Tristino Danes About Us

Every since I can remember I have been surrounded by four-legged friends of one kind or another. In 1980 a friend of mine in England had a Blue Great Dane and I fell in love with the breed. I did a lot of research and inquired at Crufts dog show as to what breeder had the best Blue Great Danes. In 1982 I found a breeder, Margaret Everton of Impton Great Danes in the north of England, whom I went to see. The outcome of that was my first Great Dane, Tyra of Impton aka Tyra. She came to my home at 12 weeks and I started training her for showing by going to classes and puppy matches. She had 2 seasons and both times she developed mastitis. My veterinarian advised that I shouldn’t breed her, much to my disappointment, so she was spayed and she became my companion and spoiled rotten!!! She lived to be 12 years old.

Ayesha, meaning “she who must be obeyed”, was my second Dane. She was a black Great Dane. I got her through Peter & Rae Russell (the owners of the stud) of Endroma Great Danes. Even though she was a beautiful girl, I had her as a companion. I still went to the shows and every year I went to Crufts to see the Danes. By then Crufts had transferred up to Birmingham from London as it had such a large entry of dogs and the space in London was limited.

Then, in 1996, I moved over to the US. I’d been looking for my birth mother and knew that she had married an American serviceman in England in the early 1950’s. With the help of Walter (who I first met in Germany when I was living in the Netherlands) – who co-owns Tristino Danes – I found MUM!!! She is also into showing and breeding, but her chosen breed is the Pug. I also found out that I had 2 brothers, a sister, and 2 nephews.

Walter had always loved the Great Dane and when we moved from Boston to North Carolina, one priority for both of us was to get a Great Dane. We did more research and finally went to Chris and Wanda Hepler of Winterlochen Great Danes to look at their new arrivals. We fell in love with Gypsy, our brindle foundation bitch. We wanted natural ears, Chris and Wanda, though skeptical, agreed to let us have her. As she grew Wanda became convinced that she should be shown and we are glad she convinced us. Chris and Wanda have been steadfast mentors and friends since then.

We choose to show natural-eared Danes. Though it is harder to get points and it takes a longer time to finish here in America, we aren’t deterred because we love showing, love our dogs, and love them being natural-eared.

The name of our kennel came from my 2 nephews whose names are Tristan and Tino hence Tristino Danes was born.

Our mentors, Bill and Phyllis Lyon of Lyonheart Danes, helped us with our first litter. We will be forever grateful to them for the guidance and support they gave us throughout the process of breeding until the puppies went to their new homes.

Copyright ©2008 Tristino Danes

web design by Megan Fitzpatrick, AeroDanes


			Every since I can remember I have been surrounded by four-legged friends of one kind or another. In 1980 a friend of mine in England had a Blue Great Dane and I fell in love with the breed. I did a lot of research and inquired at Crufts dog show as to what breeder had the best Blue Great Danes. In 1982 I found a breeder, Margaret Everton of Impton Great Danes in the north of England, whom I went to see. The outcome of that was my first Great Dane, Tyra of Impton aka Tyra. She came to my home at 12 weeks and I started training her for showing by going to classes and puppy matches. She had 2 seasons and both times she developed mastitis. My veterinarian advised that I shouldn’t breed her, much to my disappointment, so she was spayed and she became my companion and spoiled rotten!!! She lived to be 12 years old. Ayesha, meaning “she who must be obeyed”, was my second Dane. She was a black Great Dane. I got her through Peter & Rae Russell (the owners of the stud) of Endroma Great Danes. Even though she was a beautiful girl, I had her as a companion. I still went to the shows and every year I went to Crufts to see the Danes. By then Crufts had transferred up to Birmingham from London as it had such a large entry of dogs and the space in London was limited. Then, in 1996, I moved over to the US. I’d been looking for my birth mother and knew that she had married an American serviceman in England in the early 1950’s. With the help of Walter (who I first met in Germany when I was living in the Netherlands) – who co-owns Tristino Danes – I found MUM!!! She is also into showing and breeding, but her chosen breed is the Pug. I also found out that I had 2 brothers, a sister, and 2 nephews. Walter had always loved the Great Dane and when we moved from Boston to North Carolina, one priority for both of us was to get a Great Dane. We did more research and finally went to Chris and Wanda Hepler of Winterlochen Great Danes to look at their new arrivals. We fell in love with Gypsy, our brindle foundation bitch. We wanted natural ears, Chris and Wanda, though skeptical, agreed to let us have her. As she grew Wanda became convinced that she should be shown and we are glad she convinced us. Chris and Wanda have been steadfast mentors and friends since then. We choose to show natural-eared Danes. Though it is harder to get points and it takes a longer time to finish here in America, we aren’t deterred because we love showing, love our dogs, and love them being natural-eared. The name of our kennel came from my 2 nephews whose names are Tristan and Tino hence Tristino Danes was born. Our mentors, Bill and Phyllis Lyon of Lyonheart Danes, helped us with our first litter. We will be forever grateful to them for the guidance and support they gave us throughout the process of breeding until the puppies went to their new homes.
			Copyright ©2008 Tristino Danes web design by Megan Fitzpatrick, AeroDanes