***  PLEASE DO NOT REQUEST US AS A PAL IF YOU ARE "WANTING A MATE TO BREED"***

WE DO NOT AGREE WITH CARELESS/BACKYARD BREEDING.  THAT MEANS IF YOU ARE NOT PROVING YOUR DOGS (THROUGH SHOWING OR PERFORMANCE EVENTS) THEN YOU SHOULD NOT BE BREEDING THEM.  IT ALSO MEANS IF YOU HAVE A MIXED BREED (EVEN DESIGNER BREEDS...ha ha ha) IT SHOULD BE NEUTERED AND CERTAINLY NOT BRED.  Breeding is NEVER because " I wanna sweet, loving, smart, pretty puppy just Like him/her. IT DOESN'T HAPPEN THAT WAY!

Now I have to ad what would seem like common sense.

PLEASE if you have a dog with a genetic condition, something hereditary, neuter it.  PLEASE don't knowingly breed genetic defects into future generations.

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Gus's daddy was a harlequin great dane.  His mother was a redbone coonhound.  He is an interesting mix of the two breeds.  He barks like a coonhound but is big like a dane.  His head looks like a dane but with longer, houndier ears.  Gus was born in a barn litterally! : ) He was the product of an irresponsible farmer's intact dogs left to do as they please until Gus's father ( who also had epilepsy but obviously wasn't neutered ) was allowed to run at large and ran out in front of a milk truck. No more dane mixes "free to a good home" in the paper. Yea!  Gus does not have a mean bone in his body.  I have seen Gus get attacked by a shorthair and he laid down and took it, didn't even curl a lip or try to defend himself.

He is also epileptic, has been since he was about 16 months old.  He takes phenobarbitol and potassium bromide to control his seizures.  Gus's seizures finally got the best of him.  We helped him cross the bridge and finally he can rest peacfully...

Chile was an extreme "pitbull".  I had no papers on her so we never knew for sure what she was genetically, but Chile LOVED everyone.  Dogs and people alike, except when there was competition.  Then she was crazy.  She bit me twice and was euthanized.  I took Chile in when she was nine months old because her owner couldn't deal with her and her two small children in a trailer.  She had mange, no shots and she wasn't spayed yet.  Thank goodness we got that all taken care of before she went into heat, started to feel her hormones and became a monster.  Poor Chile's ears were cropped so short that when it rained, she would wince from the raindrops falling directly into her ear canal.  We used to say that someone had amputated them, not cropped them, they weren't even the same, one was way shorter than the other.  Maybe someone did it with a butter knife, that's what it looked like.

Chile would have made an excellent police dog.  She had a never say never attitude and drive that wouldn't quit.  I still miss her, especially her "smile". She is what made me fall for the breed.  I wish people would realize how wonderful these dogs can be, but they should be altered and altered young.  This helps insure they will keep their puppy like attitude and make a reliable pet.

Gone but NEVER forgotten...

Seabass was awesome.  Everything a dane should be. He was BIG and beautiful.  He was a gentle soul that wouldn't hurt a flea.  He endured much here on earth and was loved by many.

Sebastian came to me from animal control.  Some women found him wandering the highway and took him to AC.  She was a friend and knew I had danes so she called me.  He was in terrible shape.  His face and feet were swollen and full of puss filled sores.  He was so skinny you could count every bone and he hadn't been neutered.  He was the sweetest old man though.  He wanted to be saved.  I still think he was out wandering so someone would find him.

We got him healthy and he lived with me until my divorce.  He later bloated in his new home and they euthanized him to save him pain and discomfort.  Seabass also had cancer.  He was 7.

Gone but not forgotten...

Sunny was my first show dog.  She was a beautiful fawn girl. I got her when Leo died.  I was sure I didnt want to put money in another BYB pocket so I contacted the great dane club of IA and they put me in touch with Sunny's breeder.  They had two "pups" left, she was one week shy of her first b-day.  I never regretted her.  She was a handful at first, she hadn't had much one on one interaction, but she came around.  And she LOVED showing,  she would strut her stuff.  Good thing too as I didn't know squat at the time.  She didn't care, she showed me the ropes and as long as I held the lead in the ring, she did all the work.  And she made herself look beautiful.  She was a good girl and forever I will be thankful to her as she gave me Lilly and Nigel. Sunny was lost to divorce and since she wasnt cared for she bloated and died on halloween.  Her death was a tragedy and it took me a long time to come to terms with that.  Sunny was very much loved and will never be forgotten.

Gone but remembered all the time!

: )

Alastor was a beautiful white dane.  Contrary to what people thought when they saw him, he could see and hear, which is NOT normally that case.  White danes are a by-product of breeding the Harlequin color family.  It usually happens when both parents are a harl, although it happens much more frequently when one or both parents are a merle (or God forbid a white).  That is why the Great Dane club of America doesn't recgonize the Merle color as acceptable for showing or breeding. That is why merle (or any other mismark produced)  puppies should always be sold on a spay or neuter contract and NEVER bred.  Another reason to leave the breeding to the people who know what they are doing. 

He was a joy to be around and didn't have one mean bone in his body.  Alli loved everyone, humans and dogs alike. Alastor was an adventure.  It was an adventure to drive to St. Louis to get him and life was an adventure after that.  He was always happy and quite the talker,  Al would talk back when you talked to him or if you wanted him to do something he wasn't interested in.  If you persisted, he would "woo woo" you - you couldn't help but smile.  He was such a clown. It was a tradgedy to loose him to bloat, two weeks from his second birthday.  I still think of him often and smile when I think of how funny my little man was, he was truly amazing.

Gone but not forgotten...

Leo was my first purebred dog purchase.  I thought that looking at the classified ads was how you did it and that having AKC papers actually meant something.  I paid a very bad breeder money for a puppy that was very defective.  He was sick from the begining and had cherry eye, undescended testicles, terrible hips, possible wobblers, cardiomyopathy, etc.  We had to euthanize him at 9 months because he couldn't walk anymore.  It was very sad.  This woman still breeds danes. She has 20 some "breeding pairs" (DO YOUR HOMEWORK, THIS IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE TERM)  This was a very educating experience,  please do your homework when you are thinking about adding a dog.  There are far more bad breeders than good, take your time. 

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Leo was a purebred fawn dane.  He was a gem.  His temperment was truly genuine and very gentle.  He wouldn't hurt anyone.  Unfortunately his body was very porly bred.  He died as a result.  There is no excuse to breed just to make more.  I still look through Leo's baby book and think of him often.  He taught me alot.  Leo did alot during his short life.  He had many friends, as everyone who met him, loved him.  He did agility until his hips failed him.  He also graduated obedience class. He was smart as a whip and had he been healthy and lived longer, he would have accomplished much more. 

Gone but not forgotten.