HISTORY INFO

The breed is characterized by its stocky build, wiry coat, and abundant whiskers and leg furnishings. A Miniature Schnauzer may be of several colors with salt-and-pepper (gray) being the most common, although blacks and black-and-silvers are now seen in increasing numbers.
His size (12-14 inches at the withers) has permitted him to adapt easily to small city quarters but can cover a substantial amount of ground without tiring.
As a rule a Miniature Schnauzer is not a fighter, although he will stand up for himself if necessary.
The Miniature Schnauzer is now viewed primarily as a charming and attractive companion. He is seldom addicted to wandering. He is devoted to his home and family, and functions very well as a guard dog in that he can give an alarm as well as a larger dog. His good health, good temperament, and attractive appearance combine to fit him admirably for his role as family pet.
This miniature breed is lively, pleasant and playful with an expressive personality. These loyal and devoted small dogs want to be totally involved in all family activities and love to go for walks. Most of these Minis are good with children but are a little too small to be a toddler’s pet. They will generally get along fine with other family pets. Early socialisation and obedience training will help with controlling excessive barking and a reluctance to walk on leash. This breed can be taught fairly easily and can even excel at advanced obedience competitions. Minis are somewhat cautious around strangers and they make good watchdogs. This breed does fine with novice or first-time dog owners.
Minis have lots of energy so they need to get outside and play in the yard as often as possible. These mini-Schnauzers also appreciate a daily walk.
Show dogs need to be professionally groomed every 6 to 8 weeks when they will hand pluck the dead hair. Pet owners should brush and comb the coat several times per week and give a daily brushing and cleaning of the Mini’s beard and moustache and bottom. Excess hair should be clipped between the pads of the feet and excess hair removed within the ears. Some Mini owners may opt for a more convenient clipping. Miniature Schnauzers do not shed and if properly groomed can be suitable for someone with allergies. This breed is sometimes referred to as ‘hypoallergenic’.
Careful monitoring of the breeding standards has helped keep the breed healthy and long-lived.
Recently there has been a rise in the popularity of “Toy Schnauzers”.

History of The Merle Mini Schnauzer

Very little is known about the history of the merle Schnauzer but one thing is for sure, WITHOUT DOUBT, that is a cross with another breed that does exhibit in it’s coat and history the Merle pattern. There are more and more of them showing up for sale on the internet, in local papers and throughout the United States but I’ve yet to find anybody who can give me the heritage of them short of the ones who have taken a Merle dog (*i.e. Aussie, Chihuahua, Rat Terrier, Pomeranian … etc) and did their own cross to produce the Merle pattern with their Schnauzers. By genetic equation it takes 7 generations of conscientious breeding to produce a LIKE specimen in order to achieve Purebred status.
I, like everyone else with the Merle Schnauzers simply LOVE the Merle pattern and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my first one. While I couldn’t afford the first one I saw but it did capture a piece of my heart and so I began my journey of looking for information and others who had them. I found there were a LOT of folks crossing Pomeranians and Aussies with the Schnauzers in order to produce the Merle Pattern in their Schnauzer lines. Their dogs weren’t refined as the one I had fallen in love with and had a Fluffy and sometime curly coat which wasn’t what I had in mind or intended for my breeding program.

I spent almost 6 months trying to track down the lineage behind the Merle Schnauzers. I spent months calling registries, clubs and other breeders who might help me find the Breeder who was on the registration certificate of Ollie forefather. Unfortunately while every piece of the puzzle helps, I basically hit a dead end. Since I started my journey down the Merle Schnauzer path back I’ve talked with my share of breeders and owners of the Merle Schnauzer and I’ve yet to find one single person who thinks it is part of the original line of Schnauzers. The Merle Schnauzer is without doubt a cross with another breed and being refined and bred to become a “GENETIC” purebred part of the Schnauzer breed. We have found in just the very short time that we’ve been breeding the Merles that they are wonderful companion, have all of the eagerness to please of the original Schnauzer and have all of the bonuses that come with the Schnauzer breed such as hypo-allergenic and shed-free. We have yet to produce a SOFT coated Merle but in all honesty we prefer the original Wire coats in our Schnauzers as they are easier maintenance and their hair doesn’t mat like the Soft coats do. What most people don’t know is that a Schnauzer is supposed to be stripped and not shaved and if a wire coat is shaved over and over that their hair becomes softer with each shaving but still keeping the slow growing benefit of the wire coat.
We want everybody to keep in mind though that the MERLE Schnauzers are a development in progress and still need more refining to become show quality Schnauzers. They also will produce offspring that either does not fit the original breed standard markings such as some will have Mask and the colors are becoming more varied as we are starting to see a few Reddish tinted ones. Not only will the Color and Patterns of the coat be affected by the addition of the different breeds but the coat texture and length will under go a change as well. With the development being fairly new we can not be certain with will surface in the Color area in generations to come but will openly evaluate those offspring to their ability to benefit the breed in the overall scheme of things. With the Merle gene inclusion into the breed we have to remember to be responsible breeders of the gene as it is a semi-lethal gene and should NEVER be bred back to its MERLE self. There is no responsible reason to breed 2 merles together as 1 merle parent will produce just as many Merle offspring as 2 will. With proper responsible breeding of the Merles, no harm will come to the breed now or in the future. It will be up to each individual breeder of the Merles to determine if they want to cull those not recognized at this time or to continue to develop those further as well.
If your interested in the Merle Schnauzer and being a part of it’s development and continued existence or just a proud owner of one as a pet then we’d be glad to help you in any way that we can. We want every breeder to be an INFORMED, productive and conscientious breeder of the dogs that we dearly love. What little we know we will openly and honestly share with others. We know that the Merle Schnauzer is not for everyone just as it seems that the WIRE coat wasn’t for everybody either as somewhere along the line here in America breeders took it upon themselves to cross to dogs with softer coats to produce the Soft Coated Schnauzer. Years after the first cross, Americans and others around the world have opened their minds and hearts to the Soft Coated Schnauzer and accepted it as a Purebred. We can only hope that the Merle Schnauzer will be accepted in the same fashion or given it’s own breed designation in which to continue it’s survival.