I see that there were no posts to this topic for several years. I own a great Giant Schnauzer -- Mansi. I did not get him from a working line, and he has some character flaws being a little too careful than I would have liked him to be. Maybe, he is too smart -- I am still trying to understand this part of dog behavior. Mansi is about 82 pounds of all agility and muscle. He can jump over anything and easily run over 20 miles with me on a mountain bike. I trained him in Schutzhund -- great in obedience and tracking, but his cautious nature made him hard to train in protection -- he tends to drop the sleeve too soon. Now we are volunteering in SAR -- he is a great tracking dog both in trailing and air scent.

You can see some photos on my public facebook album:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004742&id=1384661498&saved#/album.php?aid=2004742&id=1384661498

If anyone else is interested to share their experiences or has questions regarding Giant Schnauzers, please participate.

I don’t have a ton of knowledge about Giants, but we do have five in our club, three males and two females. Our club has hosted in the past, and will be hosting this year, the annual Schnauzerfest.

Bill Webber , a legend in the working Schnauzer world, was a charter member of our club and president until his brain tumor didn’t allow him to work anymore. He had a great dog that took him all over the country, Argen v. Iro, call name, Nick. He was a great dog to watch and was ten times IPO/SCH III. He passed in January 2008. Bill kept one of his sons, Charlie v Eichenblatt to be his next competition dog, but was too sick to work him. Our current training director, Carl Bell, took Charlie in and worked with him, giving Bill updates on Charlie’s progress every day, even well after Bill could no longer respond. It was Bill’s dying wish to see Charlie earn his SCHI, and Carl and Charlie made it happen. Bill was able to pass in peace. On the page linked through Bill’s name at the beginning of the paragraph is the last picture taken of Bill and Charlie on the field together. Charlie earned his III this January. We all wish Bill could have been here to see it. His widow cried on my shoulder the whole way through his protection routine. There were tears in everyone’s eyes.

This is a tribute to Nick . The Rottie Taz, in the story also, passed April 1 one year ago. He was V-rated Jenecks Wyatt IPO/SCH III BH FH BST, himself a legend. I cry even now re-reading it.

The males in our club bring a lot to the field. Very high in drives and have a tough edge to them. Very much terriers. One male, Spike, ended up with bad seizures and has retired with gold balls in his brain (a new approach to alternative healing?) Both of the girls are sharp and drivey, but one, a rescue back by her breeder, has some confidence issues. All are highly trainable and neat to watch.

My understanding is that they need to be worked much like a Rott, and have similar personality traits. One of our helper struggles with them, working them like he would a Mal or GSD. The aggression is just a little closer to the surface than with his GSDs and he will bring it up more than he should, inadvertently.

Thanks Jessica, nice post. Being on the east coast and being involved in working dog sports only from 2006, I did not know Bill. I am not aware of a good club in my area that trains Giants. The Schutzhund trainers who train and breed GSDs do not like Giants.

By the way, Riesenschnauzers (Giant Schnauzers) are not terriers. Most believe that teh Giant was bred from Standard Schnauzer, Great Dane, and either a Standard or Giant Pudel.

 Quote: Simon Raban

You can see some photos on my public facebook album:

please check your URL bbcode syntax!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004742&id=1384661498&saved#/album.php?aid=2004742&id=1384661498

This link takes me to a login screen. Any chance that you have a few on a Photobucket-type site?

I am not Simon, but here are some pictures of the last 15 min of training today. Ironically, I only got puppy and Schnauzer shots! Some are not great pictures and are all taken with a cheap-o camera...

http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa263/noellekromer/Forum/?albumview=slideshow

The Schnauzer with the guy in jeans is 18 months and named Benne, with the woman (well groomed)(ETA: I mean the dog, but the woman too! :grin is a female, and the one with the guy in the overalls is Charlie.

Great photos Jessica! BTW, those are some muddy puppies :-p

Grrrr....

SOMEBODY thought it would be a great idea to spray the puppies down since it was so hot. Turned out to be a huge mess.

Here is that same visious pup after a day of "training"
Havok after training.

Not close to you really but here is where I train:

http://www.schutzhundvillage.com/

Armin has probably forgotten more about working RSs than most will ever know. You ever have a free weekend come on down for weekend of training.

 Quote: jessicakromer

Grrrr....

SOMEBODY thought it would be a great idea to spray the puppies down since it was so hot. Turned out to be a huge mess.

Here is that same visious pup after a day of "training"
Havok after training.

LOL, I see he has not lost his panache at the sleeping on the back deal :-p

Hey Simon, just wondering where you were training in Schutzhund and where you're training in SAR? We are currently training our three Giants with our club, The Sirius Working Dog Association, http://www.swda.ca and I did certify my old Dobie bitch Raven in SAR out in British Columbia years ago. I love SAR tracking , Schutzhund tracking... not so much! lol. It's not as fast paced as SAR. Anyway, you can check out our Giants on our website.
Cheers.
Tammy