Tell me about your miniature schnauzer

[Flaunch]

I’m trying to persuade DH that this is the dog for us but we’ve only ever met one complete darling one and I don’t think he’s convinced that is representative of the breed .

What’s yours like?

I've a 7 month old one, she was very easily house trained, sleeps all night downstairs, lovely with the kids, very affectionate and doesn't shed. Apart from that, despite being taken everywhere with us and socialised with kids and other dogs she is a nightmare with other people, she barks non stop at them when we are out walking, or heaven forbid anyone comes into the house/walks past the driveway. The rest of the family adore her, I'm driven mad by her. We could just have been unlucky with getting a lockdown puppy, we thought when we got her in september that things seemed to be opening up and restrictions easing, knowing what we know now I would have waited until the pandemic was well and truly over before considering it.

We've got a 2 year old mini and he is wonderful!! He's friendly, affectionate, really great with kids and doesn't bark lots (despite the breed's reputation!). He's actually a therapy dog at a school too, due to his calm temperament.
Being hypoallergenic too is great as there isn't any mess or hair to clear up in the house.
Only negative is that he does know his own mind and you can't always trust him to come back when there is another dog to go and say hi to! But this is manageable.

Go for it, they're a brilliant breed!

My friend has one. When I visit he barks and barks - I have dogs too but he's very annoying.

I have a close friend with 2. They both bark at everything and everyone. One of them is aggressive with small children despite lots of being socialised. They need lots of professional grooming. Neither have any recall and really high prey drive. I love dogs but those two drive me batty.

OP I was never a dog person but our miniature schnauzer has my heart! You’ll get lots of varied comments here but this is the most accurate description of them I’ve read dogtime.com/dog-breeds/miniature-schnauzer#/slide/1

Things to consider: they need more exercise than you’d think (ours gets 2x40 mins per day with lots of that off lead)

They bark. Quite a bit. I used to find it very frustrating but someone here said that they have literally been bred to find barking rewarding. You can our’s tail wag away while she is barking, for her it is a fun activity. She mainly barks out of the house and it has calmed down a lot as she has aged.

They have a high prey drive and selective hearing ours had two years of extensive training, if we are somewhere new or where she doesn’t go a lot, she will recall from a chase. But on our regular walks she can be a bit ‘whatevs I’m off’ so I do need to be vigilant in the summer for bad triggers such as joggers and cyclists...

I have had schnauzers my whole life-5 in total.
They are brilliant dogs-loving, clever, loyal, incredibly affectionate and very cuddly.
Very keen to please, very in tune with your moods. Fantastic family dog.
Also-admittedly very stubborn and greedy-will eat anything-although that does make them easy to train.
My current DDog terribly cute and gets lots of attention which she loves.
We moved house prior to this dog-from a more rural to a town centre location and were determined that she would be a good town dog-able to go anywhere- pub, shops etc and get on with other dogs and ppl which she does-very very sociable and everyone knows her.
A lot of it goes down to early training/exposure and expectation.
I don't know what my family would have done in lock down without her unconditional love-she greets you like a long lost love every time you walk in the door!!

Bit of a mixed bag of replies. I’d read about the barking and would find that super annoying but I guess it’s a training issue really so I’d probably try and get a handle on that straight away.

I can’t believe the price of puppies at the moment!

@Flaunch what are they going for?

Am very twitchy as dog thieving rife and my mini small and easily nickable-DS told me not to come home if I lost her as it is happening round me...

We had one when I was a child. He was absolutely the very best dog. He was funny, gentle, very clever. We adored him. I still miss him and he’s been gone 6 years this year!

We have our very first family dog (puppy) now, and I desperately wanted a schnauzer, but I decided we couldn’t do it. We’d just end up comparing the new one to our old one and they’d never match up.

@Flaunch I wouldn’t get a MS on the expectation that you could train the bark out of them, it could be possible but it is likely to be a very frustrating process. It is part of what they were bred to do, sound warnings. They also have a whole host of other sounds they make (like super cute wolf howls) and once you can read their barks it is much less stressful. Although I’d still like to give her away when the window cleaners are here!

@mumsiedarlingrevolta they are going for 3k a pup!!!

My mini is such a lovely boy. He's only 4½ years old but sadly has lymphoma cancer. He barks at people walking past the window and loves to try and chase squirrels when we're out. His recall is really good unless he sees a squirrel and then he has tunnel vision. He's very intelligent and food motivated. He'll tap my leg to remind me to feed him even though I've fed him at the same time for the last 4+ years. I had him before I had my son and at first he was very jealous of him, but I made sure to still spend 1 on 1 time with him and he's fine. They're good friends now and my little boy calls him "Eggy" as he can't pronounce Teddy yet. He can be a bit territorial and doesn't like unknown fast moving children to approach him unexpectedly (he'll growl and stand behind me) but he won't bite. He's happy to sleep in his own bed but he does join us in our bed when it's cold. Grooming needs to be frequent as their hair does get quite long and beards need combing daily. He loves cuddles and will be quite content to sit with me whilst I read or study. He's a good size, not too big and not too small. I absolutely love him to pieces ❤️

My friend has one and it’s so adorable. But the barking at strangers is a massive problem. Despite knowing me quite well, she always barks for a couple of minutes when I see her. Though after that it’s fine and in every other respect she’s wonderful.

I’m not sure you can train a schnauzer not to bark very easily - it seems part of their makeup. My friend is lucky to live in the country and walks her dog in places where she doesn’t meet many people so it’s fine. She also has another, larger breed dog at home and her schnauzer gets on really well with it, and her children. A lovely, loyal dog.

@PearlHeart3

My mini is such a lovely boy. He's only 4½ years old but sadly has lymphoma cancer. He barks at people walking past the window and loves to try and chase squirrels when we're out. His recall is really good unless he sees a squirrel and then he has tunnel vision. He's very intelligent and food motivated. He'll tap my leg to remind me to feed him even though I've fed him at the same time for the last 4+ years. I had him before I had my son and at first he was very jealous of him, but I made sure to still spend 1 on 1 time with him and he's fine. They're good friends now and my little boy calls him "Eggy" as he can't pronounce Teddy yet. He can be a bit territorial and doesn't like unknown fast moving children to approach him unexpectedly (he'll growl and stand behind me) but he won't bite. He's happy to sleep in his own bed but he does join us in our bed when it's cold. Grooming needs to be frequent as their hair does get quite long and beards need combing daily. He loves cuddles and will be quite content to sit with me whilst I read or study. He's a good size, not too big and not too small. I absolutely love him to pieces ❤️

He’s gorgeous! Sorry to hear he isn’t very well :(

Thank you @Flaunch he's coping really well at the moment but I know in the near future this will change. I'm just trying to enjoy all the cuddles and walks whilst I can.

Barking. You won’t necessarily be able to train them out of that.
I’ve never met a friendly one.
Challenging.

My Nan has one, and I know two from walking in our local area. My Nan’s barks to the point of making itself sick, is aggressive to other dogs, children and people, and is so nervous and highly strung it cannot settle down in the house. It is partly a lack of training and knowledge on my Nan’s part, but a lot of it seems to be down to very poor breeding.
One I know from our walks is also very nervous, can’t walk past another dog, even if that means the owner gets very far away, and is shy and cautious. The other we know is a confident and outgoing dog, but isn’t friendly and doesn’t go to people for a fuss even if coaxed.
The barking is part of the breed, they are supposed to bark, and they do (incessantly). They can be smart and funny companions, but if you are looking for a friendly quiet dog I would not recommend them.

I have a friend with four. They’re not very nice - they’re territorial and bark loads. I wouldn’t trust them near my DS. I say all of that as a dog lover

Mil has one. We look after her regularly, for weeks at a time. She’s wonderful. She barks at strangers who come to the door but never more than a quick hello to us. She’s fine out walking too.
She great in the house. You wouldn’t know she’s there as long as she’s feed and walked.

Goodness, the range of posts on here 😬😲

The other option was a whippet.

Mine doesn’t bark much at all. Feel like we have dodged a bullet there after reading all the other posts!

We are so happy to have her - she is friendly and was easy to house train except if it is bucketing down she sometimes tries to go upstairs, but we have got wise to that now. She IS naughty though. She doesn’t steal food or bite but she will refuse to be caught if something better is around to look at. We have good recall after a lot of work but I don’t let her off the lead out in public (we have fields for her to run in off lead) as I can’t trust her around sheep yet. The hunting instinct is strong and our chickens are shut up from her.

She is so sweet and cuddly. Definitely the most popular member of our house. Ds said he wouldn’t have got through lockdown without her.

We have a lurcher, and know many many whippets as sighthound owners tend to like to hang out together for our dogs to play in the way sighthounds do (rough, with lots of bitey face). From our experience, sighthounds are exceptionally chilled animals in the house, ours is 6 months and literally sleeps all day except for eating, weeing and his walk (as do all his sighthound mates of various ages). But out on his walk he is energetic, boisterous, and can be too much for a lot of dogs, whippets are similar. They are super quiet though, I think our boy has only "woofed" a handful of times at home, although he does bark at our in-laws Teckel (who is not tolerant of his ridiculous lurcher antics). Whippets are fantastic little dogs, we love the few dozen we know well, excellent temperaments and really gentle and loving in the home. Their play style and greetings with other dogs can take some getting used to, but they are a real pleasure to be around. I am completely biased though, I wouldn't own anything other than a sighthound now (having had spaniels and terriers previously).

My neighbour has two. All they do is bark. And they're skittish

I have two. They are the most intelligent breed I've ever owned. Loving, cuddly, wise, know everything that's going on, will find a patch of sunshine to sleep in all afternoon, love to be cosy in bed all night, love the beach and sniffs in the woods, easy to train. They will bark if someone goes past the window with a dog as that's in their nature but I just close the blind. We have trained them not to bark when someone comes to the door. They are vocal though and will make it known if they are thirsty and want your drink of water or hungry by making gurny noises. Highly recommend.

They sound perfect @PufflingPantsOn ❤️

Neighbours near us have two. You know when they’re out for a walk. All they do is bark. Bark at other people. Other dogs. Cars. Leaves. Just generally walk and bark. It’s incredibly annoying. They walk them three times a day so I guess they need a lot of exercise!