R O K A D A N E

      Many have asked the origin of the kennel name Rokadane so we have put together the following. For as many years as I can remember Peg has wanted a Great Dane but we "filled the void" with many other breeds including German Shepherd, "CockerPoo", and others. We finally located a Great Dane for sale, among others in the Chicago Tribune, for $150 so we went to the Northwest suburbs and brought Schwarze home. He was 8 months old and although we noticed a few "challenges" we kept overlooking them. The "challenges" included our teenage son needing to wake Peg before he could come into the house after we had gone to bed, as well as the fact that he was not that fond of me or any man for that matter. A couple of years, or so, later we had to put him down because of aggression which we now know is possible if the breeding is not well planned and researched. Peg had talked to Pat Lawrence once before and felt that she sounded very helpful so she called her again to see where we could get a "good" Dane instead of repeating our error. She recommended Astrodane in Kentland Indiana and it's breeders George Lanning and Jane Grover. Peg contacted George Lanning and found out that Astrodane was next door to the Roman Catholic church in Kentland. What we did not know until we got there was that George Lanning was also known in Kentland as "Father" Lanning. He was hoping that, if we took one of the brindles, we would show her in conformation, because she was a daughter of "Ch. Rojons the Hustler", but we were firm that we did not want to show. He finally let us have the brindle bitch. When we got home she saw our son Curt laying on the sofa and decided he would save her from any more car rides so she jumped on his chest. Curt's comment was "Get this Rock off my chest!" and then continued to call her Rock so we registered her as Rock Crystal. These pictures show that we knew nothing about Dane structure, having never been interested in showing or standards, or the best ways to photograph them. You can also see that we would never spoil any of our Danes by the coat that Peg made with wool from Hudson's Bay Company.
                                    The kennel name derived is "Rok, a Dane".


Rock Crystal


Above is Rock while a Chicagoan.


Above is Rock, while a Chicagoan, on one of her winter camping trips.


Above is old veteran Rock, years after we moved to Goshen, & her great niece puppy Tigr
(later to become Can/Am Ch. Tigroschka - our first Champion).

Four Generation Pedigree