Do you look in the Great Dane
show ring and find yourself disappointed in the quality of the
dogs that you see? Many of us are saddened that we don't see
more good dogs. Among non-Great Dane folks, the Great Dane
breed today doesn't have a reputation of being high quality
competition.
I've wondered why. I've come up with several possible reasons and have
heard additional ones suggested by other fanciers. Maybe you
can add to the list. If we know why, hopefully we can
collectively do something to improve the situation.
Danes Don't Breed True
I was told that Great Danes don't breed true. I'm not sure that I agree,
for linebred dog families tend to resemble each other. (Some
contend that we don't have the lines that we had years ago.) It
is true that the Great Dane is an extreme breed. Mother Nature
prefers the moderate, however, and continually pulls dogs in
that direction. It is very easy to lose size, our unique head,
and other breed type features in Danes. Additionally, many
smaller Danes are more collected and move better, and they win
as a result. It is harder, as an Irish Wolfhound breeder friend
commented, to breed a good large dog. It may be harder, but
size, head, and other breed characteristics that define the Dane
breed must continue to be included in our goals.
Danes Are Too Easy To Show
Great Danes are easy to show, and I believe this accounts for many of the
poorer quality dogs seen in the ring. All you have to do is get
them off the couch, trim the nails (okay – this isn't an easy
part), groom their ears, bathe them, and off to the show you
go. Oh yes, and you have to hire a handler if you don't think
you can do it yourself; but that only takes money. We don't
spend hours and hours each day on coat growth, preparation,
trimming, and grooming as many other breeds do. Terrier people
wouldn't invest the time and effort in a dog as faulty as some
of ours that are shown. They want a dog to be worth all that
work before investing the time and energy.
Speaking of handlers, we rely on them to disguise as many faults as
possible on our dogs. Our handlers are masters of this art.
They can win with and often finish the dogs. But in the end,
when we breed the faulty dogs, we get the faults again. The
handlers can't fix that.
Kennel Blindness
These faulty dogs are shown because breeders and owners are too forgiving
of and minimize the faults in their own dogs. I'm assuming that
the exhibitors know better, which many don't. If their dog is
lacking in head, they claim that it is only a minor fault or
that the dog has so many strengths elsewhere that compensate.
If fact, the head may well be severely faulty. This claim has
been made of dogs lacking soundness or correct temperament or
proper outline or other problems. The exhibitor may see only a
small fault when in fact the fault may be glaring.
Limited Priorities
Too often breeders don't look at the whole dog when evaluating puppies,
stud dogs, or bitches to breed. They will focus on one or more
features that they consider important and ignore the rest. Some
focus on breed type and head and will show and breed dogs with
poor movement, structure, or temperament. Others emphasize
soundness and have dogs that move well, but that are common and
generic. Others breed by health test results; the dogs must
pass all the tests, and it doesn't seem to matter if they are
ugly.
We need it all; we need the whole dog to be good. Our good dog must have
all five of the elements of breed type described by Richard
Beauchamp in his book Solving The Mysteries of Breed Type.
He must have a correct head and expression, correct silhouette,
sound movement, correct coat and color, and breed character,
which includes not only what the dog looks like but how he
conducts himself. The good dog not only has few faults, he has
excellence. (The absence of a fault is not the same as having
excellence.)
We're Getting Younger
As a group of Great Dane breeders, that is. It takes a long time – years
and years -- for people to learn Great Danes well. While they
are learning, those who own bitches breed, some even with a bit
of success. But often, when they have actually learned a bit,
they quit breeding. Great Danes are a giant breed; even the
puppies are big. As people get older, they go into judging, and
many stop breeding. Or they get a smaller, easier breed. Or
they find another hobby altogether. As these people leave, the
average years of experience of the Great Dane breeders gets
lower.
As a rule, those with less experience and less knowledge don't
make the best choices in breeding and therefore don't breed the
better dogs. (This is a generalization, and like any
generalization, there are exceptions.) But if we look at the
average length of time in a breed in toy breeders or terrier
breeders, you will find that their averages are probably twice
that of Dane breeders. That greater experience must contribute
to the greater depth of quality in their breeds.
This is one reason why I would like to recommend that those
Great Dane breeders who go into judging should continue
breeding. If they leave the group of active breeders and take
their experience and knowledge with them, we will have a less
knowledgeable pool of breeders and therefore probably fewer good
dogs produced.
Another reason I would like breeder-judges to keep breeding is
that the experience of judging will improve their breeding
decisions. The more dogs you look at, the more you see (to
paraphrase Yogi Berra). The more you see and understand, the
more you will know that it is the whole dog with the most
quality that you want and must have. You will be less
forgiving. You will take this understanding to your breeding
decisions, and you will make better decisions. I wish all
breeders could judge enough to learn this. (If you don't judge,
sit ringside and judge dogs of other breeds from there. You can
learn that way, too.)
When To Pick Puppies
Some breeders claim they pick their puppies wet. Others prefer
eight weeks. I prefer ten to twelve weeks, when my puppies
begin to differentiate themselves. But, in fact, we would be
far more accurate in our decisions if we grew our puppies out
and picked at about a year. A Chihuahua friend keeps her
puppies until they are six months; how can you know what you
have before then, she asks. Can you imagine keeping several
Great Dane puppies until they were six months? You'd be crazy;
they'd be wild; and none would have his/her ears up.
I think one reason why we make errors in evaluating and picking
puppies is because we have to do it too soon. They get so big
so fast that we can't keep them long enough to be sure. It is
like deciding on who will be Miss America in fifteen years by
selecting among a group of five year old girls. How can we get
our best dogs in the ring if we don't know who they are when we
have to decide who to keep?
Great Sires
A great sire is one who consistently produces competitive
quality puppies when bred to almost any decent bitch. A great
sire used well raises the average level of quality within a
breed. (Yes, he may also introduce some problems that will
plague a breed for years, but that is another article.) I don't
think we have such great sires available within our breed and
haven't for years. Without them, a breed makes little progress
and can actually deteriorate. Good bitches, apparently, cannot
compensate for the lack of great sires.
To qualify as a great sire, the dog must produce excellence and
few faults, and those faults only to a minor degree. Non-great
sires may offer a great head or sound movement or good size and
substance. But each carries one or more significant faults that
their puppies get along with the virtues. As a result, they
don't raise the average level of quality; they shift the faults
and virtues.
The appearance of a great sire requires not only competent
breeding to produce him, but also a lot of luck to make all the
pieces come together in one dog and to enable him to reproduce
them. He has to be recognized early enough to either be kept or
placed in an appropriate environment. It also takes
management. He must be kept intact and in condition. He should
be shown often enough and advertised so that bitch owners know
about him. He should be used only on quality bitches, for he
will get the blame as well as the credit for the puppies
produced. Those puppies must be placed well, too, so others
will see them and recognize the quality.
Most good breeders focus on their bitches. Maybe we need to
try to produce some great stud dogs. This assumes, of course,
that we can recognize them and place them in an environment
where they can become great sires if they are entitled to be.
What To Do
First, though it seems trite, is to provide more breeder
education. Not just the care and feeding programs. Not just
veterinary updates or even grooming discussions. We need
education on how to determine whether or not to breed a bitch,
on how to select a stud dog, on how to evaluate puppies. We
need to discuss breeding programs and philosophies. A good
place to start, if you haven't seen them already, are the
Breeding Principles of Raymond Oppenheimer, who was a top Bull
Terrier breeder in England. You can see them at
http://www.mcemn.com/oppenheimer.html.
We must learn faster and sooner, keep learning, and stay in the
breed longer and help those who want to learn.
We need to set the bar higher on what we consider a good enough
bitch, a good enough dog to breed her to, a good enough puppy to
keep, a good enough dog to show. Look at good dogs in other
breeds; is your Dane that good? It's not enough for the dog to
have good parts; the whole dog must be good, with as much
excellence as possible. If your dog isn't good enough, don't
show it or breed it; love it, but get another better one. Look
at the puppies your bitch produces. If they aren't good enough,
don't breed her again, don't keep one for yourself, and don't
sell them to others as show dogs.
We could try to produce some great sires. We could certainly
use some. Maybe if we deliberately try, we could breed one,
eventually.