It's A Matter Of Color

Another month and another article for Great Dane Gallery… Before I begin I would welcome everyone to put their questions/comments on our new forum page. I would enjoy reading your input and establishing a dialogue.

For those of you that know me, I tease everyone with AOC’s about their funny colored dogs. However, if the truth be known, I put up as much “color” (if not more) than I do fawns and brindles. This statement is coming from a person that only owned/bred fawns and brindles. It is not too difficult for owners/breeders of harlequins, blacks, blues and mantles to state that they have always fought an uphill battle in the show ring. They will tell you that many judges will not even look at “color”. Let me tell you my feeling about this concept of an uneven playing field…

When I started showing Danes (about 40 years ago) those of us with fawns and brindles prayed for entries in the AOC class (that’s right, except for Specialties there was usually only one class for any colors other than fawns and brindles). The reason for our prayers was that a decent entry in the AOC’s helped build a major for our dogs. We “knew” that the AOC’s had little, if any, chance of winning. I believe that the reason for our feelings was multi-faceted.
First – Many judges just would not look at anything but Fawns and Brindles.
Second – The quality of the AOC’s was nowhere near what it is today. With the exception of a handful of successful breeding programs the AOC’s were just not as good.

Today the situation is quite different. Today the quality of the AOC’s is often better than the other colors. Certainly, they do a lot more winning and deservedly so. That is not to say that some judges do not feel insecure with our colored dogs. However, the educational demands of the AKC for individuals to be approved to judge is increasingly demanding and will be in everyone’s best interests.
To the breeders of the AOC’s I say well done.

As a footnote I would like to add that our continual attempts to raise the bar in describing our breed in the Standard is a fine goal. The Great Dane Standard is, compared to the other breeds, not unlike a James Michener novel. Many breeds have standards that are so inadequate in scope and detail that a judge is often left to his/her own devices. The Dane Standard will never be accused of such shortcomings.

The levels of minutia and detail which we feel compelled to upgrade with regards to color is, however, of greater meaning to those of us within the breed rather than judges from the outside. In recent weeks I have spoken to several judges that are not from the Dane world but are approved to judge our breed. As far as I know all of them would draw good entries due to their reputation for putting up good Danes. You might be interested to know that not one of them (without resorting to their standards) could list the 6 approved colors in our breed. Do not be too shocked at this statement. Most judges review their standards before the show in order to refresh their memories.

Hope to hear from you in the near future.

 

Please address your comments, and questions to…

Bill Stebbins
cherdane2@msn.com

  Bill