About Us

Bev is a member of the Great Dane Club of America, Great Dane Club of Des Moines (president), Central Iowa Kennel Club (treasurer) and the Des Moines Obedience Training Club.

Bev is an AKC CGC (Canine Good Citizen) Evaluator and has taught public obedience classes. She was the General Rescue Coordinator for the GDC of Des Moines Rescue program for several years. Bev volunteers for Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue and PALS, a local animal shelter.

Joe, the wonderfully supportive husband, belongs to the GDCDM and the CIKC.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

Some history...

We acquired our first Great Dane, a merle male we named "Zuko", in early 1997. Zuko was a great boy and enjoyed obedience work. He loved to howl whenever he heard sirens, which we laughingly referred to as his communication with his wild brothers.

Although we loved him dearly, he had some serious temperament issues. We finally had to make the very painful decision to have him euthanized. It was heartbreaking. It did serve as a valuable lesson about the genetic nature of temperaments.

Our next Great Dane was a harlequin male, acquired in 1999 from Elsie May Kuntze (KJEM) in Canada. We purchased him on a co-ownership agreement with the co-breeder, Dr. Neil O'Sullivan.

Doogan was everything wonderful about a Great Dane. He grew up to be a very big, beautiful boy and was a true ambassador for the breed. Doogan adored other dogs, big or small, and loved playing with his best friend, an Irish Wolfhound. He loved it when we fostered Danes for rescue as they were brought into our house for the sole purpose of playing non-stop with him (or so he thought!).

Although he was shown, he was never pointed. Always a ringside favorite, he had just begun to really mature to his large frame when we lost him to a sudden and unexplained infection. Even with a battery of tests and an exploratory surgery, the vets couldn't pinpoint the root of his sudden illness. He passed away less than 72 hours after exhibiting any symptoms. He was just shy of three years old.
My heart still aches for my beloved boy.

We now live with our champion harlequin girl, Skyy, and her young mantle daughter, Kizzy.

Thank you for visiting our website. If you are interested in purchasing a puppy, please take a moment to read through the information provided on this website, including our policies on placing puppies.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

About the kennel name

For a long time I struggled with finding just the right kennel name. Ideally I wanted something that incorporated my other passion (read expensive hobby), photography. Because photography is about light, words similar to luminous appealed to me, but just didn't sound right. With help from friends, I settled on short and simple, "Foto". Foto is the Spanish spelling of photo, paying homage to Skyy's breeder and her kennel name, Payaso (Spanish for clown).