Midland & West of England Great Dane Club

Midland & West of England Great Dane Club

Est. 1948

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Welcome to the

We at the M&Wof EGDC feel that it is very important for people wanting to have a great Dane in their life to be guided along the correct path, by directing them to breeders who follow our code of ethics and openly ensure the health, welfare, conformation and correct colour of our wonderful breed, and not be taken in by back street breeders or puppy farmers.

You may be able to give an older Dane, in one of our rescue/re-homing charities, a place in your heart. Before rushing out to buy the first Dane you see, here is a checklist to assist you in finding this ‘most important’ friend for life.

You may see litters for sale that have not been registered or are not going to be registered with the Kennel Club. You may believe that because these litters are a fraction of the cost of a registered litter that you are going to get a bargain, or you may find the breeder charging extortionate prices, regardless. The M & W of E GDC strongly advise against buying a puppy from an unregistered litter for many reasons.e.g.the mother too young or too old to have a litter. One or both parents have temperament problems, or health issues The mother has had a previous litter within 12 months or has had more than 4 litters. Either or both of the parents have restrictions to breeding (Edorsements) imposed by their breeders.  

If either or both of the parents have restrictions this could mean that your potential puppy could develop or already have an hereditary condition.

This could mean at best vet bills and at worst the premature death of your puppy.


Brindles: must be striped, ground colour from lightest buff to deepest orange, stripes always black, eyes and nails preferably dark, dark shadings on head and ears acceptable.

Fawns: colour varies from lightest buff to deepest orange, dark shadings on head and ears acceptable, eyes and nails preferably dark.

Blues: colour varies from light grey to deep slate, the nose and eyes may be blue.

Blacks: a) Black is black.

In all above colours white is only permissible on chest and feet, but it is not desirable even there. Nose always black, except in blues and harlequins. Eyes and nails preferably dark.

b) Mantles: Black and white with a solid, black blanket extending over the body. Ideally - black skull with white muzzle, white blaze optional, whole white collar preferred, a white chest, white on part or whole of the forelegs and hindlegs, white tipped black tail. Nose always black, eyes and nails preferably dark

Harlequins: pure white underground with preferably all black patches or all blue patches, having appearance of being torn. Light nails permissible. In harlequins, wall eyes, pink noses, or butterfly noses permissible but not desirable.

Any other colours including Merle are mis-marks and will not be recogniized as a show colour. Merles however are still KC registerable. Merle is generally a grey base colour (but not always) with black patches. Merle coloration can vary from pale silver to dark ash grey & many shades in between. Breeding Merle to Merle often produces deaf and/or blind white puppies. *Any other colours are mis-marks and buyers must not be misled into thinking that they are a ‘rare’ or ‘special’ or ‘desirable’ colour.

Nowadays breeding from Merles may be better planned and informed by colour testing at a variety of labs.Please check prices and discounts etc for comparisons eg https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/KCDNATestingGreatDane  LABOKLIN   UCDAVIES  PET GENETICS LAB B


Have a good look at the Danes and chat to people showing their dogs. You will find most ethical breeders are interested in the Great Danes being currently shown, since it is in the interest of the breed to try to breed as closely as possible to the KC breed standard.

We will endeavour to steer you in the right direction

Buying a Dane