The honest answer about Dane trainability
Great Danes sit in a comfortable middle: not as relentlessly driven as a Border Collie, not as independent as a hound, and genuinely keen to do what their person is asking once they understand it. They bond closely, watch faces well, and learn the routines of a house quickly. Most Danes master sit, down, wait at doors, and a house settle with ordinary reward-based teaching, and they tend to offer calm behaviour indoors sooner than many smaller, busier breeds.
Sensitivity shapes the method
A Dane's feelings are as large as the rest of him. Raised voices and physical corrections do not produce a tougher dog; they produce a worried one who stops offering behaviour at all, which looks like stubbornness and is actually shutdown. Keep sessions short — a few minutes at a time for a puppy — pay generously with food, and end while he is still enjoying the game. Danes also mature slowly and stay goofy well into their second year, so expect an adolescent phase where a cue he knew perfectly seems to evaporate in exciting places; that is normal development, not defiance.
Teach by adult size, not puppy size
This is the Dane-specific rule: never allow anything at fifteen pounds that you cannot manage at well over a hundred. A puppy jumping up for greetings is rehearsing a behaviour that will put an adult Dane's paws on most people's shoulders. A puppy who drags you toward a smell is rehearsing pulling over someone smaller than you. Start loose-lead walking, four-feet-down greetings, waiting at thresholds, and settling on a mat in the first weeks, using barriers and leads to prevent rehearsals of the grown-up versions you do not want.
The practical training list for a giant breed
Prioritise a recall that works in the garden, a hand target that lets you steer a huge dog without grabbing his collar, and a relaxed stand for vet exams and grooming — a cooperative Dane makes routine care dramatically easier. Practise getting on and off scales, into cars, and past people in narrow hallways while he is small enough for mistakes to be funny. Socialisation matters in a particular way for giants: the world must learn he is friendly, and he must learn that children, wheelchairs, and flapping coats are ordinary, because a startled Dane who backs up can take furniture and people with him.
When training stalls
If a Dane who was progressing suddenly refuses cues, check the basics first: pain, ear trouble, and simple confusion about what changed in the setup. Growing puppies go through fear periods where new objects need slower introductions, and forcing a frightened giant puppy to approach something usually deepens the fear. A qualified reward-based trainer who has worked with giant breeds is worth bringing in early for lead-pulling or greeting problems, precisely because the physical stakes of waiting are higher with this breed than with almost any other.
Consistency is the whole game when several people handle a dog stronger than all of them. KinsLe keeps a Dane's training on one page through Care Teams, assigning each walk, practice session, and feeding to a named helper whose completed work is stamped with the time it happened.