The first sign

Jax was only eight months old the first time I noticed the wobble. It was tiny — a faint sway in his back legs when he walked away from me. I told myself it was nothing. “He’s growing fast,” I said. “He’s still figuring out those giraffe legs.”

I should’ve listened to my gut.

Great Danes grow so quickly that clumsiness feels normal… until it isn’t.

The signs were everywhere

Looking back, the signs were everywhere:

• Hesitation before jumping into the car
• Occasional paw dragging on hard floors
• A stiff stance after naps
• That slight wobble I kept pretending not to see

I pushed it aside because he was young, playful, and otherwise healthy. And honestly? I didn’t want something to be wrong.

The universe doesn’t care what we want.

The night everything changed

It happened on a Thursday evening. Nothing special. Just bedtime. Jax stood up… or he tried to.

His back legs folded underneath him like someone cut the strings holding him up.

He looked confused. Then scared. Then desperate.

He tried again. His front half lifted, his back half dragged. He whimpered — a sound I’d never heard from him.

I froze. Then everything inside me cracked open.

I carried all 140 pounds of trembling Dane down the stairs, sobbing into his neck the entire time, shaking so hard I almost dropped him. That drive to the emergency hospital felt like it lasted three days.

The diagnosis I didn’t want to hear

The neurologist didn’t sugarcoat it.

“This looks like Wobbler Syndrome.”

Wobbler Syndrome is a cervical spine disease that affects many Great Danes. The vertebrae in the neck become unstable and compress the spinal cord. It can cause wobbling, weakness, dragging feet… even paralysis.

All those small signs? They weren’t clumsiness. They were warnings.

They scheduled an MRI and confirmed it: Jax had compression between C5–C6 in his spine. They recommended surgery right away.

Surgery, fear, and the long road back

They took him into surgery the next morning. I signed the papers through tears, terrified he might not walk again.

The surgeon stabilized his cervical vertebrae and relieved the spinal cord pressure. They told me the nerve damage had already begun — the longer you wait, the worse it gets, and I had waited far too long.

Recovery was brutal:

• 8 weeks of crate rest
• Lifting him with a support harness for every bathroom break
• Physical therapy 3 times a week
• No playing, no running, no stairs
• Nerve-regeneration supplements
• Daily massages, heat therapy… and tears (plenty of tears)

But Jax kept fighting. He learned to place his back feet again. He learned to walk without dragging. He learned to move with intention instead of fear.

He healed… not perfectly, but beautifully.

He’ll never be a dog park sprinter, but he’s alive, mobile, and still my giant shadow.

The lesson every Great Dane owner needs to hear

Don’t wait. Don’t assume it will fix itself. Don’t blame growing pains.

Great Danes don’t get minor symptoms — they get warnings.

Wobblers can be treatable, especially when caught early. Delay is what turns warnings into emergencies.

If Jax’s story helps even one dog…

I still feel guilty for waiting. I still replay the signs in my head. But sharing what happened to Jax might help someone catch it early in their own dog.

And if that happens? My guilt becomes purpose. Jax’s struggle becomes a lesson. Another Dane gets a chance at a longer, happier life.

That’s why his story belongs here.