- The Great Dane is bred in three separate colour varieties: Variety 1: Fawn and brindle
- Variety 2: Harlequin: white and black spotted, Merle: grey and black spotted, and black
- Variety 3: Blue.
- Fawn: Light gold fawn to deep gold fawn, evenly shaded throughout the body.
- Brindle: Basic colour, light golden fawn to rich golden fawn with black stripes running with the direction of the ribs, as even and clearly defined as possible.
- Harlequin (white with black splashed patches): Basic colour pure white, preferably with no ticking.
- Pure black patches well distributed all over the body, having the appearance of being torn.
- Merle (grey-black splashed patches): Basic colour grey, preferably with no ticking, with well-distributed, irregular, torn, jet-black spots over the entire body.
- Included here are “Mantel Great Danes”, where the grey-black spotting covers the body like a mantle and the muzzle, neck, chest, belly, legs, and tail tip are white.
- Included here are “Mantel Great Danes” in which the black covers the body like a coat (“mantel”) or blanket and muzzle, throat, chest, belly, legs and tip of tail are white.
- Dogs with basic white colour and large black patches so called “Plattenhunde”
Preferred
- Black mask
- Black mask
Permissible
- Small white markings on the chest
- Small white markings on the chest
- White markings on the chest and paws
- Black: Jet black, white markings on chest and feet
- Blue: Pure steel blue, white markings on chest and feet
Undesirable
- Grey or brownish patches or nuances of those colours in the black as well as blue-grey ticking in the white