I came across various articles about the death of a harlequin Great Dane show dog called Rumpus who apparently died in October 2009, aged five. Rumpus was apparently a prize winning show dog in his own right, but what made him recently newsworthy was that he appeared, along with his eight year old mother Lava, in four of pop singer Lady GaGa's music videos, including the most famous 'Pokerface' video that went with this popular song. According to sources on the internet, the news of the death of Rumpus was broken around October 21, 2009. Apparently an autopsy report was pending, but there was no further news of this on the internet.
I began to wonder what had happened to the dog, had he had some kind of heart attack? This is because animals that are shown on stage and screen appear to be driven very hard. I have to say that I once worked at a film studio so I am talking from experience.
In June 2009, Rumpus appeared in a TV advertisement for dog food and was also due to be in lady GaGa's 'Bad Romance' video but died before this could take place.
What really caught my attention was the fact that Rumpus's former owner, Suzanne Kellher-Ducket claimed that he was taken on hikes everyday ranging between two and five miles. Rumpus died shortly after returning from such a hike in Los Angeles.
I checked various sources of information on the internet on how much exercise Great Danes require and I found out that in spite of their size they don't need as much exercise as Dalmatians, Dobermans, German Shepherds or other dogs of this sort. In fact Great Danes apparently don't need that much exercise at all, 15 minutes to half an hour once or twice a day was recommended by one website.
It would appear from the facts freely available on the internet, that it is possible Rumpus was over worked and over exercised constantly and I wondered if his heart had given out because of this, or that it was a contributing factor to his untimely death. The dogs do look incredibly thin in some YouTube videos and the rib cage can clearly be seen. Certainly the results of the autopsy have not been made public.
The director of the Pokerface video, a Mr Ray Kay, apparently stated that two dog handlers were on hand at either side of the shoot, as Rumpus and Lava would not keep still. Dog handlers can be seen with Rumpus in the June 2009 dog food commercial shoot.
Lady GaGa was actually caught out lying to a German radio presenter in an interview on a German radio station which was put on YouTube. Lady GaGa falsely claimed that she owned the dogs that appeared in her videos and that they were called Alice and Abbey Road. The interview is on the links. This was a complete fabrication as the dogs,Rumpus and Lava, were owned by Mrs Kellher-Ducket and why Lady GaGa felt the need to lie about this fact is unclear.
Perhaps there should be more protection around, worldwide for dogs appearing in media productions, or owners should know when to stop pushing their animals too hard in to the limelight.
Great Dane FAQ
Great Dane FAQ 2
Lady Gaga Interview - Stuttgart, Germany (April 2009)
Lady Gaga Video Great Dane Rumpus found dead!
Pacific Coast Harlequins
Listen to Critters Anonymous
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