distance. He’s also reactive to dogs while in the car if he sees them nearby. His future family must be experienced with large breeds and committed to helping him continue to improve with calm, consistent handling.

Sven has shown resilience and heart—despite being attacked by an off-leash dog on a walk, he’s remained gentle and loving with people. But his leash reactivity is real, and he needs someone who can manage his strength and instincts with confidence.

His Perfect Home?
🏡 A fenced yard he can patrol and sunbathe in
🪟 A window to watch the world go by
👨‍👩‍👧 A calm, loving home with adults or older kids
🐕 No other pets, please!
🛋️ Plenty of couch space and a family who enjoys a quiet, affectionate giant

Sven is smart, sweet, and loyal to the core. He just needs the right people to give him structure, sunshine, and snacks—and he’ll give you his whole heart in return.

More about Sven:

• Housetrained:Yes

• Crate trained: Yes 

• Respectful, older children only

• Needs to be the only pet in the home!

• Dog reactive and high prey drive

• Basic Obedience Training complete – knows sit, stay, come, down, off and even hand signals

• Loves everyone

• Pulls when excited on leash – needs additional training

• Moderate energy

If you would like to adopt or foster-to adopt Sven, submit your application on our website.  If you are already an approved family, reach Hollie at fostering@rmgreatdane.org or Candice at placements@rmgreatdane.org.