In the May-June 1985 issue of the Great Dane Reporter the following English translation of the first German Great Dane (Deutsche Dogge) Breed Standard appeared.
The article is entitled “The First Great Dane Standard and how it grew” and is authored by Jill Evans, the Canadian breed authority & historian who also gave us “The Time Traveler”. Many thanks to the author for kindly offering this very valuable resource to the blog, as the Great Dane Reporter magazine is no longer in print and that was probably the first ever translation of the original German standard in the English language to be published.
“Recently all members of the Great Dane Club of America received a survey form about classifying a list of faults as minor, serious and very serious, which may prove to be the tinder to spark some discussion of the Standard. So, to help in knowing “where we’re coming from”, it might be interesting to go back to the source and see what was important to the earlier movers and shakers of our breed, and why. Below is a rather literal translation of the first “Breed Description” published. It appeared in Volume I of the Deutsche Doggen-Stammbuch issued in 1897, but this original version underwent a few small but very significant changes of wording over the next few years, which we are also shown below separately. The first changes were published in Vo. II (1901) and the second batch in the double-volume IV/V (1913). This last version lasted until 1931 and was the basis of the early American standard. Then in 1931 in Germany there was a major revision of the Standard, particularly with regards to colour descriptions, which as you will see had been going through considerable evolution in the early days.
General Appearance – The Great Dane combines in its overall appearance size, power and elegance as in scarcely any other breed of dog. It does not have the heaviness and clumsiness of the Mastiff, nor the lankiness and light weight reminiscent of the Greyhound’s shape, but holds the middle ground between either extreme. Notable size with strength and yet elegant build, long stride and proud bearing, head and neck high, the tail is carried downwards at rest, in excitement stretched and upwards or with possibly a slight curve.
Head – Moderately elongated and rather high and appears pressed together at the sides rather than broad and flat. Seen from the side the forehead appears to be markedly removed from the bridge of the nose, and proceeds parallel with this backward or only slightly ascending, seen from the front not strikingly broader than the stoutly developed muzzle, cheek muscles not too strongly prominent, the head should appear from all sides angular and definite in its outline. Nose large, bridge of nose straight or only slightly bent overall, lips as perpendicular as possible in front, blunted, and not too strongly overhanging at the sides, however with well pronounced folds at the corners of the lips, lower jaw neither overshot nor undershot. Eyes medium large, round, with penetrating expression, eyebrows well developed, ears high set, not too far apart, when cropped, tapered and standing upright.
Neck and Shoulders – Neck long, strong, slightly arched, with well formed nape, slightly tapered from the chest to the head, flowing slenderly into the head without dewlaps and without strongly developed folds of throat skin. Shoulders long and set on a slope.
Chest – Moderately broad, ribcage well rounded, elongated, deep in front, reaching as much as possible down to the elbow-joints.
Body – Back moderately long, slightly arched in the loin area, croup short, slightly sloping and flowing in a beautiful line with the tail. Seen from above the broad back joins well with the considerably rounded ribcage, the loin area is powerfully developed and blends well into the strongly pronounced hind leg musculature. Belly well drawn up toward the rear forming a beautifully curved line with the underside of the ribcage.
Tail – moderately long, reaching downward only a little above the hocks, broad at the root, but slender and ending as slim as possible, yet never raised high above the back or carried curled into a ring in excitement.
Forelegs – Elbows well let down, i.e., standing as much as possible at right angles to the shoulder blade and turned neither inwards nor outwards; upper arm muscular, the whole bearing sturdy, seen from the front apparently slightly bent because of the strongly developed musculature, however seen from the side completely straight down to the ankle.
Rear Legs – Thigh muscular, shank (2nd thigh) long and strong, joining with the hock joint at not too obtuse an angle. Seen from the rear, the hocks appear completely straight and are set neither inwards nor outwards.
Feet – Roundish, turned neither in nor out, toes well arched and closed, nails very strong and well curved. Rear dewclaws not desired.
Colour – A) Brindle Danes: Ground colour from lighter yellow to darkest red-yellow, always brindled with black cross-striping. B) Single-coloured Danes: Yellow or grey in various shades, either solid single-coloured or with a darker tinge on the muzzle and the eyes (ears?) and stripe down the back, also single – coloured black. The nose is always black with brindle and single-coloured Danes. Eyes and nails dark, white markings are only allowed as long as they are on the chest between the forelegs, and if need be on the feet. For the grey Danes lighter eyes are permitted but by no means glass-eyes. C) Spotted Danes: Ground colour white with irregularly torn black or grey patches distributed as evenly as possible over the whole body. With the spotted Danes glass-eyes, flesh-coloured and spotted noses, and light nails are not faulted.