Breeding Philosophy
Our Mission
To make the world a better place for dogs by supporting the dog-loving community and securing Great Danes as the most desired, aspirational dog companion.
Our Approach
We advance our mission by producing the best possible Great Danes and placing them in homes that give them the best possible lives. Dogs thrive in homes where they can live full, enriched lives with their people and canine companions.
Demand for dogs far outpaces the supply from breeders most of us would consider responsible, and a lot of dog owners simply aren't aware of their dog's origins. We work to close that gap through education: reaching dog owners, shelters, and the broader animal welfare community with a clearer picture of what honorable breeding looks like.
Our Values
Our relationship with dogs is complex, personal, and subtle — as individual as our tastes in music or food. Dogs mean different things to different people, and not every dog is suited for every home. We believe there is very little more important than matching people with the dog that fits them.
Many dog communities differ in their values and perspectives, and we have a great deal to learn from one another. We endorse and discourage specific practices in breeding, but we do so while respecting that thoughtful people can disagree. Those working to further the welfare of dogs should be encouraged, celebrated, and supported.
Our Philosophy in Practice
Curious what this looks like in practice? Here's where our philosophy meets pedigrees, genomics, and documented reasoning.
- Laying the FoundationOur first 7Sisters litters: how we chose sires using pedigree analysis and health data, what we weighed, what we risked, and what our mentors taught us along the way.
- Ezra × Piper litterA current breeding presented with pedigree detail and visualization—an example of how we connect type, health, and numbers on the page.
- The Deep History of Dogs
A two-part series tracing dog ancestry from Ice Age wolves to the modern breeds we know. This is the kind of science literacy that shapes how we read evidence and avoid folklore in our breeding decisions.
- Canine Genome Explorer
The dog genome is 2.4 billion base pairs long. We built a tool that lets you explore it. Browse genes linked to health, disease, and the traits breeders care about — mapped to chromosomes with plain-language descriptions and links to current research. Then open the JBrowse 2 genome browser tracks that Colin Diesh and I have assembled with a focus on dogs: scroll across whole chromosomes, zoom into individual exons, compare sequence data from multiple projects, and download what you find.