All you need to know about the breed

Dapper-looking Standard Schnauzers, with their twinkly-eyed, inquisitive expressions and trademark shaggy beards, are the original Schnauzers, the breed from which Miniature Schnauzers and Giant Schnauzers were developed. Intelligent and playful, they originated in Germany in the Middle Ages. These wonderfully hairy all-rounders were developed to work on farms and around stables (they were comfortable around horses), catching rats and acting as a guard dog protecting the herd, and their humans too.

Nowadays the Standard Schnauzer, playful and sometimes mischievous by nature, has found another vocation as a family dog – they are prized for their affectionate natures, ease of training – not to mention their low levels of shedding: Your soft furnishings will thank you.

Standard Schnauzers can be … how shall we put this … vocal. They were originally prized as guard dogs after all (and they can still be wary with strangers). But they do respond well to training so their barkiness should not be too much of a problem. Once trained, Standard Schnauzers get on well with other dogs and also with children, although they shouldn’t be left alone with very young ones.

Standard Schnauzers are lively and high-energy by nature – they need plenty of walks and enjoy playing games: These will help keep them mentally stimulated too. For off-the-lead runs, they need a safely enclosed space. Even if times have changed, that prey-chasing instinct is still there.