They are called “gentle giants,” and nearly 200 of them converged on Hemmens Auditorium in Elgin last weekend.
The Great Danes at the show were some of the best in the country, and their owners were proud to show them off.
The show was sponsored by the Lake Shore Great Dane Club Inc., which meets in Itasca.
“The purpose of the club is to educate people to the breed and to improve the Great Dane for the betterment of the breed,” said Mike Madl of Roselle, co-chairman of the event.
With 75 members, the Lake Shore group is the largest Great Dane Club in the country, according to Hildy Compton of Elgin, who founded the club 43 years ago. “We are the oldest affiliate of the Great Dane Club of America,” she said.
The highlight of the two-day event was the Challenge of Champions, in which 16 dogs from as far away as Florida, New York and Canada competed for top honors. Each Great Dane was judged on such factors as the head-it had to be rectangular, long, distinguished, expressive and finely chiseled-the coat and the color.
When the judging was over, it was a local contestant, BISS Champion Lyn-Bar’s Sundae Rrryon from West Chicago, that took top honors. The dog is owned by Lynda and Barbara Renkosiewicz of West Chicago.
“I was not surprised at all that she won,” said Barbara Renkosiewicz. “She’s a good dog, a once-in-a-lifetime dog. She has a wonderful temperament and is trustworthy in any situation.”
Renkosiewicz maintains that once you have owned a Great Dane, you’ll never have any other kind of dog. “I had a poodle for 15 years; I would never have another,” she said.
This champion perhaps wasn’t greatly moved by the trophy, ribbon and $500 prize. But the New York strip steak supplied by her owners after the competition was a welcome reward.
