Great Dane (Farm Life by Schleich)

Review and images by Bonnie; edited by bmathison1972

I went dog figure hunting yesterday and I was surprised in the best possible way to find that our local Schleich shop had lots of the 2023 models in stock! I am happy to say that most of them look just as good if not better in real life, I didn’t look that closely but I think Schleich have released some beautiful models this year which is a good thing! And it was an absolute highlight of the day to see this dog on the shelves (The Bichon Frise hadn’t arrived yet) and I immediately bought it, a little early Christmas present! And so even though we are not in 2023 yet, I present to you the Schleich 2023 Great Dane!

I will let the photos speak for themselves but this is certainly a very interesting choice from Schleich! They have already released three Great Danes previously, one in the 1:12 scale and the other an adult and pup as part of their smaller series from 2010, although all retired so I guess they were in need of this iconic breed for their current range! Nicknamed the ‘Apollo of Dogs’ after the Greek god it is a truly impressive breed with its elegance, dignity and tall stature. The modern breed was developed in the 18th century in Germany although some argue that it is much older and this is evidenced in art from ancient Egypt and Greece. They were originally bred to hunt bear and wild boar and were developed through crossing mastiffs with Irish wolfhounds and greyhounds to create a tall, agile, fast dog for this purpose! study The tallest dog ever in history was a Great Dane, Zeus, who measured 1.12 m at the shoulder – it is certainly an impressive breed with an impressive history! More photos:

And now for some comparison photos! The thing that struck me most about this model when I first saw it on the shelf was just how small it was, I was expecting a much larger dog considering it is the tallest breed in the world. It looks almost looks like a Great Dane puppy next to the Safari, Papo and CollectA giants- although it’s just taller than Schleich’s smaller Dane, but appears smaller as it’s quite a delicate, slim model. Although far from being to scale with Schleich’s newest dogs (The Jack Russell almost reaches its shoulder) it still scales fairly nicely with them and is thankfully still the tallest of them all I believe, so very obviously a Dane!

I had to do a comparison with Safari’s latest model too because when I first saw Schleich’s official photo of their Dane the first thing I thought of was Safari’s- I wonder whether Schleich were inspired by them, as both models seem very similar other than size of course! Two gorgeous Danes:

And one with Schleich’s previous Dane to this one, both of a similar size! It is quite clear to see the change in style from the last 10 years (The previous Schleich was released 2010), the newer model is much more simplistic, proportions aren’t as accurate and it just lacks a lot of the detail of the previous figure- but both are lovely interpretations of the breed and I think this difference is quite an interesting view of the direction Schleich is going in!

On to my views of the model! We’ll start with the positives because I love to see the positives in all models, I am only too pleased that Schleich chose to expand their range of dogs next year and any new dog model is a joy for me! I was surprised and super pleased that unusually for Schleich the model doesn’t seem to be exaggerated in any way in terms of cuteness! That really wouldn’t have worked for this breed. And an interesting colour choice, generally children find brighter colours more appealing and so I’m glad this hasn’t affected the model in any way. I think there are some nice details, including the fold of skin around the neck/ dewlaps and with the fur and it certainly captures the serious dignity of this breed with that facial expression. It is a lovely little model of this dog, with no major faults, not a masterpiece but equally a nice representation of a Dane as it is instantly obvious that it is a model of this breed!

However I did think that it was a little too small/ bland/ simplistic to really capture the majestic, impressive nature of the Great Dane, possibly to save on material costs but it does slightly lack muscle definition and was much shorter/more narrow than I expected! The material is also much bendier than the earlier smaller dogs that first appeared in 2010 although this isn’t necessarily a negative. I think I said similar in my review of the goldendoodle but there is certainly just more of a sense of Schleich’s move to even greater mass production. It also seems quite simplistic, not a lot of detail and attention to the subtle individual characteristics of the breed- but I’d much rather this than a model that is overly cute/ cartoony so this is certainly a positive from Schleich!

Interested to hear what everyone thinks about this model! All in all I think it’s a great little Dane (Little is probably the wrong word for this breed but it seems to fit for this particular figure) I love that serious, calm loving expression it has that lots of Danes seem to have. Whether or not they have truly created an impressive ‘Apollo of Dogs’ is debatable but there is no doubt that this is a lovely model of this breed for anyone looking for a smaller Dane and I’m sure that many will find the accurate simplicity quite appealing- it captures the essence of the breed despite lacking detail which I’m sure makes it a very worthy candidate for any collector who is an enthusiast of the breed or would just love a figure of a Great Dane on their shelf!