Dear GDAI Members,

We are delighted to launch our GDAI 2024 Great Dane Calendar.  

We want to fill the calendar with photos of your Danes, being their beautiful, fun, quirky selves!

The proceeds from the calendar will be used for 2023 club association Fun Events which we would love to see you and your Danes at!

It’s easy to get involved

–     Submit your dog’s name with a high resolution photo in landscape format to [email protected]

–     Purchase a full page (representing a month) and you will receive a complimentary calendar. Cost €50 (payment details below)

–    Or purchase a quarter page which will represent a season for €15

Not only will your Dane get the fame and adoration he or she deserves … the calendars will be great Christmas presents for your Dane admiring friends and family!  They will be available for sale for EUR 15 at the end of November via GDAI.

 –    Photos should be spontaneous and fun (Not a Show photo) and in high resolution and landscape format.

–     Photo places are limited (12 photos for monthly pages and 16 photos for season’s pages) and will be allocated on a 1^st come basis.

–      If your photo includes people (big and small), we are assuming that all the relevant permissions to publish the photos are in place. Final editorial decisions will be with the publisher.

–      Payment should be sent to:

Account: GREAT DANE ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND. 

IBAN:  IE04 BOFI 9045 8784 7086 54

Or via Paypal at: [email protected]

–          If you have any queries, please contact us at [email protected]

Dog Show Entry Details for GDAI 1st Championship Show 2022.

3 sets of Green Stars on Offer.

The Great Dane Association of Ireland invite you to enter our 1st ever Championship Breed Show to be held on Sunday April 24th 2022 at Wells Hotel, Gorey Co Wexford.

A warm welcome to Our Oversea’s visitors who may be joining us also.

Judging Commences at 12.00 Noon.

We are delighted to announce that the Show will be Judged by Great Dane Breed Specialist from the UK Sheena Booth.

I got my first Great Dane way back in 1982, a fawn bitch called Purdy, that we never bred a litter from. The next Dane we had was a fawn male, bought from a lovely lady called Audrey Farquhar, of the Stroma affix, Stroma Northern Star over Roucandane, or Baggie to his friends. Baggie was my first show dog, and the bedrock of my kennels, he taught me all about handling, and was a total one off, everything I have now, I owe to this fantastic dog, without whom, I would never have entered the world of dog showing, breeding , and judging.

I convinced my long-suffering husband, Fred, that whilst I was running up and down the country showing Baggie, I may as well be showing a bitch too.   Enter Pasha,  Garsak Valentino at Roucandane,  a brindle girl, and the start of my love affair with the stripey! Pasha of course came from  Gary Hooker and John Lockey, the owners of the famous Garsak kennels.

These two, along with Jazz, Khunrath Whispering Mist over Roucandane,  another fawn girl, (who somehow managed to fall in to my shopping trolley Fred !)  from the late John Hunter’s kennel  became the start of my line, and everything goes back to them. In the many, many years since then, I have bred a few champions for myself and others, handled a few more to tickets, and given CC’s in the breed many times both in the UK and overseas. I have had Best Puppy and the ticket at Crufts, places in groups, BIS at Championship Breed Shows, won the Premier and Super Leagues, competed at the Contest of Champions, Scottish Top Dog, and won Pup of the Year.

I hope I can carry on running round rings with these ‘dopes on ropes’ for a few more years, and continue to judge when I am asked.

I am very much looking forward to judging at this historic show. Thank you to all the committee for inviting me, and you, the exhibitors, for entering your beautiful dogs. 

Please click on the link  to download our schedule for our Association’s second breed open show. We hope to see you there for a lovely day of showing and fun .

SHOW Secretary

Sonya Fennelly-McGrath, 15 Glentire Heights, The Ballagh,  Enniscorthy,               Co.Wexford.  Y21 Y275

Online Entry for The Great Dane Association of Ireland 1st Championship Breed Club Show April 24th 2022

Download the schedule

Click on the Online Dog Show Logo or scan the QR code to be taken to our entry Page.

The IKC continues to be in discussion with the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine on the implementation on these regulations.

Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has introduced a Statutory Instrument which will be effective from 1st February 2020 relating to the registration of people and premises who sell or supply five (5) or more pets in any one calendar year.
The Irish Kennel Club has been issued with a copy of the SI pertaining to the sale or supply of pets.
Below are the relevant points as they will affect members of the Irish Kennel Club.
• The regulations cover anyone who sells or supplies five or more pets in total, of one or more species in any one calendar year.
• There will be a lead in time of 3 months for registrations and both the premises and person will need to be on the register and to publish their unique registration number together with the microchip number of the dog or puppy on any advertisement, together with the country of origin.
• No pup can leave the premises prior to 8 weeks of age .
• Breeders and suppliers must keep records for 3 years of the dog’s/ pup’s details, to whom supplied, any mortalities and possible cause, microchip and vaccination details.
• Those breeders with five or more bitches of a breeding age come under the jurisdiction of the Dog Breeding Establishment Act and therefore do not have to register under this scheme .
• There will be no fee for registration.

The regulations come under the Animal Health and Welfare legislation and can be seen as an attempt to regulate the pet trade and trace-ability of all pets, increase animal welfare and consumer protection and is likely to be followed by similar E.U wide legislation . Many of the details for record keeping are what IKC breeders would normally do, so the burden of registration should not be too onerous. The regulations will bring into the public realm those “pet breeders” of so called designer dogs, those who trade in dogs and the unscrupulous who deliberately misinform consumers on the age or background of the dogs they supply. This should also put an end to the scams of selling pups from Air B&B premises etc to avoid detection or the sale of pups that are ill or too young. Certain contraventions (see 10 below) carry penal provisions under the Animal Welfare Act.

The IKC continues to be in discussion with the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine on the implementation on these regulations. As the regulations are part of the wider Animal Welfare Act 2013, it is likely that the enforcement authorities will include the ISPCA and DSPCA with whom the IKC are also in contact on an ongoing basis.

Once the Department has finalised the relevant web-page and registration process the IKC will provide a link, so please check for updates.

Jim Stephens
Chair IKC Health Welfare and Behaviour Committee.

Below are the relevant portions of the regulations

S.I. No. 681 of 2019
ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE (SALE OR SUPPLY OF PET ANIMALS) REGULATIONS 2019
These Regulations provide for registration of sellers and suppliers of pet animals, registration of premises used in connection with the sale or supply of pet animals, the advertisement of pet animals for sale or supply, and the maintenance of records relating to the sale or supply of pet animals.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations—
“Act” means Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013;
“pet animal” means an animal kept, or intended to be kept, by a person—
(a) as a pastime or hobby,
(b) for companionship,
(c) for ornamental purposes, or
(d) any combination of (a) to (c),
but does not include a farm animal;
“premises” means a premises used in connection with the sale or supply of a pet animal, but does not include a premises already registered under the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010.

3 Minimum age for sale of certain animals .
A person shall not sell or supply an unweaned pet animal or—

(a) a dog or cat that has not attained the age of 8 weeks,
4.Register of sellers and suppliers of pet animals
Subject to paragraph (4), a person shall not sell or supply a pet animal unless—
(a) he or she is entered in the Register of Sellers and Suppliers of Pet Animals, and
(b) the premises he or she uses in connection with the sale or supply of a pet animal is entered in the Register of Premises in accordance with Regulation 5.
Register of Premises
5. (1) The Minister shall establish and maintain a register of premises (to be known as “the Register of Premises”) that are used by sellers or suppliers of pet animals (to which Regulation 4 (3) applies) in connection with the sale or supply of such animals.
(2) The Minister may enter a person’s name and address, and the address of a premises in the Register of Premises, attach conditions to registration, revoke or vary a condition, attach a new condition, refuse an application or revoke registration.
(4) A person registered on the Register of Sellers and Suppliers of Pet Animals shall not sell or supply a pet animal from a premises unless that premises is entered in the Register of Premises.

Records
7. (1) A person who sells or supplies a pet animal shall maintain the following records regarding each animal kept—
(a) name and address of the person from whom an animal is obtained,
(b) date an animal is obtained,
(c) date of sale or supply of an animal,
(d) description of animal, including species, breed, sex, colour and distinctive markings, physical condition and health where practicable, age and animal identification, if applicable,
(e) name and address of the person to whom each animal is sold or supplied and date of sale or supply,
(f) details of disposal of each animal not sold or supplied, including cause of death, method of, and reason for, euthanasia, circumstances of escape, and date of the death or escape,
(g) for each animal receiving medical care, clinical signs, diagnosis, the type of service rendered, date and veterinary practitioner’s name.
(2) A record maintained under paragraph (1) shall be kept for a period of not less than 3 years and made available on request to an authorised officer.

Advertising of a pet animal for sale or supply
8. (1) A person shall not, without reasonable excuse, publish or display, or cause to be published or displayed, an advertisement of a pet animal for sale or supply, without including in the advertisement—
(a) the registration number of the person selling or supplying the pet animal, if Regulation 4 (3) applies to that person,
(b) the age of the animal,
(c) in the case of a dog, the unique code of the microchip implanted into the animal,
(d) the country of origin of the pet animal, and
(e) in the case the seller or supplier is a Dog Breeding Establishment to which the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 (No. 29 of 2010) is applicable—
(i) the registration number issued by the relevant local authority to the Dog Breeding Establishment under that Act, or
(ii) in the case of a registered charitable organisation within the meaning of the Charities Act 2009 (No. 6 of 2009), the registration number within the meaning of that Act issued to that organisation.
(2) A person shall not make a statement which the person knows to be false with a view to securing a publication or display of an advertisement of a pet animal for sale or supply, that results in the publication or display being made.
(3) In paragraphs (1) and (2), “advertisement” includes every form of advertisement, whether to the public or not and whether in a newspaper or other publication, on television or radio or by display of a notice or by electronic means or by any other means.

Publication of Registers
9. The Minister may publish the Register of Sellers and Suppliers of Pet Animals or the Register of Premises in a manner that he or she considers appropriate.

Penal provisions
10. Regulations 3, 4(3), 5(4), 6(9), 7(1) and (2), 8(1) and (2) are penal provisions to which section 36 (4) (b) of the Act applies.

Section 36 (4) Animal Welfare Act 2013
4) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a provision of animal health and welfare regulations which is stated in the regulations to be a penal provision—
(b) to which this paragraph applies or is an instrument to which section 75 refers, commits an offence and is liable—
(i) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both, or
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €250,000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or to both.

Pet Expo 2018.

Well it was another fun filled weekend of the 3rd and 4th of November 2018 at our third year hosting a stand at the pet expo for the Great Dane Association of Ireland. All the dogs behaved remarkable and enjoyed their time meeting and greeting the public.  Young and old enjoyed meeting the Danes and remarked on how gentle they were regardless of their sheer size.

A massive thank you to all our members that made the trip to help volunteers on both or one of the days.  Day 1 saw Fergus and Brian with Darcy and Phoenix , both harlequin Great Danes and mature boys and Sonya with Kali, just a baby at 1 year old and a fawn girl, who also happened to celebrate her birthday the same day.  Derek and Michelle were also present with their family of blues, granddad Aramis, Mammy Harper and 3 of her babies and Zavi another young blue boy owned by Colin and Jeannette. Wilma also popped along with her 2 Harlequin girls Dash and Jovi later in the afternoon.

Day 2 we had another great day with more of our members coming out to support the stand. Portia and Stephan arrived with sumba, a sister to Kali and Janice with Daisy a beautiful mature Mantle girl.  Zoe and Idas, a young fawn male, still very much a baby arrived to take part also. All the dogs mingled with the crowds and on both days took part in the breed parade.

Thank you to all who took part and we look forward to our next event.