I chose Clooney (Herzkristall de Royal Topaz) from Germany for Leni’s second litter because I knew his father Adamo von Cosa Nostra well. I had used him for my second litter in Germany (B-Litter vom Irschener Winkel) with Leni’s grandmother Jättiläisen Gaia and am happy with the result when it comes to temperament, health and anatomy. My B-Litter has turned 7 years in February. The beautiful harlequin girl Björk that I co-owned and wanted to breed with unfortunately died at the age of only 6 months because of a Parvovirosis infection (although she was vaccinated of course) and so no dog from this litter was used for breeding, which is a pity. Adamo lived almost 11 years and was a fantastic, very friendly male. I even met his mother Cosa Nostra von der Hessenvilla at the age of over 10 years personally, she lived almost 11,5 years. (see pictures below). And there are many more old ancestors in Clooney’s pedigree, also in his mother’s line. His mum is still alive at the age of almost 8 years and his grandfather, too, at the age of 9,5 years. His great-grandmother Isra de Fradiliaus even lived incredible 13,5 years! There are also many old ancestors on Leni’s side, you can find more information about her here.
The mating is again a very wide outcross with a COI of 0,25% and an ALC of 95,24%, combining great danes from all over Europe and the USA. A wide genetic variety increases the chance for healthy and mentally sound offspring! Clooney is almost 5 years now and has, as well as Leni, a heart ultrasound/EKG without any remarks. He has A-hips and no signs of elbow displasia. He is furthermore tested for the Ichthyosis gene and is free, just as Leni, so the puppies will be free by parentage. He also has an official eye examination without any remarks. Clooney has never been shown, but he has an EUDDC breeding license, which means that both his phenotype and his temperament had been checked by two German FCI judges. Leni has been shown several times in different countries with excellent results.
The puppies have arrived at the 16th of July 2026. Leni gave smoothly birth to eight living and one dead puppy and is a fantastic mother! There are one harle head boy and one harle head girl (light harlequins), one perfectly marked harle girl (she will stay with us), one perfectly marked black mantle boy and a mismarked black mantle girl, two merle mantle boys and a piebald boy. Right now 3 of the puppies are still searching for their perfect homes!
My 8 little Vikings are 3 weeks now and got their names:
All puppies have found wonderful new homes in five different countries. Here are the final collages with their namesakes from the TV series Vikings Valhalla, photos taken at the age of 7 weeks. My harlekin girl Birka is named after an island, about one hour away from us, which used to be the capital of Sweden between around 800-1000 BC. It’s a fantastic place that we visit regularly with a museum, a reconstructed viking village, and much more to discover such as an old castle and more than 3000 graves from the viking times. The island is named after the birch trees that grow there and the barch of birches reminds me of the color of harlekin danes. So I always wanted a harle girl named Birka and Leni gave her to me 🙂
