KEYSTONE MINIATURE SCHNAUZERS
Dog in Meyerton

Breeding top Show quality Miniature Schnauzers that conform as close as possible to the breed standard is always top priority. Without Reinette’s encouragement Keystone Schnauzers would not have achieved results so quickly and consistently. My aim is to breed beautiful, happy, sound and healthy Miniature Schnauzers with outstanding personalities and temperaments for show and pet homes. Please enjoy your tour around our site, we are very proud of our dogs and their achievements! Members of the public may be surprised to learn that all dogs are born with tails and that the removal of puppy’s tails is an unnecessary and painful mutilation. The practice of docking dogs’ tails has been around for hundred of years and for a variety of reasons. Maybe the most understandable would have been to reduce the likelihood of injury of those dogs used for ratting, fighting and hunting. However, it was also thought that docking of the tail prevented rabies, increased the speed of the working dog and even avoided the payment of tax! The establishment of the kennel club in the early 1900’s resulted in recognition of pedigreed dogs that had to conform to the so called breed standards. One way to ensure uniformity was to encourage cropping of ears and docking of tails so that the dogs tended to looked alike. This practice became the norm and the fashion of cropped ears and docked tails was carried out as a routine procedure. Many breed clubs will insist that the tails are easily injured, especially in working breeds, but there is no evidence to suggest that this is in fact the case. There are other equally ludicrous reasons given from the tact that wagging tails can cause damage in the home to improving hygiene in long coated breeds. Many might consider that the tail is a useless appendage, but it is worth looking at it more closely.