Standard Schnauzer - A few questions!

[Joden]

Hello,
After nearly a year we have finally come to an agreement on a breed - a standard Schnauzer!
We have 2 children (6 and 9) and would love them to experience the joy and responsibility of raising a family dog. My Husband works from home 2-3 days a week and I work part-time so we are able to offer the time and attention a dog needs.
Standard Schnauzers fit the bill in terms of temperament, size, looks etc.
I just have a few questions that I can't find answers too;
Miniatures seem to be susceptible to some eye issues - is this relevant to Standards?
My Husband and I run at least 3 times a week, usually between 5-10km. Excluding the puppy stage, would a standard be ok with this level of exercise and cope with long runs?
I know you cannot post breeder recommendations, I have looked on the KC page but would greatly appreciate any breeders recommended within the Kent/Surrey/Essex areas please via PM.
Grooming - how often do you groom/bath/trim? Is a twice weekly groom realistic? How do they cope in the heat? Do you trim their coats shorter in the Summer?
What are the pros and cons of owning/toilet training a bitch vs. dog?
Looking forward to your replies based on actual experience rather than web page opinions!

x

[Writeress]

Hi!
Eye issues are not so common in brazilian Schnauzers. What happens most times here are some problems caused by the dryer in gromin sessions. Hot wind can hurt the cornea. I'm the administrator of a Schnauzer group with more than 9 thousand members and I can't remember any cases of blindness due to genetics. By this experience, I would not concern about eye diseases, but wait it can be a local reality.
The Standard will love joining your husband in his routine. To get my 2 year old girl tired I have to walk her around 12km and spend around 1h in a dog park. As you have children, I think your Standard will be ok alternating long walks day, running days and playing with them daily. An advice for the playing time is that they are bouncers, so teach your children to avoid this behavior. By 8 months your dog will be around 14kg and jumping in a 7 year old kid can hurt by accident.
Schnauzers don't smell if you keep ears and mouth clean, so you can bath once a month. If you think thr dog should be bathed more often, it will work weekly too, since you keep the undercoat really dried.
Grooming twice a week will be enough to a Standard. They're coat is lower maintanance than a Miniature's.
I live in Brazil's northeast. 20°C is cold for us here, and you'll see everyone wearing coats. We are used to 28°C everyday, all year long, since 7am. My girl is very active, so, hot weather doesn't bother her. Of course, we don't take her out in hottest time of days and when we have anormal heat we get some precautions. Last summer we had 36°C some daya, feeling like 40°C. So we got her a fan, cool watter, ice rocks.
Schnauzers are double coat dogs, so you should never shave the coat. For summer you must use more often a stripping knife to remove the undercoat. That's what will make your dog more confortable. The maintanance of the wired coat requires stripping. It's painless if properly done and the right way to keep the skin healthy and avoid alergies.
Both bitches and males are smart and quick learners with positive trainment. My girl learned in 15 days. Don't ever punish the dog for missing the spot and reward with treats and praise when he/she do it in the right place. Accidents may occur when they are puppies, but they will get there fast. If you get the male spayed before the sexual maturity, you will have no problems with territorial behavior.

[andr3wc]

Joden,

Couldn't agree more about the choice of dog breed!

The eye problems are only an issue with mini's: standards are a robust breed without any noted health difficulties. In terms of exercise a mature dog will have no difficulties with that - the first standards we went to see belonged to a runner, and he took his with him. There are the obvious issues of running with any dog - lead control, or recall if you run with them off lead.

In terms of grooming the decision you need to make is whether to hand strip or clip: in either case twice a week will certainly be enough (briefly combing the beard is best). When you strip, you essentially pull the dead hair out of the main coat (you still clip around head, underside). Some people wait until the coat is 'blown' and them do a big strip: we try to do a bit weekly to keep on top of it. The easier option is simply to have the coat clipped. The difference is largely aesthetic: the stripped coat is harsher, with better colouring - that is how a show dog will appear. The clipped dog has a lovely soft coat. My suggestion is that you start by stripping; you will be able to compare it if clipped coats (which are more common) in dogs you meet and if you decide stripping is not worth it, move to clipping. You can't easily go from clipping to stripping, however, as clipping stops the harsh outer coat from developing.

I havn't encountered any heat/coat related difficulties. I don't think think there is a huge difference between training the bitch and dogs. As rule in all breeds bitches are thought to be less boisterous, but I won't worry too much. In the 'running' family I mentioned, they had four standards: the older male was more sociable than the females. Have sent an email on breeders: post back here if for any reason you don't receive it.

[Joden]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply. Lots to take in-hoping I've found a breeder with litters due in Feb 2018!!!!!! xx

[rmoore920]

I cannot recommend a standard schnauzer as a first dog for a busy family, based on my experience of recently acquiring one after decades of owning other breeds.

Their good behaviors are fantastic, their bad behaviors can be catastrophic. They are very intelligent and strong willed, with very sharp teeth and strong jaws -- a problem if you cannot successfully establish the dog's position in the family and community. Their instinct to guard the house is very strong, which can be a problem in urban environments, where loud barking or refusing to back down around strangers and even friends can be an issue.

I would go with a giant schnauzer, based on owners I has spoken with and observation of their dogs. While also a handful at first, they seem to mellow more as they age, and are not as aggressive towards those outside the family -- more stand-offish. This means less worrying about how they will react in different situations, and less stress on you.

That being said, their energy, intelligence, strength, and willingness to play with everything and everybody, throughout their lifespan, makes (in my mind), the standard schnauzer one of the best dog companions there is.

[Riesen16]

The Standard Schnauzer is in fact the original Schnauzer. The Giants and Minis were bred with other breeds to attain the size.

Very often they are often the most difficult to train but it is definitely not impossible.
Just walking them for 1-2 hours is not what any Schnauzer needs!![/size] although they will enjoy it. What it needs is exercise that will cause him to concentrate, i.e. tracking, searching in the garden for things, obedience exercises. There are clubs for Agility, Obedience etc. Tracking is an excellent exercise for any dog.

Working, i.e. training them to track, do obedience, search for articles, etc. with any dog will result in a "balanced" dog. We trained all our dogs in Tracking and Schutzhund.

I haven't entered any trials with Enya but I train her in all disciplines, i.e. tracking, searching for articles, etc.

Just letting a dog run free with other dogs will not "bond" him to you.

Regards
Gill