Understanding Faults

Disqualifications

  • Danes under minimum height
  • White Danes without any black marks (albinos)
  • Merles, a solid mouse-grey colour or a mouse-grey base with black or white or both colour spots or white base with mouse-grey spots
  • Harlequins and solid-coloured Danes in which a large spot extends coatlike over the entire body so that only the legs, neck and the point of the tail are white
  • Brindle, fawn, and blue Danes with white forehead line, white collars, high white stockings and white bellies
  • Danes with predominantly blue, grey, yellow or also brindled spots
  • Docked tails
  • Split noses

Very Serious

  • Lack of unity.
  • Poor bone development.
  • Poor musculature.
  • Lightweight whippety Danes.
  • Rickets.
  • Timidity. Bitch dog.
  • Sway back. Roach back.
  • Cow-hocks.
  • Pitching gait.
  • Short steps.
  • Undershot teeth.

Serious

  • Out of condition. Coarseness.
  • Overweight.
  • Underweight.
  • Any deviation from the standard on all colouration.
  • Deviation from parallel planes of skull and foreface.
  • Wedge head.
  • Poorly defined stop.
  • Narrow nose bridge.
  • Snipey muzzle.
  • Any colour but dark eyes in fawns and brindles.
  • Mongolian eyes.
  • Haws
  • Missing teeth.
  • Overshot teeth.
  • Heavy neck.
  • Short neck.
  • Dewlaps.
  • Narrow chest.
  • Narrow rib cage.
  • Round rib cage.
  • Cathedral front.
  • Pronounced sternum.
  • Shallow rib cage.
  • Loose shoulders.
  • Steep shoulders.
  • Elbows turned inward Paws turned outward.
  • Chair legs (front).
  • Knotty bulge in pastern joint (adult dog).
  • Weak pastern roots.
  • Receeding back.
  • Too long a back.
  • Back high in rear.
  • In harlequins, a pink nose.
  • Poor tuck-up (except in bitches that have been bred).
  • Fall-away croup.
  • Over-angulation.
  • Steep rear.
  • Too long rear legs.
  • Poorly muscled thighs.
  • Barrel legs.
  • Paws turned outward; rabbit paws.
  • Wolf's claw.
  • Hackney gait.

Minor Faults

  • Even bite.
  • Discoloured teeth.
  • In blue and black Danes, lighter eyes are permitted but are not desirable.
  • In harlequins, the eyes should be dark. Light-coloured eyes, two eyes of different colour and walleyes are permitted.
  • Loose eyelids.
  • Elbows turned outward. Paws turned inward.
  • Pinning in
  • Paws flat.
  • Nails too long.
  • Doggy bitches. Small white marks on chest and toes--blues, blacks, brindles, and fawns.
  • Few grey spots and pointing's on harlequins.
  • Excessively long hair. Excessively dull hair.
  • Too long a tail.
  • Too short a tail.
  • Gay tail.
  • Curled tail.
  • Twisted tail.
  • Brush tail.