I feel that the standard should be put back to where
it was before this latest fiasco was approved.
One main bone of contention is the statement "
the length of leg from the ground to the elbow is 50 % of the height
of the dog." This statement was never in any of the
previous standards. It also is not true. When the first videos were
made exact measurements were taken by a group chaired by Carolyn
Thomas. It was proven time and again that the height in the Dane was
made up by the length of leg. The ratio was anywhere from 52% to 54%
from ground to elbow and 48% to 46% from elbow to top of withers.
This is what happens when you have someone working
on your standard who had a male so small the photos had to be taken
by the photographer laying on the ground to make the subject look
like a Great Dane. People become interested in our breed from
what they see. However once they try to breed to the standard
and don't succeed, then they say the standard must be changed.
The standard is only a blueprint. Our old standard was an
excellent blueprint. It should never have been changed.
Ask the old breeders like Hazel Gregory, Carolyn Thomas, Rose
Roberts, Anna Mary Kauffman, just to name a few, what they
think of this new standard. They will tell you it is a joke.
I respond to this question now because supposedly a new standard is about
to be voted on.
If they do not take that absurd statement about the
50% to 50% ratio out of this new edition, it should never pass.
It is about time that some of the two and three year wonders start
reading the history of our breed and understand what a Great Dane
really was and should continue to be. Not just another generic dog
that doesn't stand out in the crowd.
Size was and is an important aspect of our breed.
It is not the only factor but stop and think when you look down a
row of any mixture of breeds, what is one of the first things you
notice about your Dane?
It should be head and shoulders above the rest
of the dogs in the working group. It should not be competing
with the Dobe for height and bone.