Standard Schnauzer

History

Surprisingly, the Schnauzer was once an odd version of the German Pinscher. After many years and generations of selective dog breeding, breeders than decided hundreds of years ago to cross this breed with the Great Dane and Bouvier des Flandres bloodlines. Today, we know the outcome of this as the Schnauzer. Best known as a guard dog and dog used in police and Schutzhund training in the USA.

Appearance

The Giant Schnauzer is a large breed dog with males and females measuring 17-20 inches in height and weighing 30-35 pounds in weight. This breed has a rectangular shaped head that is large, and is accompanied by two natural pendant shaped ears that hang alongside of their face. Some owners prefer for their Giant Schnauzer to have their ears cropped, in which they are cropped thin and tall, standing firmly on the top of their head. Their two oval shaped eyes are dark brown to black in color. This breed generally has a cropped tail that is 3 to 4 inches in length and is positioned outwards and up. This breed has a double layer, rough hair coat that is only available in black and salt and pepper.

Temperament

The Schnauzer is a naturally dominant dog breed that is not recommended for everyone. This breed requires an owner who is able to remain as pack leader at all times, who is knowledgeable about the Schnauzer dog breed, and who is able to be a firm, confident owner, providing proper guidance and physical activity daily. There are exceptions to every rule, and with this breed, it is possible to come across a friendly, sweet nature Schnauzer who is wonderful in public and loves everyone; however, this is NOT typical. This breed excels greatly with Schutzhund training, police work and guarding. They are natural guard dogs who generally do not accept strangers. Extremely loving, entertaining, loyal and protective of his or her immediate family members within their home. This breed takes training very seriously and due to this, they are wonderful learners. This breed is great with other dogs and children of all ages that he or she grows up around. We recommend early obedience classes to ensure the proper beginning with the new dog and owner.

Grooming

This breed has a double layer coat that requires daily brushing and bathing when needed. We recommend professional grooming at least twice a year.

Special Notes

Please note that this breed is prone to cancer more so than other breeds. This breed requires a properly fenced in area to roam within while outdoors. Please fully educate yourself about the Schnauzer prior to adding one to your family to ensure you are able to meet the care and requirements both physically and financially for the life of your new family member. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.