Well….. this month was a very sad month for us here at Apollodane Great Danes, yet on the other hand it was a happy month. You see we said goodbye to our beautiful Mantle boy “APOLLODANE ASTRAEUS” HARRY being his pet name and at 10 months old was already showing signs of a beautiful champion Dane in the making.

He has gone to a completely different climate to that of our own long hot sunny days, 320 days of the year. Yes he has gone to live in Finland and we are pleased to welcome him to his new home of Mi’Havanna Kennels and his new parents, Anna-Mari & Janne Vuori with joint ownership with Marja Partanen, Kennel Ozaenas.

We have already had our first pictures of Harry sent to us playing with his 7 new friends in the snow. Once he has settled we are sure we will be seeing a lot of Harry in the show rings around Europe and both Craig and I are very proud that both Marja and Anna-Mari wanted to take Harry into their prize winning collection of Danes. We wish them lots of luck, our love and our very best wishes, from all at Apollodane Great Danes, Cyprus, www.apollodane.com

Now then, the very much and very eagerly awaited arrival of AUSTRALIAN CHAMPION Rorlyn Who Spilled the Paint “DIVA” for short and Rorlyn White Collar Worker, “TURBO” for short have at last arrived at the APOLLODANE KENNELS in Cyprus. We are proud and very privileged to become the new owners and we are looking forward to introducing them on to the European show circuit quite soon. Both Craig & I would like to take this opportunity of thanking both Lynnette and Rory for all the hard work and effort that has once again gone in to producing such beautiful Champions.

Turbo has become famous in his own right for becoming the FIRST Australian Mantle Champion to be awarded the title and his winning ways will hopefully be carried on as we continue his show career here in Europe.

Both Diva & Turbo sit perfectly in our future breeding plans as an excellent compliment to our existing winners, Zac, Odette, Star, Polo & Heidie pups.

We are now busy planning for future shows, the next being the very famous and very prestigious CRUFTS in a few days time over in the UK, so we would like to pass on our very best wishes and good fortunes to all our friends and colleagues who may also be entering, we wish you good luck and we hope to see some fantastic results achieved by all.

Apollodane Great Danes once again would like to thank you for your support and condolences on our recent loss, we found all your tributes to be very kind, thoughtful and warm. Over the years we have built up quite a following on our web pages, however there may be some who wish not to receive our show news, photos, film and updates and if you are one of those people, please return the e-mail with the words remove and we will happily delete you from our newsletter.

We look forward to seeing many of our friends old and new at the European shows we have previously visited and found to be extremely well organised. It is always a pleasure after having travelled many hours by flight to know the show you will attend has been organised with care and professionalism. In 2007 we just happened to fly to 12 countries in total and visit 42 shows over the year, so our thanks once again to all the show organisers for GETTING IT RIGHT and making it so enjoyable we wish to return IN 2008.

Cyprus Champion Hildydane Hildas Heidie is one of our foundation bitches imported for her beautiful confirmation and excellent bloodlines. She combines some of the most famous breeding the Great Dane world has seen today, taking in such classics as AUS.CH STORDANSK GRINDSTONE WE BE AWESUM (Imp USA) and AM CH ROCKBRIDGE’S RODNEY, (see copy of pedigree attached). Her style and ellegance in the show ring is testament to her collection of winning trophies from both sides of the world. She is a big bitch, standing well and with perfect markings, her temprement is comendable and her ability to perform in the ring is outstanding. She will be mated for the first time at three years of age, our aim being to succeed her at International Champion level in 2007.

Darrington Darrius at Ravendane, otherwise known as Polo, D.O.B 20th February 2005, joins us here in Cyprus from his home in Spain. Following our trip to Crufts earlier in the year we saw a number of beautiful dogs that we would have liked to find out more about with a view to introducing their lines in to our kennels. The ones that really caught our eye at the time were the Helmlake, the Damarkann and the Ravendane kennels, all producing some really nice Danes. With only a few days spare, we visited all three with a view to finding a nice out cross stud dog to compliment the lines we had imported from Australia. Unfortuanately, albeit some excellent dogs were presented to us, there was nothing conducive to our requirements at that time.

We returned to Cyprus and after a few weeks took a call from Joanne Walton, Ravendane Great Danes offering us Darrington Darrius, otherwise known as Polo. After looking at his pedigree it was clear he was perfect for our future requirements. He had equal breeding from all the three kennels we had visited, he had the substace we required and he had a fantastic temprement. He had also been sired by the same sire who produced the 2006 Crufts Best Of Breed winner “Champion Ravendane Magic For Garsak” which is testament in itself to the quality of this dog. Although it was never our intention to show Polo, we are putting him through his paces and may showcase him later in the year, however he is more the stay at home character, understanding every word you say and offering you one of his numerous party tricks to win your affections. We all know that Danes are not generally a water dog, Polo on the other hand is a true water baby. He wasn’t sure at first, but after to many days standing by the edge of the pool, he just decided it was far to hot not to be enjoying a swim, so in he walked, down the steps and he has never looked back. Take a look at our album on flicker to see just how well he does in the water.

Roxy, our merlequin rescue bitch is where it all started. A call from our local animal welfare, requesting a loving home, for a Great Dane that had been severely traumatised due to being stabbed several times in the back saw us snap in to action. We immediately went down to see her and fell in love with her as soon as she walked out. She was thin, scared and very unsure of what was going to happen next. Two hours later we had her tucked up in our hill top villa, her own bed and the commencement of her very own routine. She is just adourable now, so very protective of all those around her, yet at the same time as gentle as a lamb. She is very intelligent, very affectionate and knows how to win us over if ever she needs to get away with anything. She has turned our lives around, it has been a pleasure to give her love, security and a home she knows she is safe in and she will always be our number one Great Dane, even though we could never show her or ever let her have pups. As for the animal welfare, we are eternally grateful for this introduction they gave us and we have continually shown our gratitude by donating a years salary of both myself and my partner Craig for the recognition and hard work they show towards animals in need. We hoped this would help towards the building of the new shelter here in Paphos of which fund raising is ongoing.

D.O.B. 15/04/2004. As our foundation dog, we chose a very well matched and highly recommended Black dog who again comes with an incredible pedigree, showing Australian Champion “Hildydane Queen Soraya” as the dam, Grandfather, Magnus Imperial (GMY) (IMP USA) and many, many more, see attached pedigree for more details. Star joined us at the same time as Heidie after completing the show circuit in Sydney, Australia. As qualifyer for the prestigeous Sydney Royal, he showed well amongst those much older then him and in many of the local shows and specialist shows he was always happy to come home with some trophie, ribbon or rosette. At the Graet Dane Easter Show in Sydney he took Best Black Great Dane and this was one of his last shows before joining us here in Cyprus. His show case in Cyprus was recieved well, taking Best Dog in each International Show we have entered, only to lose out to our very own Heidie for Best Of Breed. He has a great head form and his size is complimentary to our bitches in readiness for the commencement of our breeding programme. We are proud to announce that Star was awarded the title of Cyprus Champion before the age of 2years.

3xAustralian Champion, 2xCyprus Champion and 4 times Best In Show winner, Hildydane Zsacharias joins us as our latest import from Perth, Western Australia. After careful consideration, Zac was chosen to compliment the excellent bloodline we had so wanted to be a part of. Bringing together the very best in American, German, Swiss and English bloodlines, Zac has shown the quality and perfection we desire to pass on to our puppies. He has great strength without looking over done, he has excellent confirmation, a great top line, beautiful head and a temprement to die for. We welcome him to our kennels and we look forward to spending time with him and introducing him to the rest of the show world. We are happy to consider Zac for potential cover on selected bitches and frozen semen will be available for those unable to visit.

Hildydane Odette, D.O.B. 28th April 2005. A perfectly marked Harlequin bitch that we had seen on photographs being shown by Hildegard Schliefert, Hildydane Kennels, Sydney, N.S.W. She was just perfect, a real gem stone, one of those true finds of a life time. We contacted Hildegard and asked if she was for sale, A stern NO was the reply and an exchange of banter that was typical of the conversations we used to have with each other. A few phone calls later, Hildegard knew as she had learned before, I was not going to give in. Fortunately she kindly gave in and allowed us to take Odette, but only after her qualification as Best Puppy New South Wales. Talk about cutting it fine, Odette qualified just days before her first birthday, three days later she was on the plane and bound for Cyprus. Upon her arrival, tired, jet lagged and quite disorientated she settled for the evening, crying and feeling very sorry for herself. The break of daylight, a good nights sleep and Odette realised this was her new home, she accepted our food and she became the latest addition to our family. She now holds her own with the other dogs, even giving big boy Polo a run for his money. She had her second season not long after arriving and she has now become the most affectionate Dane I have seen. We put a bit of weight on her and within weeks she started to look like a true show girl. We take her down to the tourist area in Paphos to socialise and interact, she also loves having her photo taken. We also practise her show work by the harbour, a beautiful setting and as the crowds gather, she steps up a pace as if to say, ” look at me, how fantastic do I look” As you can see from the phots of Odette, she has the makings of overtaking her cousin Heidie for Cyprus Best Great Dane. Cyprus Champion and International Champion, well !!!! we have to have something to set our goals on.