Personally, I think those bashing the chocolates can be a bunch of hypocrites because most are always commenting how gorgeous the chocolates and other "off colors" are and actually own one or would love to own one but would never breed for them.  Well, why not be open minded and breed to improve the overall conformation and health of those being produced so that these colors can one day be breed standard colors?  After all, that's how the mantles and harlequins became breed standard colors.... because someone was willing to stand up for what they believed in.  Bottom line, they don't have the guts; they want someone else to do it and take all the heat.  But you wait and see, when the chocolates become a breed standard color, guess who will be first in line to buy some to breed and get into the show ring.... the very people bashing them now!

One needs to be open minded enough to realize if it weren't for independent thinkers like Honey Hollow, Dinro and BMW,  who defied convention and bred the way they believed ? and produced superlative Great Danes the breed would not be where it is today.  With that in mind, those of us who are seriously breeding the chocolate Dane to produce quality Danes are no different, these dogs are not inferior, on the contrary we strongly feel they have something to contribute to the breed as well.

It's about time people spoke up against the horrible "Color Code of Ethics" which has no purpose other than to whittle down the gene pool, and eliminate colors and patterns which have been around for literally hundreds of years.  If more and more breeders will start to think with their own brains, stand on their own two feet, do the research and not listen to the garbage some people are throwing out there and return to breeding this beautiful color in very correct and healthy Danes, we can achieve the goal of getting chocolate to become a breed standard color!

Danes of many beautiful colors and patterns have been seen; brindle with a red-gold base coat and blue stripes, mask and nose;  pups (from pure-color fawn-bridle breeding) starting out looking chocolate, then got a bluish tinge, and as an adult looked like an exotic shade of mink; blacks with horizontal stripes ("eel-striped," "Aalstrich"); Blues with a dark mask; whites with blue and fawn spots; whites with brindle spots,  etc.

The Germans were meticulous in their description of color.  They also differentiated "spots" or "patches" with "plates,"  large patches of color with smooth edges (versus the usual irregular edges of the normal harl "spots" or "patches"). They called these "plated" dogs, plattenhunds. Dogs such as Alex von Borsigwalde were described as "weiss mit braun Platten" (white with brown plates). The "Brown" that is mentioned is precisely that "braun"; perhaps chocolate, perhaps liver, but never fawn.

One should wonder about the abrupt change of accepted colors in Germany, it seems a strange coincidence that so many colors and patterns were accepted until after (or near the end) of WWII. The country was in shambles, with little food for people, let alone dogs. At least one other  breed, the harlekin pincer (harlequin pinscher) became extinct during WWII  (according to a letter response I received from the German Pinscher Club). Perhaps they wanted to make sure that the German Great Danes with a few "standard" colors survived, at the expense of the other colors. It was not done for any "defect, reason" as some non-white colors were eliminated and the harls kept (which, by nature, produce whites).  One can't help but think that if there had been no WWII, we would see a great many other beautiful colors and patterns?

One innovation Robert Wetz had instituted in Vol. VIII of the DDSB (post WWI)  was most likely a result of his experience with color. Previously, the studbooks had been divided into the 5 accepted colors only: brindles, fawns, blacks, blues and "spotted" ("gefleckt" or what we call harlequins, although the spots may have been of various hues). Nothing else was registered, other than the occasional blue-brindle in the brindle section.

But in Vol. VIII he specified that the harlequin section be for black-and-white harls only, and provided a separate section for "andersfarbig gefleckt und Weisse" (Other-color spotted and whites). This included quite a few blue-and-white harls, whites, and merles; "grey-black spotted," "porzellantiger," etc.

In Vol. IX, which he had nearly finished organizing before his untimely death, the section became simply "Other Colors", and included the following besides blue-and-white harls, etc.: Isabella, white-and-brown, silver brindle, brown-spotted, blue with fawn, blue-brindle, and "drappfarben." 

Volume X continued the "Other Colors" section with many of the same descriptions, plus a couple of fawn-white-spotteds. From then on registrations were no longer divided by color, but by litters, and there were many different colors and patterns. 

Brown, in German Braun (including Rehbraun, i.e. fawn-colour) is rarely mentioned in the breed's history, although red and yellow specifically are each used to describe typical colors commonly seen. The term Rehbraun (for fawn) is not recorded and when Braun is used, it is separated from the usages of Gelb or Rot and typically describes some "brown and white" or "brown" offspring of harlequins; plus the term Braun seems to be only found in Germany in the era between WWI & WWII."

The word "Braun" being used to describe chocolate dogs of other breeds in Germany - even to the present day. No question that "braun" meant "chocolate."  And since that's a fact - then it's also a fact that Chocolate Danes were not only being SHOWN in Europe in 1900 - but were put up as FIRSTs. 

It wasn't until after World War II that the DDC reverted to refusing to register any but the 5 accepted colors.

Much of the above information was shared with me by Jan Harris.  She also told me that off of the top of her head she knew the following Danes were indeed either chocolate or carriers:

Regardless of the EARLY history, there is no question that the Danes in the States originated from the bloodlines in Germany.

There was...an English champion, Ch. Orus of Lockerbie. His color was brindle-harlequin...but there's no mention as to what color the stripes were! Ch. Orus was used for breeding, and so was his brindle sister, Pandora, who is behind some top English dogs."  If you research the Great Dane you will find the original description of the breed (5th paragraph) allowed for various colors, plus brindles and patched Danes in all possible combinations!!  I've discovered over the years many articles that I've referred to that support my comments are being deleted, humm wonder why?  lol  Here's a screen shot just in case.

Even more recently a Champion-sired "chocolate" striped Great Dane, Butterscotch, was shown in California (in the early 1970s). Her sire was CH Bartholomew von Overcup.

Below are pictures of Butterscotch, with what looks to be a chocolate nose, shown in 1971 in which her picture is in Dane International, July/Aug. 1971 issue. It was Isabel Karkau and Jane Chopson who acquired her and showed her.  She was eventually disqualified by then-president of the GDCA Rose Sabett for not having the black nose required for a "standard" brindle.  After she disqualified her it is said Sally Haas protested that her own blue in the open blue class did not have a black nose. After this incident the Standard was changed to describe disqualified colors. However, I'd like to mention that a chocolate brindle is suppose to have a chocolate nose so, if Butterscotch truly was a chocolate brindle then she was marked correctly for being the color she was.  There is some talk she may have been liver, regardless, she still should not have had a black nose.

At least her owner was able to show for a short time what was a truly beautiful dog.  Before this time most chocolates (and other off colors) never saw the light of day, instead they were put down by going for a swim in a pail of water or getting a bonk to the head and pretended they didn't exist.  It is said Butterscotch had a 10-generation correctly marked fawn-to-brindle pedigree including correctly marked parents, but since this color is a combination of recessives, both her parents had to be carriers.

Her record:  4 Fun Matches, One Best Puppy, Three Firsts, Two Sanctioned Matches, One Best Adult, One Best of Breed, 5 AKC point shows...One first, One second, One third, One fourth... and then the One no placement.

I recently came across the following post on a Dane forum while at a friend's house and have to laugh at the 2nd sentence as this post was by someone who doesn't even breed Danes or any other breed of canine!  So, what does her statement say about all the Danes listed above as well as the chocolates I have which come from CH lines? Sounds like she has something backwards.... you have to get the breeding of a color consistent and produce healthy dogs with all the attributes and traits of a Great Dane  BEFORE it is accepted as a breed standard color in order for it to be shown.   In other words, one has to start somewhere and that's with the breeding, not the color recognition or showing.
 

I can only wonder back when mantles and harlequins were not yet breed standard colors, was there someone dishing out mythomation (myth & mis-information) that mantles and harlequins could not be correctly bred as the person making the above statement about the chocolates?  

Take a look at the below picture - they are litter sisters, and are actually like two peas in a pod - though, because of the difference in color and pattern, they can at first glance seem totally different:

You know I have to admit I find all of this quite hilarious as I have all this proof that chocolates can be bred correctly and the purist have nothing to back what they are preaching to one another and the novice breeder that they can't.    It's no wonder people with any intelligence are still wanting to own a beautiful, healthy GREAT chocolate Dane.

As far as I'm concerned the color of a Dane's coat is not what makes it a Dane.  It's the overall conformation and appearance.  You can't convince me that if someone saw the Danes shown at the bottom of this page on the street they'd not know they were GREAT Danes.  That'd be like saying a policeman or fire fighter could not save someone's life if they were not wearing their uniform... or heck, for that matter, no one could be a hero if they were not wearing the proper cover over their skin! 

I recently had an open minded breeder who has some of the top lines in his pedigrees (that have chocolates and recessive chocolates in the pedigrees) send me his take on the above posting:   WoW!!! Looks like we have a genius here on dogs. You know Gibson the Greatest Dane and World record setter before the Blue Dane of late was  7 years old and had sired a couple of litters before he DIED of BONE cancer. Guess they should have waited for that pure Healthy check up though he had more Health certifications than OBAMA.

Someone else emailed me with this statement:  The attitude of the GDCA smacks of racism to me, and the purists who are trying to stamp out genes  in Danes (and other breeds) smacks of the German Nazism who were trying to "purify" their race.  I thought I was the only one who saw that correlation.  :-)   How can people believe that "purifying a race by eliminating genes" is horrifying for humans but okay for animals?

All I can say is if more people have an open mind and realize it's not the color of one's coat that makes them great, then there is hope for the chocolate becoming a breed standard color as it's apparent it's not only those of us breeding this color wanting change.....
 

I'm often asked how I have the colors I do because it would be genetically impossible to come up with some of the colors I have (or anyone else) based on the information on their pedigree.  Well, it's an unspoken tradition that breed standard/show breeders register their "off" colored puppies (those they allow to live) under the wrong color because they don't want others knowing their breed standard dogs are producing off colors. 

A friend asked the other day if I'd ever heard of a Dane BMW Danielle?  She said she was a lightly marked mantle and was registered as a harl...and was actually SHOWN as a harl!  And got points!  She said BMW Pumpkin was registered as a harl....but she was a fawniken. Furthermore, many whites have been registered as harls.   But that practice goes back into antiquity - all you have to do is look at Olga vd Priel and Aga vd Ruhr - and examine those pictures closely... lol, can you find any black markings on them....they appear to be pure white...and yet were registered as harls.

Any way... the Germans were meticulous in their description of color, for instance differentiating the color of pups in a litter by Afra v Stolzenburg as:  two merles, a black, a harl, a "grey-brown spotted" and a "grey with brown spots".  

They also differentiated "spots" or "patches" with "plates,"  large patches of color with smooth edges (versus the usual irregular edges of the normal harl "spots or patches". They called these "plated" dogs "plattenhunds."  Dogs such as Alex von Borsigwalde were described as "weiss mit braun Platten" (white with brown plates). The "Brown" that is mentioned is precisely that, "braun"; perhaps chocolate, perhaps liver,  but never fawn. They used the word "Gelb" which means yellow (for what we call fawn).

It's a shame the Americans aren't doing the same because most chocolates were/are registered incorrectly as blacks; dilute chocolate as blue; chocolate fawns and blue fawns as fawns; chocolate brindles as brindles; fawnequins, brindlequins and porcelains as harlequins, etc.   However, thanks to AKC & CKC recognizing these off colors and assigning specific codes for many of them, and thanks to breeders like me who are correctly registering a puppy by it's true color, those of us breeding for designer Danes will start having accurate (color) pedigrees and one day have color pure lines.  Check out the detailed color chart I started in the early 2000's before I ever started breeding Danes because I was so drawn to the breed; and it's still a work in progress!

It's a fact that GDCA considers a dog to be pure colour bred if it is "clean" of other colours in the pedigree for 5 generations and that is exactly what the goal of our breeding program is.  However, I'm not sure why that is because a friend of mine came across some interesting information that she emailed me: Adda & Alex v Wendenburg - "pure color bred fawns for THIRTY generations" - and guess what, when they were bred together, they had blues.  Even Brae Tarn had Colonel Sapt - out of Engold and Loheland lines - parents were "pure (fawn) as the driven snow."  Were they shocked when Colonel Sapt (a blue) appeared - and so embarrassed about him that they didn't even put their kennel name on him, just called him Colonel Sapt.  That dog was so heavily linebred on the great Dolf vd Saalburg, it wasn't funny - and he must have been an absolutely incredible dog. What a contribution to the breed (and not just to Blues) he would have made.

Let's not forget that the mantle and harlequin were not always "accepted"  breed standard colors. Mantles were added in the late 90's because of their importance in a harlequin breeding program. They are a great breeding partner to harlequins as they won't produce any double merle puppies and they have the same pattern as desired in a show marked harlequin. Did you know the original description of the breed (5th paragraph) allowed for various colors, plus brindles and patched Danes in all possible combinations!  

This recessive black gene (chocolate) can impact the five recognized colors as follows:
Blue - A dilute (silver/blue) chocolate
Black - A solid chocolate
Brindle - Pale peach color with darker chocolate mask and stripes
Fawn - Pail peach color with darker chocolate mask
Harlequin - A white dog with chocolate patches
NOTE:  Since this color is caused by a recessive gene, a dog of any breed standard color may carry this hidden recessive gene!

*********

Reading the above posting I found on a Dane forum I am amused by the fact these people have nothing better to do with their lives than to sit at a computer and gossip about me and my dogs.  The ironic thing is many show people have admitted the designer colors are beautiful, they just would never breed for them; yet some own or want to own one.  (A little eye-opener here... there are about six show people, in the closet, breeding chocolates.)    These wagging tongues need to remember the conformation of an off colored Dane only gets better if people like me choose to continue to work on it despite all the ridicule so that hopefully one day chocolate too will be a "standard" color just as the harlequins and mantles were eventually accepted.

A friend told me, "When properly bred, an adult chocolate Dane with its size, structure, majesty and expression will "knock your socks off" when you first see it. They have a confident and stable personality, along with playfulness and a "zest" for life; they are the very epitome of a GREAT Dane!"

Bottom line is those spreading the rumors that "chocolates can not be bred properly" and "chocolates have health problems" are DOL.... Delusional Obnoxious Liars  spreading mythomation (myths and misinformation)!!  I say this because I get emails from them saying, "You don't know what your talking about or doing if you are breeding for chocolate Danes," and then spout off their mythomation.  When I reply and ask for documented proof that chocolates can not be breed properly, , I never hear from them again! 

Well, as far as I'm concerned rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools and accepted by idiots.  Bottom line, change happens and those opposed to the chocolate Dane being a breed standard color better prepare themselves.