Our breeding program is built on exceptional mentors, exceptional dogs on both sides of every pedigree, and the research to back it up. This is how we laid that foundation.
Who Taught Us
Our first two litters were co-bred with Francisco Camacho (Frankie) and Jason L. Dubman (Jaye) of Legado Danes. In 2023, Frankie and Jaye won the GDCA Breeder of the Year award with twelve champions — and one of those champions was Piper, who became our foundation bitch.
Frankie and Jaye learned from Karen Martin of Danemark Danes. Karen was the 2022 GDCA Breeder of the Year with eleven champions and the first AKC Advanced Recognition Breeder of Merit to reach Platinum status for Great Danes — one of only two breeders, along with Georgia A. Hymmen, to achieve that. Karen was also the first breeder outside our household to personally evaluate both of Piper's litters. That she took the time to personally evaluate our puppies says something about how this community works: experienced breeders invest in the next generation, not just of dogs, but of breeders.
We're also grateful to our stud dog owners — Jessica Lanae Powers and Mara Reyes — for trusting us with their dogs and sharing everything we needed to make good matches.
Our Dogs
- CH Legado N Danekraaft's How Can I Tell You? — "Piper": Our foundation bitch and first champion, finishing in March 2023. Her registered name comes from a Broadway-themed litter (think Pied Piper).
- CH 7Sisters N Legado's I Wanna Dance, I Wanna Win — "Mia": Piper's daughter from our first litter. Finished her championship in March 2026.
- 7Sisters N Legado's Heart of Gold — "Cora": From our second litter. Debuted at 7 months at the 2025 Illini GDC show.
Two Litters, Two Sires
Choosing a sire starts with the dogs themselves — their structure, their movement, their temperament, their health. You study what the dam does well, where she could improve, and look for a sire who complements her.
Rolex × Piper
Sire: BISS Am GChS Fendanesylcrest N Diriso's This Is the Right Time — "Rolex." Bred by Gloria Batchelor, Kathleen Fennell, and Elizabeth Barnhart. Owned by Jose M Diaz. Rolex was a Top 20 finalist in 2022 and received an Award of Merit at the 2022 GDCA National Specialty.
From this litter, Mia stayed in our program and finished her championship; her siblings went to show and pet homes.
Sean × Piper
Sire: Ch Legado N IZYA's Oops! I Did It Again — "Sean." He is the son of Baron and finished his championship at just 9 months old with four majors out of the Puppy Bred-By class.
Cora stayed in our program from this litter and debuted successfully at 7 months; her siblings also went to show and pet homes.
Bloodlines Behind Our Dogs
Scout — The Winningest Great Dane of All Time
Cora and Mia's maternal line through Piper connects to BIS BISS GCHP Longo Miller N Lore's Diamond Lil HOF — "Scout." Her career numbers: 38 AKC All Breed Best in Shows, 22 Best in Specialty Show wins, 93 Group One placements, 254 Best of Breed wins, and 55,380 dogs defeated including 5,201 Great Danes. She was the #1 Great Dane across all systems in 2013 and the #3 Working Dog that same year. Bred by Tootie Longo, Dave and Jay Miller, and Lorraine Matherly.
Baron — Three-Time Stud Dog of the Year
Cora's paternal grandsire, BISS GCh IZYA's Fight On & Fly On, CHIC — "Baron" — was awarded GDCA Top Stud Dog for 2022, 2023, and 2024 and has produced 28 AKC Champions to date. His daughter MBISS GCHP Legado N Danemark A Captive Spirit — "Marina" — won both the 2022 Top 20 Great Dane and People's Choice Award at the National GDCA event.
Shared Ancestors Across Both Litters
Both Rolex and Sean trace back to the same influential dogs — Am Ch Saul's Tequila Mockingbird, Am GCh Fendanesylcrests See You Later Allie-Gator, and Am Ch PRF Fendane Have I Gone Mad (who is also Piper's own father). That consistency across both sires is part of why both litters have produced dogs with predictable temperament and structure.
Understanding COI: How We Monitor Genetic Diversity
COI doesn't tell you whether a breeding is a good idea — the dogs themselves tell you that. But it tells you how closely related the parents are, which matters for managing genetic health over time.
What the numbers mean: Under 6% COI is generally considered an outcross. 6–10% is moderate linebreeding. Above 10% is closer linebreeding. We use COI as a guardrail, not a goal.
Pedigree depth: Great Danes are bred in a long-closed registry with a finite pool of ancestors. A deeper pedigree can surface the same dog behind both sire and dam in ways a shallow chart never names—you simply didn't have those generations on paper yet. The breeding isn't suddenly "more inbred" because you typed farther back; the ties were always possible in a closed gene pool. Pedigree COI only adds what the pedigree includes, so the number you get can go up as you extend the chart, even though the dogs themselves didn't change.
How it's calculated: Odds are you're not someone who breaks out equations for fun. But calculating a COI from a pedigree is a rite of passage for dog nerds, and it's worth understanding at least once — if only so we can rebuild knowledge after civilization ends.
In practice, everyone uses software. But here's the logic, using Sean (22.7% COI) as our example.
1. Find dogs that appear on both sides of the pedigree. Am GCh Danemark's Diamond Cartier V Aldawn shows up twice in Sean's pedigree — once as his paternal grandfather (2 generations back) and once as a maternal great-grandfather (3 generations back).
2. Calculate that ancestor's contribution. The formula: f = (1/2)^(n1 + n2 + 1) × (1 + F_A). For Cartier: (1/2)^(2+3+1) = 1/64 = 1.56%.
3. Add up every shared ancestor. That 1.56% is just one ancestor through one path. Sean's 22.7% comes from Cartier appearing through additional paths, plus other dogs — NORDCH Diplomatic's Umberto di Visconti, several Danemark dogs — all appearing on both sides. The total is the sum of all contributions.
4. Understand what it tells you. When we bred Sean (22.7%) to Piper (very low COI), the resulting 12.5% told us the puppies would have moderate linebreeding. That number didn't make the decision for us. The dogs did. But the number confirmed we were in a range we were comfortable with.
A caveat: Pedigree-based COI assumes founder dogs at the edges of the pedigree are unrelated, which they probably aren't. So these numbers are estimates. Actual genetic diversity can only be measured through DNA testing.
What This Means for Your Family
Everything above — the mentorship, the pedigree research, the health testing — exists so that when a family brings home one of our puppies, they know what they're getting. A dog whose adult size, structure, and temperament are predictable. Health-tested parents. And us — Dustin and Karen — available for questions long after your puppy comes home, backed by mentors who've been doing this for decades.
Both litters validated what we were trying to do. Mia finished her championship in March 2026. Cora debuted successfully at 7 months. Both litters produced the gentle, stable temperaments that families count on.
To learn more about our dogs or our current plans, visit 7Sisters Farm.
Sources & References
- Grossman, Carol. "Tootie Longo of Great Dane Fame." Dog News. dognews.com
- Great Dane Club of America. "Q1 2024 Bulletin - 2023 GDCA Breeder of the Year." gdca.org
- Great Dane Club of America. "Q1 2023 Bulletin - 2022 GDCA Breeder of the Year." gdca.org
- American Kennel Club. "Advanced Recognition Breeders of Merit." akc.org
- Karen Martin of Danemark Danes. danemarkdanes.com
- Frankie Camacho & Jaye Dubman of Legado Danes. legadodanes.com
- Lorraine Matherly of Great Danes of Lore. loredane.com
- Jessica Lanae Powers of IZYA Danes. izyadanes.com
- American Kennel Club. "Titles and Abbreviations." akc.org