Mantle Great Dane

Our homebred Mantle

Culseandanes Viper's Tale 

aka Stripe.

A few Mantle facts

Mantles are strictly Black & White.

They cannot have any Merle (grey) on them Otherwise they would be considered a heavy marked or blanketed Harlequin or classed as a missmark

Some parts of the world still refer to this colour as Boston.

Mantles often come from Harlequin breedings.

Mantles can be bred to Harlequins and it can reduce the risk of whites in the litters. 

(do check your dogs ancestors for this though as Great great great grandparents may surprise you.)

Mantle bred to Mantle cannot produce Harlequins. 

Mantles where only allowed into the show ring in 2007. Some show side folks and breeders where not happy about this but most have come round. 

courtesy of sixstardanes.

This is ones in the ring and 1 being the most favourable for conformation and markings. 

As you can see Stripe fits the bill just a tad on the small side for my liking.  

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This from the American side they got to have a mantle in the show ring long before us as usual.

To All Dane Fanciers: We have official notification from AKC of final approval and effective dates for the addition of the mantle class at AKC shows. The memo, dated March 11, 1999 was sent from AKC's Robert Pio, and states the mantle dog standard, as amended, was approved by AKC and is effective 4/28/99.

1. Premium lists already printed with classes by color: Secretaries and Superintendents are to ACCEPT entries with a designated color, "Mantle".
2. For upcoming shows, premium lists presently or not yet prepared: ADD mantle to the list of acceptable colors where the classes are divided by color.
3. All Judges Books and Catalogs should reflect this additional class division, where appropriate.

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Here is the final wording of the revision to the Great Dane Standard:

******Mantle******

The color shall be black and white with a solid black blanket extending over the body; black skull with white muzzle; white blaze is optional; whole white collar preferred; a white chest; white on part or whole of forelegs and hind legs; white tipped black tail. A small white marking in the black blanket is acceptable, as is a break in the white collar.

*******

Any variance in color or markings as described above shall be faulted to the extent of the deviation. Any Great Dane which does not fall within the above color classifications must be disqualified.

I am greatly appreciative of everyone who worked so hard to get this change approved. I think it will be very exciting to see these beautiful dogs assume their place in the show ring.

Harlequin Great Dane

Mandisadane Lady From Culseandanes 

aka Wilma

    A few Harlequin facts

Great Danes are the only breed of dog with this colour pattern

When Harlequins are bred together they may or may not produce Harlequin puppies

Harlequin bred to Harlequin can produce White puppies that frequently are deaf and/or blind

Harlequins are frequently mistaken by the general public as Dalmatians.

PUPPY PACKS WHATS IN YOURS

KC REG PAPERS SIGNED FOR TRANSFER.

5 GEN CERT.

WORMING INFO.

CONTRACT READ THROUGH AND UNDERSTOOD AND SIGNED.

I HAVE 2 ONE FOR PETS ONLY AND ONE FOR SHOW DOGS. 

INOCULATION CARD  ALL PUPS HAVE ONE JAB BEFORE LEAVING 

MY PUPPY DIARY/BOOKLET
(FULL OF INFORMATION)

TATTOO INFO AND TRANSFER PAPERS SIGNED OR
MICROCHIP INFO AND CHANGE OF NAME PAPERS 

FIRST COLLAR

SECOND COLLAR MAYBE IF FIRST IS TO SMALL.

2 LITRES OF WATER IF GOING FAR IT SAVES UPSET TUMMIES. 

ALL LEAVE WITH A COLLAR ON.

BLANKET

TOYS ONE HARD ONE SOFT.

Orgins of Our Great Danes

Shrouded in myth the real origin is obscure but historians will tell that man has since early times kept giant smooth coated hounds.  There are paintings, tapestries, statues and coins that depict these facts.  As these civilisations traded goods the prize hounds were also amongst the items that travelled along the trade routes.  So we have evidence that these hounds were wide spread in the areas we know as Poland, Russia, Germany, England and France.  The Romans, Assyrians, Greeks and Egyptians all played their part in this episode.


It is to middle Europe, particularly Germany, that the development of the modern Great Dane can be attributed.  England also played its part in no small way as the Anglo Saxons kept giant hounds, and with the Roman conquest these highly prized hounds were exported to Rome.

In Germany the northern hounds tended to be a heavily built dog.  In the south the hounds tended to be built on much finer lines.  Many of the big cities had also established their type, some that come to mind are Stuttgart, Ulm, Berlin, Hamburg and Württemberg all producing  their own  traits and type.

Important steps were made in Germany after the war of 1870, when it was decided there should be a national dog, the Deutsche Dogge.  The aim was to produce a giant hound upstanding with strength in head, body and bone.  The various traits of the established hounds were mixed and by selective breeding the foundation of the modern Great Dane was produced.  The gathering together of the interested breeders formed the first dog shows.  This led to a standard to judge by (probably the first was Herr Scheidoberg’s standard).

Records of breeding came along so interested parties would have first hand knowledge of the pedigree of the dogs they were interested in breeding from.

Around 1874 an important breeder, Max Hartenstein, acquired a dog from the Stuttgart area of Germany.  He named him Bosco and by 1876 he had purchased a bitch Bella, and from this pair he bred many Fawns, Blacks, Brindles and Harlequins.

Another important pioneer of the breed, Mr E Mebter, formed his kennel in Northern Germany, and between 1880 and 1890 was exhibiting large numbers of Danes.

In the South the influential breeder, Mr B Ulrich, was establishing his influence, perhaps his best years were between 1882-87.

A fourth influence was the breeding in 1886 in the Berlin area of Mr Aichele's kennel of Schwalbennest Danes, which in the main were blues.

In 1888 came the formation of a club devoted to the breed.
At the turn of the century it must be noted that many of the dogs from Wurttemberg were sold and exported to England and France.    

Introduction

I came to have a dog in my teens he was mine to do what I wanted. So I went to the local clubs and was introduced to agility with my Alsatian Flash yup my dad named him for me and I was like bummer well I was a teen at the time.

I would go through the circuit with him as he was shy to start with but we managed to do the course. I ended up doing agility at shows not just with Flash but Thumbalina not my dog but Maggie's dog she was older and asked my father if I could handle her dog as I was only 13 at the time.

She liked the way I moved in the ring with my own dog. I was secretly chuffed she thought so highly of me. So for certain shows I would swap so both could do the circuit which we all loved.

Till I took a bad fall from my horse one day and that put paid to me showing as I hurt my back badly and was laid up for over a year till I healed. I was also frightened of my own horse so he was put out on loan and then sold.

I did go back to the circuit but things where changing for the worst for me for the Alsatians but Maggie refused to breed the sloped back ones and wanted me to continue with agility.

Sadly Flash came down with an unknown illness and died at aged 7 and Thumbalina was getting on in years and Maggie was getting on and wanted to retire but wanted me to continue but I was hitting that age that I thought I knew better typical teen, young adult.

I moved out of my parents home and went to live with my boyfriend and we had a dog there too a wee mongrel mix Belle that I would walk for miles with her. I then went on to get another dog Max and he was really hard work that I got a behaviourist in for him and spayed my girly but sadly she got an infection and died 2 months after surgery at 2.

I begun to research behaviour in dogs and took up a courses in psychology so I could get ahead in my chosen field.

My boy dog Max another mongrel mix went to live with my ex as he has more time for him than me as I was working full time up to 16 hours a day. I had no time for him so it was the fairiest thing to do.

The years passed in a blur of work and marriage and splits and divorce and children.

I then got another mongrel mix but this time he was a Dane crossed with Alastian and was the biggest sook going called Flint. He had DCM so we made sure he was never stressed and lived a happy life till 7. He was my pet and is sadly missed all the time.

I had been looking into getting another Dane or Alastian and hadn't found any I liked so far.

We then went to a breeder to have a look. It was only for a look and we came away with Murphy a 10 month old fawn Dane. He didnt have papers sadly as he was a good looking dog and I think he would of went far in the show ring. I wasnt sure to begin with but we grew to love him. He was a big part of our lives and that is how I got hooked on the breed and we then went and got more and more as one was never enough for us.  Sadly Murphy went to the Rainbow Bridge aged ten and half. he is still greatly missed to this day.

We then got given a bitch on terms that we got her for nothing and she was to be bred from. She was health tested to the hilt as was the sire and we came away happy and sad once the puppies left. I loved the experience of it all but knew that it could be a different story for each girl and boy and took all that on board.

We have only been showing and breeding for the past 3 years with the Danes,  but I have always had dogs since my teens. I have also had a Dane or Dane cross in my household for the past 20 years now.  I do not see myself as an expert and do have mentors out there I can telephone if stuck at all or I will leaf through an old book about the breed and research, research and research.


I still research them to this day and wont stop doing that ever.