THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MINIATURE SCHNAUZERS
Black and Silver – The black and silver generally follows the same pattern as the salt and pepper. The entire salt and pepper section must be black. The black color in the topcoat of the black and silver is a true rich color with black undercoat. The stripped portion is free from any fading or brown tinge and the underbody should be dark. Black – Black is the only solid color allowed. Ideally, the black color in the topcoat is a true rich glossy solid color with the under- coat being less intense, a soft matting shade of black. This is natu- ral and should not be penalized in any way. The stripped portion is free from any fading or brown tinge. The scissored and clippered areas have lighter shades of black. A small white spot on the chest is permitted, as is an occasional single white hair elsewhere on the body.” One last thought in the discussion of the Miniature Schnau- zer. Miniature Schnauzers may come with cropped or uncropped ears. When ears are cropped, they should be identical in shape and length with pointed tips. The ears should be set high on the skull and carried perpendicularly at the inner edges. When uncropped, the ears are small and V-shaped, folding close to the skull. Although most dogs in the Conformation ring have cropped ears, both are acceptable. Cropping or upcropping would be a great discussion to have with your breeder and/or veterinarian. Ear cropping is usually done under general anesthesia, between 8 and 12 weeks. The ears are usually healed in 10-12 days. The origins of ear cropping and tail docking come from the earliest days of the breed when they lived as farm dogs, keeping their master’s property clear of rats and other unwanted creatures. Before the days of penicillin, a nasty bite on an ear or tail could cause serious health problems and even death. Cropping and docking made this less of a problem and has become part of the Miniature Schnauzer breed type, as are the eyebrows and whiskers which were developed to protect the mouth and eyes when going-to-ground to pull a rat out of the its hole. Miniature Schnauzers have enriched our lives and the lives of our family. After almost 50 years of breeding, showing, loving, and being loved by a Schnauzer, I can’t imagine any other life.
photos by Vicki Kubic
Living with a Miniature Schnauzer does have some require- ments. As stated above, they need to be groomed on a regular basis. We generally start grooming our puppies at home between 4-6 weeks, with routine toenail clipping and some brushing on a weekly basis as young as a week old. Dental care is also important, and daily teeth brushing can be an easy routine to establish and will help your Schnauzer live a longer, happier, healthier life. As stated earlier, Miniature Schnauzers come in three recog- nized colors: Salt and Pepper, Black and Silver, and Black. The Official AKC Breed Standard states the following for each color: “Salt and Pepper - The typical salt and pepper color of the top- coat results from the combination of black and white banded hairs and solid black and white unbanded hairs, with the banded hairs predominating. Acceptable are all shades of salt and pepper, from light to dark mixtures with tan shadings permissible in the banded or unbanded hair of the topcoat. In salt and pepper dogs, the salt and pepper mixture fades out to light gray or silver white in the eye brows, whiskers, cheeks, under throat, inside ears, across chest, under tail, leg furnishings, and inside hind legs. It may or may not also fade out on the underbody. However, if so, the lighter underbody hair is not to rise higher on the sides of the body than the front elbows.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carma Ewer has been Past President of the American Miniature Schnauzer Club and is currently on the Board of Directors. She and her husband have owned and bred Miniature Schnauzers for the past 50 years. Over that time period, they have bred lots of Champions, including “Twink,” the top-winning Miniature Schnauzer in AKC history. Dogs they have bred have also won over 50 Bests in Show over the
past several years. Their current dog is “Gazer,” co-owned by Marilyn Lande and Marilyn Jacobs, who has 10 All-Breed Bests and is currently ranked No. 1 All-Breed and No. 1 Male Miniature Schnauzer.
SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JULY 2023 | 269
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