About Us

Adam, Kate, and Lesley

We purchased our first Great Dane back in the late 1970's, a Fawn bitch for whom we never received any documentation. Consequently we were unable to show her, which was our intention with our initial purchase, and Whisper turned out to be a wonderful pet, quite a good specimen for our first Dane, and lived until nine years of age. Soon after acquiring Whisper, and with the disappointment of not being able to show her, Adam decided that he would like a Blue to campaign and along came Binoca Basil, aged six months. Basil was a character, a chewer, a marvellous companion but was far short of being a show stopper!

We were determined that we would show, we were determined that we would win (at least a first at a championship show!) so in 1983 we bought Daneton Louisiana Of Selmalda from Joy Butchers kennel. Louise was a late maturer, we found it difficult to maintain her weight but as she developed she rewarded us with that elusive First prize in 1985. We mated Louise on several occasions, admiring and using the Walkmyll stock, with little success and after three failed matings purchased Walkmyll Flare from Freda Lewis.

Flare was beautiful and from 12 months of age onwards bought us real success in the form of Best In Shows, her Junior Warrant and many first prizes. Whilst this success was happening we had one last ditched attempt at mating Louise to Daneagle Elgar Of Walkmyll and low and behold were presented with ten healthy puppies, two of whom were Bowie (Ch. Selmalda Rainbow Warrior J.W.) and Sophie (Selmalda Conservationist, 1.C.C.). Everything seemed to be happening at once! Flare was winning Challenge Certificates and was at the height of her campaign whilst Bowie made his grand entrance with Best Puppy In Show at Championship Shows. All the hard work, the waiting and persevering was all coming to fruition. Flare was made up into a Champion just as Bowie was beginning to win C.C.''s and it wasn't too long before the Selmalda kennel was home to two Champions. You can read about their success elsewhere on the site.

Whilst continuing to campaign Rainbow Warrior, Flare was mated and produced for us Selmalda Fame and Fabian. Fame didn't enjoy the ring and remained at home whilst Fabian made his mark and was awarded his title at just over two years of age. Fame's success was in the whelping box! Mated to Ch. Walkmyll Mayo she produced Ch. Selmalda Lucas Of Epernay, mated to the Danish import, Ch. Great Granada's Washington Yacanto produced amongst others Ch. Selmalda Stay With Me J.W., Selmalda Have You Seen Her (2 R.C.C.'s), Ir. Ch. Selmalda Great Guy Yacanto, Selmalda Great Guns Of Epernay (1 C.C. 2 R.C.C.'s) and Selmalda Great Thoughts (2 R.C.C.'s).

Selmalda have You Seen Her, Lottie, was equally as successful in the whelping box as her mother. The half brother/half sister mating to Ch. Selmalda Lucas Of Epernay provided us with Selmalda Believe In Me (2 R.C.C.'s) and Selmalda Chasing Rainbows who is proving his worth as a producer of Champion and multiple C.C. winning stock.

Lesley and Trio

With Ralph and Lottie,
aged 6 months
Our own Ch. Selmalda Me And My Shadow J.W. has amassed 8 C.C.'s to date. An illustrious Puppy career saw her finish 2002 as Top Puppy In Breed, achieve her Junior Warrant at 10 months of age and to date achieved the honour of competing in the Petplan Junior Stakes final at Blenheim Palace. The repeat mating, born a year later, welcomes Ch Selmalda Check The Meaning J.W. who has made a similar impact winning many Best Puppy In Breed, with Group placings at Championship Show level, and Overall Winner of the S.W.G.D.C.'s Premier League (2003), achieving his title before his third birthday. He now has 4 C.C.'s and 4 R.C.C.'s and is still going strong!

The latest star of the show is our own newly crowned Ch. Selmalda Romeo J.W. He ended 2005 as Top Puppy In Breed, was also Top Junior Winning Male for 2005 winning his third and qualifying C.C. a fortnight before his second birthday and his fourth with Best In Show at his final show for 2006. Not only a star in the ring but also a great producer (see the latest puppies)

We are extremely proud of our Great Danes to date. We have won a total of 48 Challenge Certificates with Danes bred by us, eight with their titles, which has now included us in the ALL TIME Top 20 (17th) Great Dane breeders and we currently stand 15th in the ALL TIME Top 20 owners.

The last two litters for us have, so far to date, brought us tremendous success of which are justifiably proud. Selmalda C'mon Girl J.W. now has 2 R.C.C.'s to her credit and Selmalda Has To Be Of Marridane J.W. has just been crowned the Top 12 Overall Premier League Winner for 2007. Both have won very well throughout their Puppy and Junior careers. Bred in the purple (Ch. Selmalda Romeo J.W. x Ch. Selmalda Me And My Shadow JW.) these two youngsters cannot wait to commence next year competing with the rest in the higher classes! Born three months later out of Selmalda Come Away With Me, and sired by the Multi Int. Ch. Diplomatic's Umberto Di Visconti came the two special bitches S. She's A Rainbow and S. She Looks To Me Through Samdice who have both won extremely well in Puppy and Junior including qualification for the Pro Plan/Dog World Puppy Stakes final in 2008. Please do come back regularly for updates on these very special youngsters.

Believe us when we say there have been disappointments along the way - that's dog breeding! You have to pick yourself up, brush yourself down and try harder! A lot of effort and hard work goes into our Danes prior to their campaign and this continues throughout their life. Diet, exercise and socialisation are key factors for our Danes and it seems to suit them. All our Danes remain our companions throughout their lives and share our home. As each new puppy comes along then they are introduced to 'the pack' and find their status within the group. We are very proud of the fact that all Danes live together peacefully including the stud dogs.

We can be found at most Great Dane events throughout the year, if not exhibiting then spectating, and we are both qualified to judge the breed at Championship (Challenge Certificate) level. Having judged the breed here in the U.K. and in Finland(2000) and Denmark(2005) we find it gives us a good overview of the Danes in general.

We trust you'll enjoy reading about and looking through the photographs of Selmalda Great Danes and hope you sign our guest book and come back shortly - we are always updating the site.

Lesley and Adam Chappell.

With the Veteran, Rainbow Warrior

Our Maine Coon cat, Sox, wrestling with Angel