They were official registered with the German Pinscher Schnauzer Club PSK in 1929. Unfortunately, lots of the Parti Schnauzer's breed history was destroyed during World War II in Germany. During the Third Reich in 1933 the board of the German PSK decided to ban all Parti Schnauzers and most were eradicated. One of the main reason given for the ban was that Parti Schnauzers looked to similar to the
Wire Hair Fox Terrier which would confuse the public. Another reason was that Partis would hurt and interfere with the sales of Salt & Pepper puppies of loyal Club Members. A few breeders did continue breeding the Partis secretly to avoid being kicked out from the SPK and gave those color Schnauzers away or smuggled them out of Germany in hope to preserve just a few for future breeding.Only recently have US Breeders picked up the gap of 80 years and are resurrecting the almost extinct colors. Breeders of the Parti Schnauzers are still being looked down at with disgust by Show Breeders who believe that Salt & Pepper, Black & Silver and solid Black are and should be the only Standard colors for the Miniature Schnauzers. Parti Schnauzers are 100% Schnauzer and not a mix or cross breed. While they are disqualified from the show ring due to color discrimination, such dogs are recognized as purebreds by the AKC and can be registered! LIVER -- Well, for a start, these colors do not exist in the Standard Schnauzer, from which the Miniature was developed in the 1800s. Interbreeding with Poodle, Miniature Pinscher, Affenpinscher and others was used to scale down Schnauzer size. This inadvertently brought new color genes into our Mini version that didn’t exist in Schnauzers previously. Here we are talking primarily about the genes behind the Liver or Chocolate Schnauzer and the Parti colored Schnauzer. So purists have historically rejected these “outlaw” Miniature Schnauzer colors so that they are disbarred from competing in the Show Dog arena. Such color prejudice led to culling of these colors from breeding stock which makes them relatively rare today. However, dogs displaying these colors can still be registered as purebred Mini Schnauzer stock and their popularity with pet owners is nurturing a revival in their numbers. To compound their rarity, the gene that codes for brown based coloring is recessive to the black based coloring.That means both parents must carry and pass this gene to their puppies to get this coloring .Miniature Schnauzers can be either black based (with black skin, nose, pads and hair pigment) or brown based (with brown skin, nose, pads and hair pigment).Given the many breeds that were used to down-size the Standard Schnauzer to produce the first Miniatures, it’s not surprising that “non-official” colors have appeared in the breed. Indeed, varying shades of Liver or Chocolate were prominent in the early days of the breed. At least one dog from the first litter recorded in the Miniature Schnauzer studbook was “gelb” – German for yellow – i.e. a brown based dog with pale pigment deposition.
“Parti” colors too, commonly cropped up in these early litters, and were also recorded from a pair of black dogs belonging to the Abbagamba Kennel in Germany in 1929, and again from a mating of two Pepper and Salt dogs in the USA. So, while they can’t compete in the Show Ring, there is nothing wrong with the other colors as many like to argue. They are 100% purebred Schnauzer, and can be duly registered. Further, the Parti and other colors are extremely "old blood", found in most of the early lines. Written By: Maximilian Schnauzers