US News

At 7-foot-4, Freddy the Great Dane is Britain’s tallest dog

He’s Britain’s biggest dog, and at 154 pounds, this Great Dane is still growing.

Freddy, 18 months old, is 7-foot-4 standing on his hind legs and dwarfs his 5-foot-4 owner, Claire Stoneman.

He easily tops Britain’s previous tallest dog, which stands a mere 6-foot-6 on its hind legs. And he should soon be bigger than Zeus, a Great Dane from Otsego, Mich., who was 7-foot-4 when he was recognized as the world’s tallest dog by the Guinness World Record folks in 2012.

Freddy was the runt of the litter, but with a $100-a-week diet of regular dog food — and an occasional treat of peanut butter on toast — he enjoyed a huge growth spurt, Stoneman said.

He also destroyed 14 sofas in Stoneman’s home in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, before he got used to the small space.

How soon the ever-growing Freddy could capture the title of world’s biggest dog is unclear. He now measures 41 inches from foot to shoulder blade, compared with Zeus’ 44 inches.

Stoneman said living with Freddy means making concessions, such as getting up extra early for walks. He can’t encounter any other dogs.

“If he wants to run after a dog,” she said, “I wouldn’t be able to stop him.”