Breed
Standards
General Appearance
The Great Dane combines dignity, strength and elegance with
a powerful yet smoothly muscled body. Unique to other Giant
Working breeds, it is so well balanced that it never appears
clumsy. With head and neck carried high and tail in line with
back or slightly upwards. Elegance and grace are essential.
Characteristics
Alert, powerful & majestic.
Spirited, friendly and dependable, never timid.
Size and proportion
The male should be more massive throughout than the bitch,
with larger frame and heavier bone. In the ratio between length
and height the Great Dane should be square. The male should
be not less than 30” at the shoulder, the female not
less that 28” at the shoulder.
Head
The head is rectangular, long, distinguished, expressive,
finely chiselled, especially below the eyes. Seen from the
side, the Dane’s forehead must be sharply set off from
the bridge of the nose (a strongly pronounced stop). The plane
of the skull and the plane of the muzzle must be straight
and parallel to one another. The skull plane under and to
the inner point of the eye must slope without any bony protuberance
in a smooth line to a full square jaw with a deep muzzle,
fluttering lips are not desirable. The masculinity of the
male is very pronounced in structural appearance of the head.
The bitch’s head is more delicately formed. Seen from
the top, the skull should have parallel sides and the bridge
of the nose should be as broad as possible. The cheek muscles
should not be prominent. The length from the tip of the nose
to the centre of the stop should be equal to the length from
the centre of the stop to the rear of the slightly developed
occiput. The head should be angular from all sides and should
have flat planes with dimensions in proportion to the size
of the Dane.
Eyes
Of medium size, fairly deep set and dark.
Ears
High set of medium size, folded forward.
Teeth
Strong, the incisors of the lower jaw very lightly touch the
bottoms of the inner surface of the upper incisors (scissor
bite).
Neck
Long, muscular, high set and well arched.
Forequarters
Muscular shoulders with a well sloped back. Elbows should
be well under the body with perfectly straight forelegs.
Body
Chest broad, deep and well muscled. The brisket extends to
the elbow, with ribs well sprung. The body underline should
be tightly muscled with a well defined tuck up.
Hindquarters
Strong, broad, extremely muscular and well angulated, second
thigh long and well developed with well let down hocks turning
neither in nor out.
Feet
Chiselled, cat like feet turning neither in nor out.
Tail
Thick at root, tapering towards the end, reaching to or just
below the hocks.
Gait /movement
The gait denotes strength and power with long, easy strides
resulting in no rolling or bouncing of the topline.
Coat
Short, dense, clean and glossy.
Colour
Brindle: ground colour from light buff to deep orange,
stripes must be black, eyes and nails should be dark, dark
shadings on head and ears is acceptable. White markings on
chest and feet are accepted.
Fawn: colour
can vary from light buff to deep orange, dark shadings on
head and ears is acceptable, eyes and nails should be dark.
White markings on chest and feet are accepted.
Blue: colour
varies from light grey to dark slate, the eyes and nose may
be blue.
White markings on chest and feet are accepted.
Black: glossy
black. White markings on chest and feet are accepted.
Harlequins:
ground colour pure white with all black or blue patches, white
nails are permissible as are wall eyes and pink or butterfly
noses.
Faults
Danes under the minimum height, split nose, docked tail, any
colour other than those mentioned above.
