Welcome to the Schnauzer site. Home to (from left to right) Zeta who is 12, Kaska the only dog who is 7 and Maisie, 11. They are all Trawest mini schnauzers now living in Newcastle, England.

We now run the Northern Schnauzer Club Shop  so please visit and browse our wares. All proceeds go to the Club.

Our 3 minis each have their own page with lots of pictures which can be visited by following the links below:-

For those not lucky enough to have a schnauzer, here is some information from our personal experience. 

They are small dogs, in Britain the height is ideally 13 inches for bitches, 14 for dogs. Tails are normally docked, but , unlike in USA and some other counties, it is illegal to crop the ears here.

They are very intelligent, high spirited dogs. Ours are very curious, some may say nosey. They were originally bred as watchdogs, and like nothing better than watching out of the window, and will kindly bark to let us know when anyone passes by. 

They do not need lots of exercise, but will gladly take it when offered – just so long as its not raining! Maisie needs to be carried out of the house on a rainy day, and Zeta delicately skirts all puddles. They dig their heels in when they think that "we have gone quite far enough in this weather, thank you". 

They are good companions , but aren’t necessarily interested in the attentions of strangers, unless they have food in their hands or they wish to admire and praise. We have found that mini schnauzers (especially when puppies) act as a magnet, everyone wants to know what breed they are, etc. In fact one woman tried to convince me that really they were Kerry Blues! I suppose I could have made one mistake, but did she really believe I could have made 3? For their special friends, however, their greetings are wild and enthusiastic! 

Minis do not really like to be left alone, so its important to get them used to this at an early age. They always like to be involved. Zeta likes to have a chair next to the computer so that she can see what is going on, and would, by preference be on my lap!.

We have taken Maisie to obedience and agility classes, and have a fun agility set for home use. All dogs enjoy classes and love to learn new things. They do, however, get bored with too many repetitions and look around for something more interesting to do. The classes we attend use reward based training methods which they respond very well to - schnauzers generally are highly food motivated i.e. greedy.

Schnauzers need a lot of attention, not only in terms of training, but also regarding their grooming. They are double coated. In simple terms, this means that they have a wiry top coat and a soft undercoat. The top coat is water resistant but does not shed. and needs to be pulled out in order to re-grow. The plus side is that they don't shed hair.

We belong to the Northern Schnauzer Club Click the link for details about the club and forthcoming events.

We also belong to some schnauzer web rings, which are helpful for finding new schnauzer friends. Our good friends Millie and Bramble found us and have now got their own website. Millie & Bramble