Page 39 - ShowSight Presents The Miniature Schnauzer

too close, more like the Terrier. They should not single track like the Working Dog.
Let me add here that the scissored legs of a Miniature Schnauzer can both compli- ment a sound dog or disguise an unsound dog. Be mindful of excess hair on any part of the legs.
After passing the test of soundness, I would then judge the side gait of the dog. Like the Working Dog, he should have good front reach and a strong rear drive- not at all like the stilted Terrier. Topline should stay level, head carried in a some- what up position, not straight up, this is not aerodynamic, but not totally down either. He should cover ground effortlessly going from point A to point B in the least amount of footfalls. Don’t be confused by a dog that is run around the ring, going very fast, but using too many steps to get there.
COAT & COLOR
We only have three colors, Salt and Pepper, Black and Black and Silver. The Salt and Pepper coat can be many shades of Gray even a bit of cinnamon coloring is allowed. Salt and Pepper hair must be predominately (at least 51%) banded hair, the Salt and Pepper dog should never look like one solid color. In a “showable” coat, the coat is made up of a small amount of soft undercoat, which cannot be seen until you lift the wire hair. The majority of hair should be a hard wiry coat—this is very much a Terrier coat and as such, a soft coat should be heavily faulted, just as you would fault a soft coated Wire Fox Terrier. The furnishings are fairly thick and are not wiry like the Terrier, but scissored like the Standard Schnauzer.
A bit of advice on Coat conditioning, which is different from the Terrier and the Working Dog. Miniature Schnauzer coats can be either section stripped (a pro- cess that takes 11 weeks until “showable” and all the wire hair is tight and crisp, or it can be rolled (a bit of hair stripped every week making the dog “showable” always) EXCEPT—all Miniature Schnau- zer coats are not suitable for rolling, some have too much undercoat and not enough wire hair, those coats are soft, not banded enough in the case of a Salt/Pepper and not up to the standards of a “showable” coat.
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Dogs with that type of hair should be penalized. Those Miniature Schnauzers with proper thick wire hair can be rolled successfully and have the same look and feel of a ‘sectioned’ coat. The way in which a Miniature Schnauzers’ coat is stripped has absolutely no bearing on your judge- ment of coat quality, so if the exhibitor tells you that the coat is a bit softer because he is being rolled—that is no excuse.
TEMPERAMENT
Our Standard states that the Miniature Schnauzer is alert and spirited, like the Terrier, yet obedient, intelligent and will- ing to please, like the Working Dog. Never overly aggressive like some Terriers, but never timid. Because we compete in the Terrier group, I think it is important that the Miniature Schnauzer show his Terrier spirit. He should be lacking no amount of self confidence, exactly like the Ter- rier. We like to see our dogs ‘sparred’. You should expect males to ‘own their ground’, stacking and making the most of them- selves when facing off with another male. I would fault a dog who refused to do this with another dog and instead looked to his Handler for bait. As for females, we liked them sparred as well, however do not expect them all to respond like a male and do not fault them if they do not.
We Breeders think that the Miniature Schnauzer is of course special. However, more importantly, he is unique in his make-up of these two groups of dogs, The Terrier Type and the Working Type. It is this uniqueness that we hold dear and would like to see every judge understand and judge accordingly.
BIO
Breeder, Exhibi-
tor and Handler since
1972, breeding well over
150 Champions includ-
ing the breeds’ all time
top winning Miniature
Schnauzer, CH Regen-
cy’s Twist of Fate, who is also the Top living sire of the breed. The Regency prefix can be found in top quality show dogs in most all countries. Honored to be named the AKC Terrier Breeder of the Year in 2006.
Example of correct sidegait
Top: Correct angulation and stance. Bottom: Lack of angulation
Note how extra hair behind the hock can make a striata in stifle dog look as if he had good rear angulation—to detect this, look at the outside line on the very end-it should be straight up and down,not sickle hocked.
Moving, narrow but true.
Hair left long at the hips and down the outside rear legs can be used to create the illusion of a wide rear. Instead of looking on the outside, look at the space left between the rear legs.