Gibson (April 26, 2002 – August 7, 2009) was a

Harlequin Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan ...

Great Dane The Great Dane is a German list of dog breeds, breed of large mastiff-sighthound, which descends from hunting dogs of the Middle Ages used to hunt bears, wild boar, and deer. They were also used as guardian dogs of German nobility. It is one o ...

living in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

recognized by the ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

'' as the "World's Tallest Dog" in 2004, displacing "Harvey", the previous record holder.

World record holder

While his owner Sandy Hall claims Gibson was tall measured from the ground to the top of his withers and weighs , the official report of Guinness World Records states that Gibson was tall. Gibson was a certified

therapy dog A therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide affection, comfort and support to people, often in settings such as hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, libraries, hospices, or disaster areas. In contrast to assistance dogs, ...

and appeared, wearing his trademark bandanna, on several television shows including ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'', ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'', and ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

''. He was also the official "spokesdog" for ForeverLawn, the maker of K9Grass, based out of

Uniontown, Ohio Uniontown is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stark County, Ohio, United States. The population was 7,173 at the 2020 census. The Industrial Excess Landfill, now a superfund site, is located south of Uniontown. Uniontown is part of the C ...

where Gibson could be seen on the occasional walk. The book ''Gibson Speaks: The World's Tallest Dog Talks About His Life'' tells his story. In 2009, he lost one of his legs to bone cancer. Despite

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

, the cancer quickly spread to his lungs and spine, and Gibson could not be saved. On August 7, 2009, his owner had him

euthanized Animal euthanasia (euthanasia from ; "good death") is the act of killing an animal humanely, most commonly with injectable drugs. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditions or diseases, lack of resources to con ...

References

External links

*
Slideshow of images of Gibson

Video of Gibson visiting The Oprah Show

{{end 2002 animal births 2009 animal deaths Individual dogs in the United States

World record holder

See also

References

External links