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As of November 2006 the Mantle Great Dane has
finally made the standard.
So now the Judges and Dane lovers alike will not only see the five colours
that we have been used to for so many years, we have a new competitor
in the ring-
The Mantle Great Dane!
Danedreamer Awesum Spirit
(9 months)
Bred by Jenni and John Casalaz
Introducing the Mantle
By Jenni Casalaz
Preamble:
In 2002 a proposed inclusion of the Mantle Great Dane to the standard
was put to the three affiliated Great Dane Clubs and the vote was taken
and accepted by the three clubs, but that is where it stalled, as, with
the resignation of one of these clubs, there was no longer a National
Council to plead the case of the Mantle to the ANKC.
First approach to the VCA:
In May 2003, I had a Mantle girl who was to be exported to the USA to
a show/breeding home. I appealed to the VCA to have this Girl registered
as a Mantle and placed on Main Register.
At this time, The Kennel Club had been approached by the nine Great
Dane clubs in the UK to include the mantle in their standard; I used
the information supplied from the UK and their reasoning to plead my
case, plus I rang each committee member individually to go through the
facts prior to their next management committee meeting, some where extremely
interested, and some that I thought should be interested, where closed
minded, claiming that a Mantle was a 'mis-mark'……I found this
hard to accept as when you go to shows in New Zealand, USA, Europe you
will find Mantles in the ring being shown.
On the 20th May 2003, after the completion of the management committee
meeting, I received a phone call from the then CEO of the VCA, saying
that the committee had agreed to place the Great Dane, Danedreamer Awesum
Spirit, on Main register as a Mantle.
Twenty minutes later, I received a second call to tell me the word MANTLE
was not in the computer! and would I accept the wording black (boston),
with a covering letter to state that, in the eyes of the VCA, she was
a Mantle!
Registration discrepancy:
Over the years there has been a huge discrepancy in the registration
of Great Danes throughout Australia.
QLD and NSW have been able to register Merles and Boston's on main register
and use them for breeding purposes, with their pedigree's being correct
for the colour bred. Whereas Victoria and other states have only recognised
the then 5 standard colour's, forcing breeders to register Mantles as
Blacks and Merles as Harlequins which devalues the worth of their pedigree
and puts some states at a disadvantage.
Moving forward:
On the 17th August 2006, I received an email from Caroline Hallett from
The Kennel Club, to inform me that after years of appealing by the nine
Great Dane Clubs of the UK, the Kennel Club had accepted the Mantle
and it was now included in their standard.
From there, it was only a couple of months till it was recognised by
the ANKC, as of the 1/1/07 Mantles can be shown, two open dogs will
be hitting the ring mid January in NSW.
The first Great Dane to be registered in Australia:
The first Great Dane to be registered in Australia as a MANTLE is: 'Goozal
Luv in Blk and Whyt' [Madison].
Madison is a perfectly marked Mantle girl, owned by Jenni and John Casalaz
of Danedreamer Great Danes.
Madison's dam was bred by Danedreamer, she is 'Danedreamer Highly Blessed',
Sired by (Aust Champ Stordansk G'stone Webe Awesum USA Import [Speck]
X Aust Champ Sherrak Astra [Tina]).
Tina is now nearing 9 years and is truly loved by us.
THE REASONING BEHIND THE MANTLE ACCEPTANCE
The Mantle is valuable to Harlequin breeders and has been for many
years.
" For ethical reason's: if you breed a Harlequin to Mantle, you
will never breed a defective white puppy, hearing and eye problems,
which can occur in Harlequin to Harlequin mating.
" It is also responsible for giving Harlequins the desired clean
white neck, front legs and clean background, plus dark eyes, black noses,
which most judges expect in a Harlequin.
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