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The Miniature Schnauzer is a small, squarely-proportioned dog with a long head, bushy beard, mustache and eyebrows. The thick, prominent eyebrows and long mustache are often trimmed to accentuate the dog's square cut shape. The front legs are very straight. The tail is usually docked. The oval eyes are dark colored, and the v-shaped ears fold forward when left natural or are cropped to a point and stand erect. It has a long head, strong muzzle, a well-developed black nose and a scissors bite. Coat colors include salt & pepper, black, white or a harsh black & silver outer coat with a soft undercoat.

Very perky and bright-eyed. Loving and intelligent. Energetic, affectionate, and obedient. Playful, happy and alert, they like children. The Miniature Schnauzer demands time and companionship from its owner. It can be feisty and fairly dog-aggressive - putting on a show of superiority without necessarily intending to fight. This can be fairly dangerous for the Miniature Schnauzer, who will challenge even large dogs, sometimes bringing more trouble on himself than he really wanted. Socialize this breed well with other dogs when it is still a puppy. If properly introduced, the Miniature Schnauzer will get along with another dog, but will not accept every dog that comes its way. Since the temperament of this breed can be quite variable, select a puppy from parents whose temperament you enjoy. They make good companions and family pets. Schnauzers tend to bark a lot, but it does not have a yappy bark and is not as annoying as one may think. Most of the time the dog's bark sounds like it is talking to you in a low carried-out voice. They make good guard dogs and mouse catchers. They are excellent watchdogs and are great to travel with. Some can be reserved with strangers, but most love everyone.

The Standard Schnauzer breed goes back to the fifteenth century. His was not the stylish life of silken pillows and a coach-and-four, but the plebian life of the trusted guard and family dog of the working class.

Schnauzer-like dogs appear in several art works of this early period. Some famous paintings and statues by the masters of the time document their existence as early as 1492. Rembrandt and Durer both included Schnauzers in their paintings and Lucas Cranach the Elder shows one in a tapestry dated 1501.

In Mecklenborg, Germany, there is a statue dating from the fourteenth century of a hunter with a Schnauzer crouching at his feet. The Schnauzer again appears in statuary in "The Night Watchman", dated 1620, in Stuttgart, Germany.

By the eighteenth century some Schnauzers had apparently emigrated to England where one appears in a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). It is certain that fifteenth and sixteenth century tradesmen used Schnauzers to protect their wagons of merchandise as they traveled from town to town. These hardy, reliable guard dogs were of a size not to take up too much space in the wagon, but were fierce enough to warn off filchers.

The word "Schnauzer" appeared in dog literature for the first time in 1842 when it was used as a synonym for Wire-haired Pinscher. The Wire-haired Pinscher was accepted as a pure, individual breed around 1850. The breed was variously designated as Rauhaar Pinscher (rough-haired terrier), Rattenfanger (rat catcher), and Schnauzer.

Fitzinger, the Viennese Zoologist (1802-1884), described the Wire-haired Pinscher as a cross between the Dog of Bologne and the Spitz. A subsequent cross of the German Black Poodle and the Gray Wolf Spitz upon the old German Pinscher stock produced the type seen in this time. He described the face as furnished with shaggy hair which is longer and almost beard-like around the muzzle and said the ears and tail are cropped.