Thanks ladies once more! Ok phew, I only trimmed some at the top of his nose in between his eyes because the hairs were blocking them and I like to look at his eyes (he doesn't mind, he's used to it now and gazes right back into my eyes haha). Actually Allison, maybe I went a little too far down, but one time isn't so bad right? Hard to tell when their schnauze (nose) is so stubby as a puppy
I really don't know. I'm hoping I can still grow it out and it stays black like Otto's hair.
Btw Julie, how old is Otto? I love his markings
Ozzy's eyebrows are still quite dark silver and beard is still very dark except his white goatie
. But after I trimmed his cheeks a bit, the silver is really coming through. When you say Otto's hair was too soft on his ears and head, what do you mean? I'm confused because Ozzy's hair is all pretty soft so far, but maybe that's puppy fur? I ended up stripping his head and some of ears. But I stopped doing his ears and just the top scraggly hairs because I didn't want to influence how his ears set. Idk? But how do I know if it's too soft to strip?
I really needed that encouragement ladies, very appreciated! Honestly all I have to go by is you two
I'm not a big fan of the breeder, I even questioned myself whether she was a puppy farmer once we picked him up. A lot of red flags. I originally asked her about hand stripping and she told me she had no time to show me. Then rips me when I try to learn myself.....(with your help)
A little background of interested:
1st off, she reserved the wrong puppy. 1st breeder and litter didn't work out, and we were forwarded to her co- breeder (Ozzy's breeder) because she was expecting a couple more litters this year. Something in the communication got mixed and Ozzy's breeder reserved the wrong pup. We only found out 3 weeks later when she sent a pic. When I asked about it and we realized the mix up, I thought we had missed out again and with all the waiting lists I thought it might be 2021 before we get a pup. But then the breeder told me the was a B/S pup that was born 3 weeks later where the OG owners had to cancel. And a male like we requested. HUH? That seemed too good to be true, I was skeptical. She sent a pic of the B/S pup (Ozzy) 4 weeks later, my OH was thinking he also might be pure black (which wasn't a huge deal) but she had said he was B/S. I called her to ask if he was indeed B/S and what colour his paws were since we only had a pic of the top of his head. She was pretty rude and obvious she didn't like me much, but hard to read ppl over the internet and phone, so I just left it and didn't bug waiting for her to let us know when to pick him up. I waited another 3 weeks and decided to just touch base by email. She got back to me and said he goes for his shots the next day and she'll call me when they get back. By now, he was almost 7 weeks and I didn't expect to pick him up until he was at least 8 weeks. But she was almost insistent he was ready to go and said the vet said so. The breeder was cross-province and we were worried about a border closing again due to Covid, so we went and picked him up the next day at 7 weeks and 1 day. He was so young, so tiny, but luckily I think it all worked out somehow. Just saying it seemed to be a very young age to come home, his teeth were just coming in and still softening his kibble. I have no idea if this is common practice, but if we weren't familiar with dogs and schnauzers, I think he was too young.
We got to the breeder's house in the country and she had sheds and shelters built outside the house. There were dogs barking their heads off when we got out the car, but she told us she has 6 adult schnauzers so I guess they could make a racket lol! We entered the house and sat at the table in the kitchen straight ahead the entrance. There were two crates that I could see with schnauzers in it. So I guess the other 4 were outside baking? Or there were a lot of dogs that we couldn't see. She brought the pup to us. I never saw his siblings, don't know anything about them, saw his mum cuz she was on the site as a show dog and no pic of the sire. It just felt very secretive and weird.
We had to make a deposit to get on list and we're not able to visit Ozzy due to Covid. The whole thing seemed so sketchy, but at the same time, Covid times are nothing normal, so I went with it.
Yes, I figured they have a discount with RC. She told me I better keep him on RC or he'll get diarrhea. She said that. She said she feeds RC for years and years (she's 80YO and breeding schnauzers for 40 years) and it's good stuff. I changed him over to Acana anyway, transitioned him and there was 0 issues. In fact his stool was firmer and darker once fed Acana.
But thanks so much for the commendations, I was feeling pretty defeated and like I was doing it all wrong and intimidated. But now I know she's just stuck in the show ring world. She knows I'm not showing him and we have a clause to have him neutered so I have no idea what she is talking about.
Thanks, more of a vent, but any comments are welcome