Giant George

Giant George is a blue Great Dane currently recognised as the world's tallest living dog, and the tallest dog ever by Guinness World Records. There were originally conflicting media reports regarding his height, but the official measurement showed that he was three quarters of an inch taller than the previous record holder, Titan (at 43 inches (110 cm) at the withers). His records were announced as he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in February 2010.

Contents

Biography

George was born on 17 November 2005,[1] and has been owned by David Nasser since he was 7 weeks old.[2] He measures 43 inches (110 cm) high at the withers,[3] and weighs 245 pounds (111 kg),[4] which is about 100 pounds (45 kg) more than an average Great Dane.[2] He currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.[5]

At home he sleeps in a queen-sized bed, and one of his hobbies is to ride around his family's neighbourhood in a golf cart.[2] While travelling to a recent media appearance in Chicago, he was given a row of three seats to himself. He caused a commotion with fellow passengers visiting him to take photographs, "There were so many people coming to the front of the plane, the pilot ended up illuminating the 'fasten seat-belt' sign to get everyone to sit down" explained his owner, David.[4] During the flight, George along with his owner David and wife Christine, had to sit in the bulkhead; which is the partition that divides first class from the rest of the passengers. They were to fly first class on American Airlines, but they found that there wasn't enough room for George and instead flew the following day.[6]

Nomination

Conflicting reports were made of George's height, so a Guinness judge was sent to verify it.[7] Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records explained, "This is a hotly contested record and after some controversy and conflicting media reports we decided to send our own official adjudicator to put the final stamp on this record holder."[5] The measurement by veterinarian Jim Boulay and witnessed by Guinness representative Jamie Panas showed that George was three quarters of an inch larger than the previous record hold, another Great Dane, Titan.[6][8]

The records were announced by Oprah Winfrey on 22 February 2010 when George appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.[2][9] George had been awarded the titles secretly on 15 February 2010 with Oprah's producers asking all parties and media to keep the announcement quiet until after his appearance on the show. Inquiries had been made by the show for George to appear prior to him gaining the titles, however his owner requested that they hold off their appearance until Guinness had reviewed his application.[6]

The announcement of the new record was used by Guinness World Records to publicise a variety of other pet related record searches including longest ears on a dog, smallest dog (length), oldest dog, smallest cat and oldest cat.[5]

References

  1. ^ "The biggest dog in the world is George". Aysor.am. 23 February 2010. http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/02/23/dog-world/. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Tucson's giant among dogs, tallest on record". Kold News. 23 February 2010. http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=12026656. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 
  3. ^ "Fantastic Pets - Tallest Dog Living". Guinness World Records. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/natural_world/fantastic_pets/tallest_dog_living.aspx. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 
  4. ^ a b "Giant George enters record books as world's top dog". BBC News. 23 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8529620.stm. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 
  5. ^ a b c Moriarty, Richard (22 February 2010). "George crowned 'greatest Dane'". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2863457/George-crowned-greatest-Dane.html. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 
  6. ^ a b c Villarreal, Phil (22 February 2010). "Record-setting Great Dane set to do Tucson proud on 'Oprah'". Arizona Daily Star. http://www.azstarnet.com/news/local/article_adc8a1b9-7141-5b38-a8b1f5.html. Retrieved 23 February 9 2010. 
  7. ^ "Guinness: Arizona Great Dane is tallest dog ever". Washington Post. 22 February 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022202695.html. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  8. ^ Jones, Sam (22 February 2010). "Giant George takes crown as the world's tallest dog". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/22/tallest-dog-world-record. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  9. ^ "Measuring 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) nose-to-tail and weighing in at 17st, Giant George is declared the world's tallest dog". Daily Mail. 23 February 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1252928/Measuring-7ft-Giant-George-enters-record-books-worlds-tallest-dog.html. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 

External links

Records
Preceded by
Titan (Great Dane)		 World's tallest dog
22 February 2010 -		 Incumbent