1973 was a very important year for me: my husband gave me a beautiful Great Dane puppy. Shayenne was the daughter of a world champion. She was not only to become my favorite pet, but also a playmate for my two sons Ingo and Björn, which allowed them to learn at the same time the responsibilities to care for her.

Only 2 years later - I guess every Great Dane owner has this desire - I decided to get another Great Dane as a playmate for Shayenne. Her name was Dana. For an unknown reason Shayenne was not able to propagate and therefore Dana became our foundation bitch. In 1976 I registered the kennel LIBERTÉ (French for freedom, liberty).

LIBERTÉ stands for my attitude towards the keeping of Great Danes. An animal as proud as a Great Dane deserves to be free, i.e., not in a cage, but brought up in close contact with other dogs and humans. To guarantee the peaceful coexistence of several dogs, we limited the number of dogs we owned at one time. This also reduces tendecies to become a puppy-mill. Up until today all our dogs have lived in our house.

I strongly support the regulations of the German Great Dane Club (Deutscher Doggen Club, DDC). Those regulations guide breeders to responsible care of the noble dog we all love. Sometimes those regulations are hard to understand, but the benefit of the breed is without doubt the main reason. One part of the regulations allows only the best dogs for breeding (to limit hereditary diseases), the other part guards those dogs against exploitation.

• Every Great Dane has to be x-rayed for Hip Dysplasia.
• The set of teeth has to be complete.
• Dogs have to be evaluated by a DDC official to get approval for breeding. Click here to learn more about the German standard for Great Danes.
• Bitches can only be bred at 18 months of age, males at 20 months.
• In the first week of their life all puppies have to be checked by a DDC official.
• All puppies need vaccination before you can sell them.
• In the eighth week of their life the DDC official checks the puppies a second time.
• All puppies get a unique number tattooed in their thigh.

During the second check all data about the "parents", the name, color, sex and the tattooed number, is recorded. Only this will allow the breeder to get pedigrees for the puppies from the DDC.

Now back to my kennel. In 1979 Dana had her second litter, the "B"-litter (litters in one kennel have to follow the alphabet - puppies in this litter must have names starting with this letter). Bismarck and Bavaria were among the puppies. I wanted to keep them, so I gave Bismarck to my husband as a present - smart move... Bavaria Liberté was later to become the foundation bitch of one of the two bloodlines in my kennel.

At this time a passion of harlequins arose in me. In 1980 Dana had the C-litter and to my great joy there were 3 harlequin males. Calif Glück would live for many years with my very dear friend Eva Robinson in California. Calypso Glück was to become a well known Champion and Great Champion in Brazil. Cornix would live in Czechoslovakia near Prague. Since Czechoslovakia was a communist country back then, it was possible for a GDR breeder to use Cornix as a stud. All this was done in adventurous ways and hopefully I will have time to write this down some day. After the fall of the Iron Curtain all this is now history, but we should not forget.

Dodini D'oro Liberté, a harlequin daughter of Dana (and you guessed it - the 4^th litter), was the foundation bitch for the second bloodline in my kennel. The last daughter of Dana and the French International Champion Minos du Dogue du Vexins was Immortala Julia Liberté. She became German and International Champion - I was very happy to have bred such a noble and beautiful Great Dane. In a tragic accident Immortala died with 3 1/2 years - unfortunately we had no offspring of her.

I am currently writing the next part of this story. This will focus on the bloodline Bavaria - Königin Viktoria - Pyla - Ufo - Dolce Pyla.

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