Standard Schnauzer Facts You Should Know (with Pictures).

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Standard Schnauzer Breed Overview

The Standard Schnauzer is a medium-sized dog.

The adult Standard Schnauzer stands 1 foot, 5 inches to 1 foot, 8 inches tall at the s.

The Standard Schnauzer belongs to the Working Dogs group.

Dogs in the Working Dogs group, like the Standard Schnauzer, were developed to assist humans in some capacity – including pulling sleds and carts, guarding flocks, guarding homes, and protecting their families.

Breeds in the Working Group are known for their imposing stature, strength, intelligence, and fearless.

Because of their size and strength, working dogs require a structured home life and firm, fair, consistent training by someone who can provide leadership without resorting to anger or physical force.

The fact that Standard Schnauzers belong to the Working Dogs group is one of the reasons why Standard Schnauzers have the personality and temperament that they have.

The temperament of the Standard Schnauzer is generally described as:

  • Devoted
  • Good-natured
  • Intelligent
  • Lively
  • Playful
  • Trainable

History of the Standard Schnauzer Breed. Where Standard Schnauzers came from

Standard Schnauzers are a medium-sized breed of dog that originated in Germany.

The Standard Schnauzer is the oldest of the three Schnauzer breeds, and is thought to be the ancestors of both the Miniature Schnauzer and the Giant Schnauzer.

Standard Schnauzers were originally bred to be versatile farm dogs, and they were used for tasks such as guarding property, herding livestock, and ratting.

Today, Standard Schnauzers are still prized for their intelligence and loyalty, and they make excellent companions and family pets.

Standard Schnauzers are also widely used in Police K-9 units and as service dogs.

Thanks to their hardworking nature and stable temperament, Standard Schnauzers continue to be one of the most popular dog breeds in the world.

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What the Standard Schnauzer Looks Like

Standard Schnauzers are medium-sized dogs that were originally bred in Germany for their hunting and guarding abilities.

They have a harsh, wiry outer coat and a soft, dense undercoat.

The most common coat colors are black, salt-and-pepper, and black-and-silver.

Standard Schnauzers are energetic dogs that need ample exercise.

They are quick learners with a winning attitude, making them excellent competitors in agility and obedience trials.

Standard Schnauzers are also known for their strong protective instincts.

With proper socialization, they can make wonderful family pets.

Standard Schnauzers require regular grooming to keep their coats healthy and free of mats and tangles.

Weekly brushing with a firm bristled brush is necessary, and the coat should be trimmed every few months by a professional groomer.

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How Much is the Standard Schnauzer Puppy?

How Much Standard Schnauzers Cost

The average price of a Standard Schnauzer puppy is $1630. The price of a Standard Schnauzer puppy ranges from $1200 to $2000.

A lot of factors determine the price of the Standard Schnauzer. These factors include what health records the Standard Schnauzer puppy has, the lineage of the Standard Schnauzer puppy, the US state the breeder is located in, etc.

To estimate how much you can expect to pay for a puppy Standard Schnauzer based on the many factors that determine the price of the Standard Schnauzer puppy, check out our calculator that lets you estimate how much you should expect to pay for the Standard Schnauzer puppy based on what you want in the puppy.

When looking to buy a puppy, look at buying a puppy only from well-established breeders that breed puppies primarily for the love of the Standard Schnauzer breed, and secondarily for profit. Do not buy a puppy from a puppy mill. Puppy mills mass-produce puppies in bad living conditions for maximum profit.

You may also consider adopting instead of buying a puppy. Adoption costs are very low compared to the price of a puppy.

Best Standard Schnauzer Breeders

Standard Schnauzer Breeders in the United States

We have researched reputable Standard Schnauzer breeders that you can buy a puppy.

Go to this page for our complete list of reputable Standard Schnauzer breeders in various states in the United States.

On this page, you will see how much these breeders sell their puppies for, and how many puppies they have available.

A few of these breeders are listed below.

  1. Von Roth Standard Schnauzers

    Puppy Price: $1900-$1975

  2. Crusade Standard Schnauzers

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

  3. Justa Standard Schnauzers/Cindy G. Cuff

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

  4. Hillside Kennel

    Puppy Price: $2995

  5. Brenda Mcduffee

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

Adopting or Rescuing the Standard Schnauzer

You may consider adopting a dog instead of buying a puppy. Many dogs, Standard Schnauzers included, are currently available for adoption in your local dog shelters.

These helpless but adorable dogs are waiting in dog shelters hoping that someday someone will rescue them. Dog adoption costs are lesser than the cost of a new puppy. Dog adoption costs are usually around $300 or even less.

In addition to your local dog shelter, another good place to find dogs that are available for adoption is petfinder.com.

Below is an adorable Male Standard Schnauzer named Wolfgang Mozart that is currently available for adoption on Petfinder.com. You can find other lovely Standard Schnauzers like Wolfgang Mozart on pefinder.com.

Standard Schnauzers like Wolfgang Mozart are available for Adoption! It is cheaper to adopt. Image from petfinder.com

You can find more Standard Schnauzers that are available for adoption on petfinder.

Standard Schnauzer Growth

Standard Schnauzer Growth

New Standard Schnauzer owners need to know about the growth of their Standard Schnauzers. This will help them plan their living spaces accordingly.

Also, knowing the typical growth pattern of the Standard Schnauzer will help new owners catch the abnormal growth of their Standard Schnauzer early.

See our calculator for predicting how big your Standard Schnauzer puppy will get. You will also learn about the typical weight of the Standard Schnauzer at different ages and how to catch abnormal growth in your Standard Schnauzer

How Long Standard Schnauzers Live

The lifespan of the Standard Schnauzer is typically from 13 to 16 years.

Moreover, a few years back, veterinarian researchers performed a scientific study to determine the lifespan of the Standard Schnauzer. In this study, the scientists collected data on how long 52 pet Standard Schnauzers lived.

From the study, it was found that Standard Schnauzers have an average lifespan of 11.9 years. Furthermore, the study found that it is not uncommon for Standard Schnauzers to live as long as 20.0 years.

Note that you need to put in some effort if you want your Standard Schnauzer to live long.

Standard Schnauzers live long if they eat well, drink well, exercise well, and visit the veterinarian regularly.

There are also dog supplements that you can give your Standard Schnauzer to improve your Standard Schnauzer`s quality of their life.

Click here to learn more about how to make your Standard Schnauzer live long.

Standard Schnauzer Litter Size

Researchers from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science did a study where they counted the numbers of puppies in 28 different Standard Schnauzer birth litters.

From this study, the researchers found that the average number of puppies that Standard Schnauzers can have is 7 puppies. Also, the Standard Schnauzer can have as few as 2 puppies per litter and as many as 11 puppies per litter.

The number of puppies that the Standard Schnauzer will have depends on factors such as the age of the Standard Schnauzer, the method of pregnancy, etc.

Click here to see our calculator for predicting how many puppies your Standard Schnauzer will have and how the litter size of the Standard Schnauzer compares to the litter size of other dog breeds.

How Fast Standard Schnauzers Can Run

How fast a dog breed can run is a good measure of how athletic the dog breed is.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) regularly conducts dog running competitions. The AKC records the running speed of competing dogs in these competitions. These competitions are open to all dog breeds.

Based on our analysis of the speeds of 152 different Standard Schnauzers, the average speed of the Standard Schnauzer is 22.4 mph (36.1 kmph).

The fastest speed on AKC record that the Standard Schnauzer ran in a race is 27.1 mph (43.6 kmph) and the minimum speed on record in a race for a Standard Schnauzer is 7.2 mph (11.6 kmph).

Click here to see how the speed of the Standard Schnauzer compares to the speed of other dogs and other mammals such as cats, horses, humans, etc.

How fast Standard Schnauzer can run compared to other mammals

Good Names for Standard Schnauzers

Here are some really good names that are typical for the Standard Schnauzer ranked by popularity:

  • Tommy
  • Happy
  • Marley
  • Jaxx
  • Clyde
  • Wolfgang
  • Arthur
  • Jock
  • Mickey
  • Buster

How Intelligent are Standard Schnauzers?

Standard Schnauzer
Intelligence Rank 18 out of 130 dog breeds
Trainability Tend To Learn New Commands After 5 To 15 Repetitions

According to Prof. Stanley Coren, a Canadian psychology professor/dog trainer, the total intelligence that a dog demonstrates is the addition of three types of intelligence. These intelligence types are:

  1. Instinctive Intelligence: This is the natural intelligence that comes from instinct. For example, dog breeds that have been historically bred to be guard dogs will have a high `guarding` intelligence compared to dogs that were not bred for guarding.

  2. Adaptive Intelligence (learning and problem-solving ability): This indicates what a dog can learn to do for himself or herself. Adaptive intelligence is specific to each dog, and not breed specific. You can improve your dog`s adaptive intelligence by investing time to train your dog.

  3. Working/Obedience Intelligence: This type of intelligence is breed-specific. Certain dog breeds tend to have higher working/obedience intelligence than some other breeds. This intelligence is the closest to what we might call school-learning ability and it is based upon what the dog can learn to do when instructed by humans. This type of intelligence can be measured for each dog breed and compared to that of other dog breeds.

Professor Stanley Coren measured and ranked the working intelligence of about 130 different dog breeds.

Prof. Coren found that the Standard Schnauzer has an obedience intelligence rank of 18 out of 130 dog breeds. Thus, Prof. Coren put Standard Schnauzers in the `Excellent Working Dogs` category.

This means that Standard Schnauzers tend to learn new commands after 5 to 15 repetitions.

However, we should mention that a dog should not be judged based on its intelligence alone. There are other important factors you need to consider when deciding on which dog breed to get. These other factors include sociability, adorability, and compatibility of the dog breed with your lifestyle.

See the intelligence ranking of some other dog breeds below:

Breed Intelligence Rank
Golden Retriever 4
Papillon 8
Rottweiler 9
Belgian Tervuren 14
Collie 16
German Shorthaired Pointer 17
English Cocker Spaniel 18
Pomeranian 23
Vizsla 25
Border Terrier 30
Manchester Terrier 32
American Foxhound 46
French Bulldog 58
Chinese Crested 61
Saint Bernard 65
Chihuahua 67
Bullmastiff 69
Pekingese 73
Chow Chow 76
Afghan Hound 79

How Popular are Standard Schnauzers with New Dog Owners?

Every year, the American Kennel Club (AKC) publishes information on how popular a dog breed is in that particular year. The AKC gets the popularity information of a breed from how many dogs of that breed the owners register with the AKC every year. The AKC collects this data for about 200 dog breeds.

The graph below shows the popularity trend of the Standard Schnauzer.

The popularity of the Standard Schnauzer averaged over the years is Number 91 out of about 200 dog breeds.

Popularity of Standard Schnauzer

Do not get a dog breed just because it is a popular dog breed. And do not reject a dog breed just because it is an unpopular breed.

Health Problems in Standard Schnauzers and How to Prevent Them

Every dog breed has its own set of health problems that it tends to develop. There is nothing like a perfect dog breed.

The Standard Schnauzer is prone to certain genetic health conditions. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is an organization that keeps track of genetic health problems in dog breeds.

From the extensive records that the OFA keeps, the OFA knows what health problems each dog breed is naturally prone to develop.

Hence, the OFA recommends which health screening breeders should perform on a dog breed to make sure that the breeders won`t breed `defective` dog parents that can pass down defective genes to their puppy offspring.

If you want a Standard Schnauzer puppy that will grow up to be healthy, make sure that your Standard Schnauzer breeder screens your puppy or your puppy`s parents for the health problems that the OFA recommends for your puppy`s breed. This will increase the chances that your puppy is free from genetic defects.

The following are the health tests that Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) recommends that breeders should screen Standard Schnauzers for:

  1. Autoimmune thyroiditis
  2. Cardiac Evaluation
  3. Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)
  4. DNA Repository
  5. Eye Examination- minimum age 24 months, recommend every other year until age 7
  6. Hip Dysplasia

You can find out more about OFA`s recommended tests for Standard Schnauzers here.

How to Take Care of Standard Schnauzer

How to feed your Standard Schnauzer.

To take good care of your Standard Schnauzer, you need to make sure that you groom your Standard Schnauzer regularly.

Secondly, you need to find a veterinarian in your area that will routinely check the health status of your Standard Schnauzer regularly, and give you appropriate recommendations on your Standard Schnauzer`s preventative care.

Thirdly, you need to commit some time to exercise your Standard Schnauzer daily. Regular exercise helps improve the health and quality of life of your Standard Schnauzer.

Also, you need to feed your Standard Schnauzer high-quality dog food, and the food should be of the right amount to prevent your Standard Schnauzer from getting overweight or underweight.

See our recommendations on what to feed the Standard Schnauzer and how much food to feed the Standard Schnauzer at different life stages.

Finally, you need to make sure that your Standard Schnauzer has access to clean water all the time. See our recommendations on how much water your Standard Schnauzer needs to drink at different ages.

How much water your Standard Schnauzer needs.

Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Standard Schnauzers

If you have not made up your mind on which dog breed to get, you may also want to consider some other dogs similar to the Standard Schnauzer.

We crunched the numbers and found that the following dog breeds that have similar behavior and temperament as the Standard Schnauzer:

Other Things to Know About Standard Schnauzers

Here are some of the very important characteristics of the Standard Schnauzer that you need to know about the Standard Schnauzer breed:

  • Standard Schnauzers do not shed a lot. They are good for people with dog allergies.
  • Standard Schnauzers do not have the tendency to drool.
  • Standard Schnauzers are not prone to gaining weight easily.
  • Standard Schnauzers are not the best dogs for new dog owners.
  • Standard Schnauzers do not like to be left alone.
  • Standard Schnauzers are not very friendly towards strangers.
  • Standard Schnauzers require a lot of grooming and are not very easy to groom.
  • Standard Schnauzers are not very vocal. They have very low tendency to bark and howl.
  • Standard Schnauzers adapt well to apartment living.
  • Standard Schnauzers are easily disturbed by noise in their environments. They are sensitive to human tone. They will understand the tone of your voice when you try to correct their behaviors with a firm tone.
  • Standard Schnauzers can tolerate cold weather.
  • Standard Schnauzers can tolerate hot weather.
  • Standard Schnauzers are great family dogs. They are very affectionate with family.
  • Standard Schnauzers get along well with kids. They are kid-friendly.
  • Standard Schnauzers are very healthy. They do not suffer from a lot of health problems compared to other dog breeds
  • Standard Schnauzers are highly intelligent.
  • Standard Schnauzers have a high prey drive. They do not get along well with other pets.
  • Standard Schnauzers have a high tendency to wander. They are easily distracted by other animals or objects.
  • Standard Schnauzers have very high energy levels. They need a lot of exercise time to release their high energy.
  • Standard Schnauzers require a lot of exercise. They are good for owners who like to exercise.
  • Standard Schnauzers are very playful.
  • Standard Schnauzers weigh 30 to 50 pounds when fully grown.
  • Standard Schnauzers are 1 foot, 5 inches to 1 foot, 8 inches tall at the s when fully grown.
  • Standard Schnauzers have a lifespan of 13 to 16 years.