Will there be ribbons?
As we prepare for our next litter of puppies, I’m sharing some of my thoughts about the selection criteria we use when we review applications. There’s so much more to it than simply finding nice people that really want a puppy. Obviously, we want the best possible fit for each of our puppies such that they live happy, healthy, purposeful lives. Additionally, we want to ensure we’re helping to grow an ongoing community of dedicated Standard Schnauzer owners that will help the breed thrive well into the future. At the most basic level, that means you need to ensure your dog is a well-mannered, well-groomed ambassador of the breed so he or she makes a favorable impression on people. That’s just responsible dog-ownership. (And please understand that neither I, nor my dogs, can claim to be perfect examples of good manners – it’s a work in progress.) Taking it to a higher level, training your dog to perform or compete in sports cultivates wider recognition of the breed’s versatile abilities. Titles on paper, trophies, and ribbons are great for sustaining a personal sense of satisfaction, but my goal in encouraging you to be involved in dog sports is so that trainers and spectators get to see how smart, agile, and personable this breed is. That is, I want us all to do our part in growing their fan base. Make no mistake, competing can be expensive! Entering a single competition might only cost $20 or $30, but to title in a sport might take 5, 10, 30 entries. Plus, you will likely have had training before competing, so that’s time and cost. You will probably travel to events and incur the cost of overnight stays. When you add it all up, it can be expensive, but it’s an investment that rewards you and your dog with great experiences, a tighter bond, and a network of like-minded friends …plus, there’s ribbons. Then there’s service and therapy work. What can be better and more fulfilling than a dog that provides affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, hospices, disaster areas, and to people with learning difficulties? Standard Schnauzers can be wary of strangers and a little self-absorbed in their own interests, but they love to train and perform their duties well. It’s in their nature to excel in this area when given the opportunity. This, to me, is one of the highest forms of purposeful dog ownership. Finally, there’s conformation. The big show. The true dog-fanatic’s obsession. This is where we remove our blinders and expose ourselves and our dogs to the judgement of others. Think your dog has perfect structure? Perfect gait? Perfect teeth? Think you can execute every step and every turn perfectly to show-off your dog’s exquisite awesomeness? Does he or she have the genes that should be carried forth in future generations? Well then, come join me in the ring! Let’s make Champions! …plus, you get ribbons! What about pets, you wonder? Good, old-fashioned, family-pet dogs? Yes, Standard Schnauzers are great family pets, but let’s face the fact that family-life has changed in a way that may not make it the best environment for an intelligent, active breed like the Standard Schnauzer. I loathe the idea that work and school and after-school activities, and overtime, social commitments, and then down-time in front of the TV or computer culminate into robbing the dog of adequate attention and exercise. This is a Working Dog breed. Spending 10 minutes in the yard playing 2 or 3 times a week just isn’t going to be enough. These dogs need physical and mental stimulation. A bored Schnauzer can be a real problem. They’re purpose-driven, and if you don’t give them purpose they’re likely to assign themselves some that you may not appreciate. Would you ever ask a toddler to just sit quietly in a space with no toys for 30 minutes? How about for 8 or 10 hours? Now imagine that toyless space has lots of breakable dishes, electric appliances, sharp objects, potted plants, etc. You may plan to keep your dog “safe” by crating him or containing him in a confined space, but consider what kind of adult would be produced from a child that was raised in solitary confinement. Puppies need crate time, but they don’t need a lot of it because it’s convenient for you. The point I try to drive with people that tell me they have kids to keep the dog busy is that a house full of kids does not mean that the dog is getting the attention it needs and deserves. Kid-chaos does not constitute training and exercise for the dog’s mind and body. Let me just sum-up by suggesting that before you consider applying for one of our Standard Schnauzers, make sure you can convey what you know about the Working Dog mindset; what attracts you to the Standard Schnauzer breed over other breeds; what purpose will it have, and how will you ensure he or she will be successful, happy, and healthy? What do you want to DO with your dog? …And, of course, will there be ribbons?
A little help here?
Introducing Craig
Let the show begin!
I wonder how many “dog show people” started out just like me. I was just looking for a pet. A beloved Standard Schnauzer to help fill the lonely spot in my heart after my fur-babies, Bosco and Winston, crossed over the rainbow bridge. I searched all over Texas and the surrounding states and then reached out all the way to California looking for a Standard Schnauzer. When I finally found Zoey, I hopped on a plane as fast as I could to go get her. I was so excited that I arrived without a collar, leash, or crate. And that’s how I started our show career too – completely unprepared. The first show I entered was the Standard Schnauzer Nationals in Houston. Our first show. The Nationals. The first dog show I’d ever attended, to say nothing of participation. In retrospect, ridiculous. Need I say that we didn’t win? The experience might have ended my interest in showing Zoey had it not been for the warm support of SS owners and handlers encouraging me to take a deep breath, get some training, and not give up. When I started again, Zoey made Champion so quickly that I felt like I hadn’t even really had a chance to develop my talents as the human exhibiting this beautiful schnauzer. Soooo, this is what led to the decision to continue on and title her as a Grand Champion. It’s little incremental steps you take in the journey to crazy – and I’m already a ways down that road.
Go fetch!
Is your puppy sitting in front of the window with a forlorn “I’m so bored” look? That’s about all it takes for mine to motivate me into a game of fetch. Fetch is a great game that wears them out physically and challenges them mentally while they’re learning “get it,” “bring it back,” and “drop it.” Plus, your puppy won’t mind if you’re still in your jammies – anytime is a great time for fetch!
First kisses
I’ve been collecting and storing the pictures new puppy parents share with me as the pups settle into their new lives. I can hardly express how important these pictures are to me. I look at them over and over …and I smile. Breeding is extremely challenging! And I’m not referring to the sleep-deprived nights or the endless cleaning-up of poop and pee, nor even the efforts to keep house and yard somewhat in order and in tact. I’m talking about the emotional fortitude it takes to let pups go! Wow. Let me say that even when I know these little furbabies are going to great homes where they’ll be cherished and get waaaay more attention than I can give them, I cry and sulk around the house each time one of them leaves. Those pups still with me have to put up with me hugging them and crying on their beautiful coats. What helps me get through my pity-party are the pictures and videos and updates from the new puppy parents. I love em! Seeing the pups in their new homes with happy owners reminds me of how blessed I am to be able to bring joy into these puppies lives and into the lives of dog-loving people. I thought some of you might like to see those pictures too so I added a page of some of my favorites. You can find it here: https://steadfaststandards.com/puppy-parent-pics/ Keep sending them! I never get tired of seeing them or hearing from you.
Wings go down, up, and down again.
Everyone knows by now that I made the switch to raw food for my girls a few years ago. It’s an ongoing challenge because the “facts” about the risks, benefits, nutritional aspects are assented and disputed by qualified experts on both sides. What I can say for sure is that I have one dog, Jacky, that will pass up almost anything I put in her bowl to eat the raw food first – and luckily for me, she prefers relatively inexpensive chicken. My other dog, Zoey, is a picky eater and almost any bowl of food must sit while she contemplates the perfect time to eat. I sometimes wonder if it’s not a test to see whether Jacky or one of the cats will try to get it just so she can chase them away. Now we’re on next generation – Zoey’s puppies. They’re 12 weeks old and I purposely waited for most of them to go to their forever homes before making the switch from kibble to raw. A couple of the pups are like Zoey in that they’ll eat a few bites and then wander off to explore more interesting things, come back for a few more bites, wander off again – just not terribly food focused. The other two stay at the bowl and eat every bit before checking the other bowls too. So, I expected that I’d have some degree of success and some partial success in making the switch to raw with 3-month-old puppies of varying food focus. Here’s my experience with their first introduction: These little darlings that have learned to sit patiently and at a respectful distance for a cookie nearly took my fingers off for the raw chicken wing I offered. I expected them to be curious and a little apprehensive of something new, but NO! The first one snatched it from my fingers before I could even utter a reprimand and the others immediately lunged at the meaty morsel to steal it away from him. They hadn’t even sniffed it first! Previously, they’ve always looked to me as the giver of treats understanding that if one puppy got a treat there would be another in my hand for the next puppy too. Not so this time! So eager were they to ingest the raw wing that two of them grabbed it from my hand and swallowed it whole. I watched with horror as they gagged on their too-big-comfortable-swallowing quarry. Reaching for the phone to call the emergency vet I also watched as they upchucked the precious meal and began to eat it again. This time they chewed, but still like they were starving and obviously under threat of having it stolen away. Who were these puppies?! I didn’t recognize the little pack of wild dogs! They certainly weren’t the well-behaved sweethearts I’ve been raising. Only one puppy did what I had expected of all of them. Banner – one of the two that always eats every bite – took his precious chicken wing and settled in a comfy spot under the patio table where he could savor the bones, fat, skin, and meat like he was dining out at a 5-star restaurant. He seemed to enjoy it all the more as the other pups that had already gorged sat and watched him eat. He growled repeatedly to let them know he would not be sharing. I’m experienced in feeding raw to adult dogs and had read an article on ‘introducing the raw diet to your puppy.’ The article discussed common risks of raw food, suggested meat sources with which to begin, but it failed to caution me about puppies gone mad with food aggression… Maybe those vegans are right – meat causes aggression! If this turns out to be my last post it’s because the puppies took my fingers off and I can’t type anymore. Beware, raw feeders. Beware.
Tonsure!… and moths.
Just when I thought we were sliding into a comfortable and manageable routine everything changed again. I took several puppies in for ear cropping and over the next two weeks we had to closely monitor activity and keep them separated so none of the other puppies would chew on their little healing ears. The time impact of rotating everyone so they still got plenty of play time while being protected from rough-housing was… wow, crazy. And noisy! Our little healing pups seem to enjoy “running the fence line” outside of the Puppy Palace while those on the inside chased and barked at them. Those with cropped ears had their little heads and ears shaved by the vet and now they look like little Monks. To make matters worse, I started working on their coats and I’m slowly stripping out the puppy coat to reveal all that gorgeous pepper/salt Schnauzer coat coming in. But you know by now that I am all about making sure new experiences are positive. So, I only work on their coats if they’re relatively still and happy with all the praise. Consequently, their coats now look like moths have attacked them. They’re all patchy and spotty! They turned 10 weeks old and three of them have made the journey to their new lives. Of course, I cried to lose them but I’m also extremely happy that they’ve gone to wonderful people that will love them and care for them. They’re lucky dogs. My expectation is that these dogs will go out into the world and remind us humans how to love deeply and almost unconditionally – cause that’s just what dogs do! Plus, there’s the added benefit that as puppies they provide enough chaos and destruction to our lives such that they ensure we exercise our ability to show patience and tolerance. Some people may not appreciate that service, but any doctor will tell you that exercise is important! It’s so hard to believe that they were this puppyish just two weeks ago! Here they were at 8 weeks old:
Zoey gets her groove back!
If you read my Puppy Update blogs you know that Miss Zoey had a period where she just seemed to have the ‘blahs.’ Now she’s feeling spry again. She doesn’t get up the trees nearly as high as she did before, but you wouldn’t either if you’d birthed a whole pack of nine just a couple of months ago! Jackie isn’t related in lineage to Zoey but she’s “Aunt Jackie” to these pups anyhow.
Personal space
This is a long update because I’ve been remiss in writing. If you didn’t discover them already, I sneaked in pictures of the puppies’ first day outside a couple of Saturdays ago. You’ll find them under Picture Gallery / Flag Day Puppies 2018. Be forewarned! The cuteness is almost too much. Here’s a sneak-peek: They’re big shots in the yard now. They’ve explored every nook and cranny; barked at suspicious things like water pipes and vases they broke. They learned about uppity cats that will smack a pushy, solo pup but run for the trees when the whole pack gets after him. Climbing! Mama demonstrates “how to” climb the driftwood log and within a flash pups all over it. Potty-training is almost a done-deal. When they’re indoors they use the litter box. Occasionally someone misses the litter box, but for the most part they’ve got it figured out. When we’re outside, all I can say is it’s a really good thing we have a big yard because 9 puppies and 2 adults make for a lot of landmines. I feel so bad that my husband doesn’t let me do the clean-up. He says I tear-up the lawn too much with the end of the shovel. I just don’t know why I still can’t seem to get the hang of that. <grin> I even let them venture around the house a little when we first come in from outside. They discovered that my cowhide rug was fun to chew, and so was my napping blanket that I keep folded up in a basket. The basket itself was about to be swiss cheese, but I saved it. The Sisal rug in the breakfast area was then targeted as a great tug-of-war toy, and Jackie maligned a pup that tried to steal a toy from her crate. When I caught Benny chewing the cord to the puppy-cam that was the last straw – I herded everyone back to the safe zone. It just goes to show you that no matter how puppy-safe you think an area is they always find SOMETHING THEY’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE!… But, no one pee’d or poo’d where they weren’t supposed to – so that is awesome. Okay, so here’s what we’ve worked on over the past week: Manners! Mama has been teaching them that “no” means “no” – the milk bar is closed. Zoey is such an incredibly good mama. I’m so pleased with how gentle but firm she is with them. She lets them play pretty darn rough with each other without interfering. Occasionally, someone cries out with the right amount of distress and its big Mama Zoey to the rescue. They’re getting valuable lessons in what constitutes “too rough” from their siblings, their mama, and us. They’re also working on ‘sit quietly.’ I make them practice sitting still and taking food GENTLY from my hand. They must do this even if one of their brothers or sisters gets over-exuberant and tries to steal the tasty morsel. No one gets that treat until they can sit quietly and calmly. It’s precious to see that little circle of nine faces concentrating on being calm. Some of them are very relaxed about it and could easily sit for two or three minutes while others are working so hard at just being in control of themselves for twenty or thirty seconds. I’ll try to get some video of it. I’m dang proud of them for it because it’s hard work being that calm when you’re a puppy! And nails. The dreaded nail-trimming… I use a Dremel. I’m just too much of a nervous-Nelly with regular nail guillotines. So far, I’ve let the cordless Dremel run completely out of battery power twice because I just leave it running with the pups in close proximity so they can get used to the sound of it. When I finally pressed it to a foot – not even the sanding part – you’d have thought a bee stung him. He jumped and screamed and wriggled and just generally made a big fuss. Mama came in to see what was going on, gave him a little lick on the face and then showed no more concern. He calmed down enough that I was able to sand off the ends without ever getting close to the quick. Lots of treats and praise for his bravery at the end. On to the next pup. It’s a slow process building trust in the face of something this scary. I’m going to keep working on it with them so that hopefully nail trimming won’t be a source of fear for them. Finally, ‘Operation Me Time’ has begun. I want them to have a gentle transition into being able to accept and enjoy having their own space in their own crate. Therefore, I’ve set up two crates with a divider in each – creating four personal spaces. The pups are taking turns spending time in those personal spaces so it won’t be such a big shock when they go to their forever homes. I let them go in there when I know they’re about to fall asleep anyhow. They get a chewable treat that is ONLY something they get when they’re in those special personal spaces. That way, it’s always a positive experience for them – except when a sibling in the personal space next door manages to thieve your chewable from under the divider. That’s not so fun.
The great kibble debate
A couple of people have asked me what I’m feeding our puppies and what I recommend to future puppy parents. Well, here goes. I currently have our litter on this high protein, no by-product, grain-free, no recalls, and rates highly on a couple of dog food sites I trust. But wait, there’s more! To their kibble I usually add prebiotic and probiotic supplement, or sometimes plain Greek yogurt. But what’s really, really, really important is: I add Apple Cider vinegar to keep the acidity in their stomach high and counteract the effect of the starch that is present in all kibble – even grain-free kibble. Vinegar lowers the pH in the gut and can kill 80-99% of harmful bacteria that could be in his/her food. Remember that dogs have digestive systems that naturally allow them to eat old, yucky, rotten carcasses and…well some unmentionable treats the cats leave in the yard… without any repercussions as long as they have a healthy gut. Kibble screws up the healthy gut environment. The pups are ONLY on kibble because I didn’t think future puppy parents would be able to take them home and commit to feeding a raw diet. My adult girls and the pup I keep will be on raw. I’ve done a lot of reading on the topic and I know there’s a lot of controversy similar to ‘GMO-is-ok’ or ‘hell-no-to-GMO’ debate. I subscribe to the belief that dogs weren’t meant to eat the stuff they put in kibble – even high quality kibble. Plus, all that starch they can’t process comes out as poop; so you’re paying good money for poop that you then have to clean up. Sometimes I add chicken bone broth, sometimes NuPro. They’ve even had canned sardines. Basically, I try to find healthy ways to provide variety in flavor, texture, smell. Now, I’m not a fanatic. Moderation in all things (except wine and chocolate, of course). When I travel with my girls it’s not convenient to pack, buy, or feed raw when we’re on the road so they get kibble. Again, I take the precautionary steps of adding the vinegar and probiotics. Now here’s a little shocker for you: your pup has already had some raw. <GASP! > I don’t have a meat grinder so the pups have only had a limited amount of “soft raw” in the form of boneless chicken and eggs (including the shell). Dogs need the right combination of bone and meat, so without a grinder I haven’t been able to turn these little puppies into the savage raw carnivores I’d like to. You’ll have to decide what will work best for you and your pup, but I highly recommend a raw diet. There. I said it. Now I’m one of THOSE people.