The Schnauzer Forum

Elvis our miniature schnauzer is now just coming up to 9 months old. we have had him from 15 weeks and he's been brilliant. house trained from day one and a great temperament with our grand kids etc. just a few things that i would like to ask advice on please:

- he loves his walks once out but he runs away when we try to put his harness or lead on him. it's weird because once attached, he can't wait to get outside for a walk or run off the lead in the park. any ideas why the lead and harness are treated like this as he knows the end result is a walk that he loves?

- eating. he quite often misses breakfast. we feed him on half a tin of dog food mixed with a good quality dry food (john wellbeloved). if i feed him the first couple of bits by hand he will then usually eat the rest from the bowl but without this hand feeding bit he just ignores the food? not as bad of an evening but still sometimes needs the hand feeding to 'get him going'?

- he has started to head butt (well nudge really) us when we are sat on the sofa. i'm assuming it's elvis seeking attention which he gets plenty of but i've never experienced this from a dog before?

many thanks for any advice / info given.

Regarding Elvis running away when you get out the lead / harness, this is very similar behaviour to that of a few of our dogs who also love a walk once out. With our very first miniature schnauzer we could never understand how her breeder said she needed to avoid even saying the word "walk" as her dogs were so excited at the thought when our Maisie would hide under the table when we got out the lead but loved being out once the front door was shut! I think this is not exclusive to mini schnauzers, as one of our Affenpinschers is the same, but more a personality quirk- I would not worry about it

Feeding too can be as individual as the dog. Some dogs prefer to eat just once a day, although with a small dog, I would always feed two meals (morning and night). However, if Elvis is eating his breakfast after the little ritual of hand feeding, it may just be that he has got into the habit of doing it and/ or is "training" you to play along with it. If you are feeding a complete food, either tinned or dry, you should not need to mix them as either should be sufficient if they are good quality so you might want to check whether the quantity is more than Elvis needs. While puppies are growing they do need a higher quantity of food per body weight but we have known young /adolescent dogs to go off their food or play around with it if they are being offered too much and just reducing the quantity by a small amount can mean that they recover their enthusiasm for their meals.

The head butt /nudge does sound as though Elvis is wanting attention from you. Miniature schnauzers are very companionable and often do want plenty of interaction with their owners. It is one of the reasons that they enjoy activities such as agility, KC Good Citizen classes, scent-work, canine parkour etc.

Elvis sounds like a real little character and typical mini schnauzer


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Elvis sounds like Leia with the harness & head butting!

On the harness point, sometimes she will sit by the door waiting to go out but it's usually at the weekend when we've been slow to get into gear!

She's now decided that she doesn't want to walk across the grass when we go & return from a walk & has to walk down & up the drive!

They certainly are characters!

many thanks zeta for your informative reply.
i'm sure there is nothing to worry about with him and as you suggest, this behaviour may just be a little quirk of his? if this is the worst thing he is going to do then i don't think we have too much to worry about!

hi rusky, interesting to hear it isn't just elvis that behaves like this! it's got to the stage that i don't tell him we are going for a walk till in the kitchen where i can close the door and get his lead on easily rather than chase him around the downstairs of the house!

Our Giant PS dances around when I have the lead in the hand. Sometimes I give her a "biscuit" whilst I slip her collar over her head - sometimes not.

I don't know why she does it and I am not interested why she does it. I want to take her out for a walk and that's it.

For Enya it's a case of take it or leave it

Regards
Gill

Re feeding
I scald the kibble with boiling water for two minutes,and add a sprinkle of fresh. boiled rabbit..both my dog wolf this down..and I believe the warmed kibble smells better and is digested easily..( this is more for my poodle boy who is a picky dog,the schnauzer would eat the tin bowl if we left it down)
Mine eat twice a day.. mini gets 70 oz a portion

Head nudge...mine will come close and put her paw to my face,very gently..then she will sometime times put her forehead to mine...I feel very connected to this particular dog..it's a lovely way they connect when they do this.your dog sounds a special one too.
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