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Thanks for the responses. I think the stitches are pulling. The drug she is on is Caprive/Carpofen. She is jumpy but reluctant to move. Just one more day of medication so I will see how she is after that.

Hi All, I just had my femal Std Schnauzer desexed. Procedure went well and she is now on pain killers until tomorrow. Apart from the fact that she hates the cone, she is not herself. She seems very jumpy and hyper. From time to time she will just run and then sit down and not move for a long time. She is even hesitant to come when I am feeding her. Has anyone else had their dogs do this post surgery? I wonder if it's just the discomfort from the stitches or a reaction to the pain killer. Thanks

Hi. I take my dog to Brandon Park Vet in Glen Waverley and find the vets there really good to deal with. The nurses are really helpful as well.

Good suggestions here already. Just hang in there. I have just gone through the new puppy stage as well, so can empathize. They sure know how to push our buttons. The first time we left Pepper alone, we just had to block her crying out which was hard. But after a few days, she settled.

Thanks for this. That's how I am approaching it now. Will hold it off for as long as I can. The breeder said that they tend to get to their full height at around 8 months, so will wait till that age. If she happens to have her first season by then, we will just manage it as best as we can. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences/thoughts.

Thanks for all the input on this. I have contacted the breeder and she says that they normally get their first season around 9 months, so I can wait a little. However, I do have a male dog (desexed). Will the male dog go after her in her first season even if he is desexed? He was desexed around 3 months old as I got him from a shelter and they desex very early. I think this will be the major point in deciding when to get it done.

I do trust the breeder. Just seeking other experiences as the subject was brought up to me again recently. I will be speaking to my vet again before deciding when to get it done. I do have another dog that is a desexed male, so no sure how that would complicate things.

She is a Standard Schnauzer. At what age do they normally get their first season?

Hi, Pepper just turned 5 months old and the breeder and vets advice is to desex at about 5 1/2 to 6 months old. But someone recently commented that we should wait till 12 months or at least till her first season. Then there are others who say do it before her first season. The main reason seems to be to let her hormones kick in for growth and development. I am just seeking your experiences of when you desex your dog and what your experience was in terms of pros and cons of doing it at a particular age. Also, any tips of things to keep an eye on when desexing. Thanks

'hm, I thought the name refers to the German word for moustache which is 'Schnurbart' or 'Schnauzbart' or 'Schnauzer' because of the dog's distinctively bearded snout?... That's what I got from the Schanuzer Club website anyway. Will try and search more on the origins of the name when I have some time.

Schnauzer was the name of the first prize winning Wire Haired Pinscher which was the bred was originally called. I think I ptrefer Schnauzer to "Wire Haired Pinscher".

Thanks for the suggestions. I took the time to view the Reinforcement zone videos on the weekend and have started to train the heel position separately from loose lead walking. No walks yesterday and today due to the hot weather in Melbourne.

Thanks for the tips. Yesterday took her out for a walk and made it a point to mark and reward whenever she was at my side.I also stopped when she started pulling and told her to get back to heel. Made things lot better. I will keep working on that and see how she progresses. Thanks all.

Hi, So I have a 5 month old standard schnauzer. We have been to puppy pre school and are just waiting to get started on proper obedience training when the next course starts. So far, she has been great to train. Very keen to work. She sits/drops well and waits for her food until she is given the release command. The area I am struggling with is getting her to walk well on the lead. I have done some walking on in the lead in my backyard as a start and she seems to do ok there. But once we go out, she gets distracted, starts pulling away or sometimes just sits in one place and not move if there is something that gets her attention. It's worse when she is out with my older dog. She just tries to run alongside him and play. I have stopped taking both dogs out at the same time. Some of the things I have tried are stopping when there is tension on the lead and going in a different direction when she pulls in one direction. Not sure if I have made it worse. It is the one thing I have not been able to work on with my other dog. And with him being a large breed, I had to resort to using a head collar which has helped. I really want to be able to get walking on a loose lead right with my new pup. Any tips and suggestions? Am I doing something wrong now? Thanks

I think the key it to find the right puppy school. I took Pepper to one that was run by the vet. It was great. They gave lots of tips, we had a chance to ask a lot of questions and were given excercises to do with the dogs. Helped lay the foundation for some basic training. There was never a free for all play. Only introductions in a controlled manner. On the other hand, I have observed one run by a pet store, and it was such a waste of time.

Hang in there. With my new pup, I have had a few rough days as well. It's been a very long time since I had a young pup and forgot how much work they can be. The upside is that she thrives on training, so I make sure I do that with her everyday. I am learning to appreciate what this breed brings. She is a very different dog from my first. Just like my kids, they are both different and I relate to them slightly differently.

Hi Lake, I have a 13 week old Standard myself. I have heard that Standards are not that affectionate and was worried that this is a trait in the breed. However, that was not the case when I met my breeders dogs. They were really friendly, which is why I decided to get one. When I got Pepper about 7 weeks ago, I did find that it was not as easy to bond with her as with my other dog. But it's a lot better now. I think what helped was a lot of play (she loves to play), I feed her at all meals and made her wait/work for it. And lots of training. She loves training a lot more than my other dog and seems to really thrive on it. Or maybe it's the treats she gets as a result of the training that she loves. that's what's helped me and I now feel a much stronger bond with her, though it's still early. Hope you find that with your dog as well. I think standard schnauzer's are great dogs :)

Quick update. I think the food was the problem. She has nicely transitioned to Blackhawk Puppy and loves it. As a result, she is feeding better and so is full and sleeps from about 9.30pm till about 5.30. Now to try and get her to sleep in till 6! Thanks for the advice and suggestions.

The school in Brandon park Vet allows pups to join in as long as they have had their first vaccination. It's held indoors and they sterilise the place and all other pups would also have had their first shot. I wuld at least call them and ask them about it.

This is a lot of changes of diet. Frankly, that's probably not helping. What did the breeder recommend the pup be fed. Baby puppies often don't sleep through for a while. Yes I know it's a lot of change. Was not planning to, but she just stopped eating the Meals for mutt kibble that the breeder recommended. That could also be why she has been restless at night. She may have been hungry. I have stopped the hills and just feed her the Blackhawk. I will try the chicken wings on the weekend and see how she goes. On the plus side, she did really well in puppy school today. Her recall was pretty good even with the distraction of other pups around her.

She wees and sometimes poos as well and then settles down. It has not been really hot here in Melbourne until yesterday and she was dirnking more as a result. But I was wondering if it could be food related as well. She does not like the Meals for Mutts and hardly eats it, so she may have been waking up in hunger. She eats a little with the mince, but she tries to finsih off the mince and leaves the rest. She had some Science diet that the vet provided and she loves that but I do not like it. I just got some Blackhawk for her yesterday and mixed it with the Science diet. She seems to like it too. Finishes it off without any mince. But between 8pm and 6 am this morning, she pooed 4 times. Could this be just as a result of her eating more or adjustment to the new food? This is really not good for us as my wife has hypertension and really needs sleep in order to keep her blood pressure under control. We have the last puppy pre school today so will ask the vet about it then.

Hi All, We have had our 13 week old Standard Schnauzer, Pepper now for over 4 weeks. For the first week and a bit she had the usual transition stage and woke up a few times a night. She then settled in and will sleep from around 9pm till about 5.30. However, in the last few days she seems to have gone back to waking several times a night. Like last night for example, she went to bed at 9, woke up at 11 and then again at midnight and then at 5am. All times I just took her to toilet and then straight back to her crate with a blanket over it. Any ideas on why this could be going on? How long does it take before a puppy can realistically sleep through the night?

Hi, I just started my Puppy at the Puppy Pre School at Brandon Park Vet (corner of Ferntreegully Rd and Watsons Rd). I like it. It's actually run by one of the vets there, so we get to ask a lot of questions. For a puppy pre school, it's great. There is a dog trainer that also has obedience training in the same venue. I think it's called 4 Paws that I took my other dog to this year. For my new pup, after Puppy pre school in Brandon park vet, I plan to enroll her in Underdog training as they were recommended by the breeder. They have a saturday class in Clayton South which is not too far from Mulgrave.