About the Authors
Carol Bobrowsky founded Roebling Stock Farm and raised working dogs and American Quarter Horses from 1966 to 1982. She later established Mulberry Farm kennel in Dutchess County, New York and began raising AKC-registered American Cocker Spaniels and Miniature Schnauzers in the early 1990s.
Jim Gladden joined Mulberry Farm in 1996, primarily as its webmaster. At that time, Carol had become interested in hybrid Poodle crosses, particularly Schnoodles and Cockapoos. She quickly realized that Jim’s master’s degree in biology uniquely qualified him to work with her in developing and refining the Schnoodle hybrid by using her already established Miniature Schnauzer lines. Through their diligent work, Carol and Jim are striving to set the standard for the Schnoodle as a breed.
About Our Cover Dog
Meet Katie von Bow Wow, a one-year-old Schnoodle owned by Catherine and Steve Conrad. Katie was bred by the authors, Carol Bobrowsky and Jim Gladden of Mulberry Farm kennel. Katie’s owners describe her as full of life, friendly and a charmer. She likes to play hard, run, jump and scout around in the back yard, but when she’s finished with her many activities, a favorite of which is playing ball outdoors, she’ll fall asleep in your lap like a little angel. Katie’s favorite treats are Cheerios®.
Kennel Club Books®, the country’s only major publisher of exclusively dog books, proudly presents its Designer Dog Series™ to celebrate the Schnoodle’s coming-out party. Continuing in its bold effort to produce a unique line of dog books, Kennel Club Books® releases the first ever books on the specific designer dog crossbreeds. The company has also released many Special Limited Editions and Special Rare-Breed Editions on various unusual breeds.
Visit the publisher’s website at www.kennelclubbooks.com to read more about the unique library of books available to dog lovers around the world.
KENNEL CLUB BOOKS®
Designer Dog
SERIES™
SCHNOODLE ISBN: 1-59378-672-7 eISBN: 9781593787172
Copyright © 2006 • Kennel Club Books® • An Imprint of I-5 Press™ • A Division of I-5 Publishing, LLC™ 3 Burroughs, Irvine, CA 92618 USA Printed in South Korea
Photography by Mary Bloom
with additional photos by Isabelle Français.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, scanner, microfilm, xerography or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the wonderful breeders and owners whose dogs are featured in this book: Carol Bobrowsky, Catherine and Steve Conrad, Annie Fitzpatrick, the Geivett family, James Gladden, Barbara Henry, the Janeczek family, Dr. Lynne Liptay, Terra and Gregg Loden, the Mae family, the Mallette family, the Miller family, Curtis and Debbie Moon, Cassandra, Austin and McKenzie Nasta, the Peyzer family, David Reis, Laura and Bruce Schwartz, Cheryl Smith and Diane Stoffer.
Schnoodles possess oodles of charm and intelligence—a true designer-dog dream.
Contents
CHAPTER 1
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHNOODLE
CHAPTER 2
MEET THE SCHNOODLE PARENT BREEDS
CHAPTER 3
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHNOODLE
CHAPTER 4
FINDING A SCHNOODLE BREEDER
CHAPTER 5
SELECTING A SCHNOODLE PUPPY
CHAPTER 6
BASIC CARE OF YOUR SCHNOODLE
CHAPTER 7
HOUSE-TRAINING THE SCHNOODLE
CHAPTER 8
OBEDIENCE TRAINING THE SCHNOODLE
CHAPTER 9
ACTIVITIES AND GENERAL SCHNOODLE FUN
CHAPTER 10
HEALTH CONCERNS FOR SCHNOODLE OWNERS
CHAPTER 11
BREEDING THE SCHNOODLE
The Schnoodle is a delightful mix of small-breed favorites Miniature Schnauzer crossed with Poodle.
Development of the Schnoodle
The earliest occurrence of the Schnoodle form was most likely a breed developed in England known as the Truffle Dog. General consensus of the literature is that white Toy Poodles (developed by breeding the larger German or French white corded Poodles with the Maltese) were crossed with a small terrier breed to create the Truffle Dog. The sagacious intellect and keen sense of smell common to both the Poodle and terrier breeds, combined with the determined digging skills inherent to most terriers, resulted in a breed that was essentially perfect for sniffing out and unearthing the very valuable “gourmet fungus.”
Because truffles are found in the soil closely associated with only certain species of trees in the wild, truffle hunters had to go wherever such trees were located, often involving trespassing onto (and digging up) restricted property. The white Truffle Dog was especially useful for this task, since “hunting” had to be conducted at night under the cloak of darkness to avoid detection by land owners—and other truffle poachers!
A renaissance in popularity of the Poodle-terrier form came about on the other side of the Atlantic in America in the 1980s. At least one professional dog breeder purposely began crossing pure-bred Miniature Schnauzers with pure-bred Toy or Miniature Poodles to produce first-generation (F1) Schnoodles and later bred unrelated pairs of these hybrids to produce subsequent multi-generational (F2, etc.) breed lines. Although no documentation can be found in printed form regarding the origin and development of this crossbreed, we believe that the first selective breeding of Schnoodles occurred in Minnesota.
The Lagotto Romagnolo is a modern-day Truffle Dog developed from water dogs in Italy.