The Standard Schnauzer is the medium sized member of the Schnauzer family, or as owners of the breed like to observe the ‘standard’ sized model. Of the three distinct types the Standard is the original. The breed has a long history, dating back at least into the fifteenth century as a fixed type. Artist, Albert Durer owned at least one as they appeared in a number of his paintings in the late 1400’s.
Rembrant also painted several Standard Schnauzers. They appear in statues and tapestries throughout Germany showing the dog as a trusted companion and guard dog. Merchants and tradesmen used the Schnauzer to protect their wagons as they traveled the countryside. They were small and compact enough to not take up much room but fierce enough to repulse wood-be thieves. Also shop owners and farmers found the dogs abilities as ratters to be useful. Quick, agile and intelligent made for a loyal companion and useful working dog.
Ancestry of the Schnauzer is a bit of a question. The word ‘Schnauzer’ first appeared in dog literature in 1842 when Jeremias Gotthelf used it as a synonym for the Wired-haired Pinscher. The Wired-haired Pinscher was accepted as a pure breed around 1850. The word ‘pinscher’ was used to describe terriers in general. Besides Schnauzer, the breed was also referred to as Rauhaar Pinscher (rough-haired terrier), or Rattenfanger (rat catcher). In Youatt’s works on dogs (1852), Youatt believed that the breed was a cross between the Bolognesehund (dog of Bologne) and the gray Wolfspitz. He described some typical features as ‘the coat is rough and stands off the back. The face is also covered with hairs that stand off and they are longer around the muzzle and look like a beard. Often the ears are cropped and the tail is docked.’
Your Schnauzer measures 16" long and floppy.
