Standard Wire Hair Snauzer

The Standard Wire Hair Snauzer is a deliberate crossbreed, the combination of the Schnauzer, an overall farm dog from Germany, and the Wire Fox Terrier, a hunting dog from England that specializes in bolting foxes from their dens. Dogs very similar to the modern Standard Schnauzer have been working German farms since the Middle Ages, ably providing both protection and pest elimination services both at home and on the road. In the mid-1800s dog fanciers began to take notice of these medium-sized, rough-coated dogs and began breeding them with black Poodles and grey Wolfspitz dogs, enhancing their rough coat and giving them the characteristic black or salt & pepper colored coats that we see today. Although they were known originally as Wire-Haired Pinschers, they eventually were given the name Schnauzers, from the German word schnauz, meaning nose, in reference to their distinctive large, bearded muzzles. Although the Wire Fox Terrier was registered and shown alongside the Smooth Fox Terrier for over a century in the United States, it is now believed by most experts that the two had very different ancestries. Although the Smooth Fox Terrier was a blend of several dogs, including Beagles, Greyhounds, Bull Terriers and the Smooth Coated Black and Tan Terrier, the Wire Fox Terrier was more directly descended from the now extinct Rough-coated Black and Tan Terriers from the Derbyshire, Durham, and Wales area. In 1866 a dog named Old Tip became the first officially recorded Wire Fox Terrier, and most modern Wire Fox Terriers can trace their heritage back to him in one way or another. Smooth Fox Terriers were frequently infused into the Wire Fox Terrier heritage, however, giving it a lighter coat, a more classical outline, and a cleaner-cut head.