There’s a bit of irony in the fact that when the Standard Schnauzer was first exhibited in 1879, it was as the “Wire Haired Pinscher,” but the dog who made that debut was named “Schnauzer,” the German word for “snout.”  Schnauzer, owned by C. Berger from Wurtemburg, waltzed into the record books by entering the  show ring of the Third International All Breed Show in Hanover, Germany. Three dogs were entered, but Schnauzer won first prize,  the remaining places won by ‘Betti’ and ‘Anni’.

The word itself, “schnauzer,” first appeared in 1842 when Jeremias Gotthelf used it as a synonym for the Wired-haired Pinscher, and as long as we’re on the subject, the word should be pronounced “sh-now-tser” with the German “z” sounding like “ts,”  as in Mozart which is spoken as “Motsart.”

What a difference a few years make. After a breed standard was written up, the first specialty show was held a little over a decade later, and ninety three dogs were listed as entry candidates that year.

The first Standard Schnauzer registered in the United States was a dog named “Norwood Victor” out of  Schnauzer x Schnauzerl from the Norwod kennels of Philadelphia. There were also unconfirmed reports of the breed being shown in the Miscellaneous Class at Westminster as well as other shows in the late 1800s, but “Victor” is credited as the first Schnauzer registered. As for imported Schnauzers, the first reported import was a dog named “Fingel,” brought to the U.S. in 1905 by Mr. B. Leisching of Rochester NY.  Fingel was a dog out of the line bred by G. Goller of Stuttgart, Germany.

Image: Schnauzer of medium size from W. E. Mason’s work Dogs of All Nations (1915) prepared for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition/Wikipedia