Standard Schnauzer - History

History

In the Middle Ages, schnauzer-type dogs of medium size were developed from herding, ratting and guardian breeds in Western Europe. A dog of the peasant farmer for centuries, with the advent of dog showing in the 19th century they finally captured the interest of German dog fanciers, who began to standardize their look and temperament for the show ring.

Standard Schnauzers were mixed with the German Black Standard Poodle and the German Pinscher. That's what gives the Standard Schnauzer a "regal" look. In the earliest days of the show schnauzer, puppies from a single litter could be classified as either German Pinschers (short haired puppies) or schnauzers (long-coated wire-haired puppies), dependent only on coat length. And before the original German Pinscher breed was wiped out during WWI (it has since been brought back from different stock) the pepper-and-salt coat that is the trademark of the Standard Schnauzer breed in North America could be seen in the German Pincher (called the silberpinsch), attesting to the close relationship between the two breeds in modern times. It was also in the late 19th century that the medium-sized schnauzer was developed into three different breeds/sizes: the Miniature, the Standard (the original), and the Giant.

Speaking on the more distant origins of the breed, writers from the late 19th century proposed that the grey Wolfspitz and black German pudles contributed to the early development of the schnauzer, though this has yet to be confirmed through genetic work.

The three schnauzer breeds take their name from one of their kind, a medium-sized show dog named "Schnauzer", who won at the 1879 Hanover Show in Germany. The word Schnauzer (from the German word for 'snout', recalling the long hair on the muzzle) appeared for the first time in 1842 when used as a synonym for the Wire-haired Pinscher (the name under which the breed first competed at dog shows). The schnauzer was first imported into the United States in the early 1900s.

In modern history, the Standard Schnauzer has taken on a variety of roles. The Red Cross used the dogs for guard duty during World War I. Both German and (in one documented instance) American police departments have put the dogs to work as well. Several Standard Schnauzers have been used in the USA for drug and bomb detection, and also as search-and-rescue dogs.

The current Standard Schnauzer excels at obedience, agility, tracking, herding, therapy work and, in Germany, schutzhund. Despite being a popular pet in Europe, the Standard Schnauzer has never gained wide popularity in North America. For the past 20 years, the American Kennel Club has registered only ~540 Standard Schnauzer puppies a year (compared with ~100,000 Labrador Retriever puppies each year).

Read more about this topic:  Standard Schnauzer

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

    It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)