Quintessential Standard Schnauzers

01/04/2025

If you have the goal of competing in dog sports, there are some specific foundation skills you’ll want to start teaching as soon as your puppy comes home. Follow these AKC tips to help you prepare your future canine athlete for success!

Have a puppy at home who you hope will grow up to be a canine athlete? While there are some aspects of sports training like jumping that need to wait...

03/03/2025

💥 Update 💥 Miscalculated Remi's points as a class b*tch was absent at the last show! Remi is a CH but needs 2 points to finish her Grand! Celebrating her very fast Championship and her sp*edy road to GCH! 🍾🏆

05/10/2024

I want to introduce you to "Remi", Quintessential Written Across The Stars. This beautiful little girl is in our down line. She comes from "Quincy", GCH CH Steadfast's Quintessential Stars And Stripes RN FDC CAA DCAT ACT1J SBN CGC TKA ATT VHMA; who comes from our Zoey,

At 9 months old, Remi recently beat out 23 other dogs and took a major at the SSCA Nationals at Purina Farms in Missouri. Quite the accomplishment not just for a 9 month old, but for any dog.

Remi's breeder is Lisa Dodge of Quintessential Standard Schnauzers, and she is proudly owned by Carol and Mark Cioffi. Remi is doing an amazing job of representing the breed, her Kennel, and her owners. As "Grand Parents", Darcy and I couldn't be prouder of this little girl, and we know she's having a wonderful life.

Say hi to Remi!!

26/03/2024

⭐️ Acts Of Kindness ⭐️
6 weeks ago, everything came to a halt - including interviews and puppy placements - when I took a hard fall over the puppy pen and broke my arm... a complete mid-shaft humerus fracture.

It's been a super challenging time trying to manage my recovery with the incredible pain and swelling, all while caring for the dogs and making sure the remaining puppies not only get their basic needs met but also continue to get enrichment, training and individual time with me. My son came every day the first week to help with puppies. My parents came to town and stayed the second week. My son has come a few times per week since then. Grateful for family. 💗

Some things that require two arms/hands - like grooming - have been super difficult. 🥹

To my surprise and supreme gratitude, Stephanie (Gabby Blanks) - a fellow SSCA member, SS breeder/exhibitor/owner-handler, and most importantly a dear friend - flew down to Florida from Virginia for the weekend to help me groom all the dogs and puppies! She took the time to genuinly connect with each one of them, was gentle and kind, and everyone looks amazing now and so neat & tidy 🥰 They all absolutely loved 'Auntie' Steph and gave her lots of kisses 💖

We had such a good time working together, sharing meals, cooking and cleaning, having girl talk, and so much more! Forever grateful for such a generous, selfless act of kindness 💗

16/02/2024

Next puppy to leave left on Sunday! 🥹

Quintessential Written Across The Stars "Remi" (formerly known as Rosey) is loved by Mark and Carol here in Florida. It's not getting any easier to say goodbye but she is living her best life. 💗
✨ ️Performance and companion male available and possible show female available.✨️

07/02/2024

Fit For Life™ Puppy Program

Exercise Guidelines for Pups from 3 Weeks to 18 Months
by Chris Zink DVM PhD DACVSMR Gayle Watkins PhD

We all know that a tired puppy is a good puppy but...
What exercises can your puppy safely do? When can you walk, jog or hike with your puppy? To help you find the right answers, leading sports medicine specialist, Dr. Chris Zink, and AKC Breeder of the Year, Dr. Gayle Watkins, created Fit For Life™ Puppy, the fitness guidelines that lay out the activities and exercises puppies should and shouldn’t do from 3 weeks of age until after their growth plates have closed.

For additional resources, free exercise videos, links to the gear recommended in this guide, and the references mentioned, go to https://vimeopro.com/avidog/fit-for-life-puppy-exercises and https://www.facebook.com/caninefitforlife

View this file, and add comments too.

03/02/2024

✨️ Jumping Beans! ✨️

The Standard Schnauzer is not the breed for those who want a slow, placid dog or one that can be "fed and forgotten" for they insist on being part of the family activities. They are outstanding, trainable companions known for their devotion and love of their family.

Standards are very intelligent and can be strong-willed and determined. They need to be trained with consistent, clear boundaries and in a firm - but KIND - manner.

Owners MUST be prepared to train their new puppy from the very beginning. Early Puppy Kindergarten training (ex. AKC STAR Puppy) and, later on, regular obedience training is the best option.

The Standard Schnauzer can be found in many performance and companion events such as Agility, Obedience, Scentwork, Barnhunt, Canine Good Citizen, Therapy Dog, Dock Diving, Flyball, Coursing Ability Tests, Herding, Search and Rescue, etc...

*partial excerpt from the Standard Schnauzer Club of America www.standardschnauzer.org

01/02/2024

Puppies had their final vet appointment today for their 2nd set of shots, microchips, and to get their health certificates which are required in the state of Florida.

They sat for treats, spilled a water bowl, untied my shoes, ran amuck, took a nap, and there was not a p*ep during the microchip implanting.

It has been a whirlwind the last few weeks since the Delaware trip! Spent 2 weeks taking care of ears until sutures came out and then posting ears (still working on getting a few to stand properly), have been working on nighttime crate training with one potty break, and been having lots more outside play time and grass pottying since the weather warmed up. Rest of the week will be working on finalizing contracts, puppy baths, blow dries, nails, and clipper ears, cheeks, throats, and rears! Hope to pull a little more puppy fluff off their jackets, too.
Wowee, when the puppies hit 10-11 weeks old, they've been a HandFul! 😵‍💫🫣🥱

29/01/2024

✨️ Performance Prospect ✨️

Quintessential Karma Perspective aka Percy is available to an active home who is interested in a performance/canine sports partner!

All of the puppies in this litter have great trainability and are confident and driven, but "Percy" is super eager, engaged, and energetic. He wants to train and do tasks and wags his tail through it all. He was the first puppy to walk on my side his first time on a leash.
He has already done things like walk on balance beam, walk over a small Teeter, over a tiny A-frame, sit, down, spin, follow, jump in a box and out of a box, walked over a wire grate and other surfaces, paws up, fetch a stuffie and bring it back, and I have dropped a penny jug with zero startle response and he went to check it out.

Just some of the things that would be on the AKC Trick Dog Novice or AKC Temperament Test.

He has also been started on potty training, leash walking, car rides, sound habituation, home routines, crate training, and sleeps in a crate all night with one potty break halfway through.

He's a pretty boy with an amazing coat, deep chest, and a floating gait, but he is the slender, lean one in the bunch so is best suited for sports.

He should excel in Agility, FastCat, Coursing, Trick Dog, Obedience, Rally, Scentwork, Barnhunt, etc...

We are working on posting his cropped ears so they stand properly and he should be ready for his new home the first or second weekend in February.

We encourange you to submit an application for consideration.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:134a48e3-aa26-474b-af1a-f977a0745dee

08/01/2024

Teddy aka Quintessential TrusTED Intuition 🥰 is available to an active, loving home. Active as in walking, jogging, biking, hiking, camping, outings in the community, travels with dogs, etc...

Looking for the right puppy parents for this sweet, inquisitive, natural eared boy who is very ready to be with his own family who can give him all their attention. Someone who is retired or works from home would be perfect!

"Teddy" has been started on potty training, leash walking, car rides, sound habituation, home routines, crate training, and sleeps in a crate all night with one potty break halfway through.

He will make an excellent companion, join you on your travels, on walks around the neighborhood or hiking in the woods, eager to train and learn new things, and he will even be great at things like Scentwork, Tracking (his nose is always to the ground), Rally, etc...

We encourage you to submit an application for consideration:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:134a48e3-aa26-474b-af1a-f977a0745dee

03/01/2024

Happy New Year! 🎉🍾🥂 My wish is that we all write the most meaningful story for ourselves and that the pages come to life every day of 2024!

Every year, I always say cheers to a new year full of things like good health & happiness, interesting paths & unexpected journeys, exciting challenges & successes, etc... and 2023 did not disappoint!

This past year saw several goals realized, dreams fulfilled, new journeys started, and many good times with family and friends.

Here are just a few highlights from 2023!

🤗 After Alice's wins at Royal Canin and finishing her championship there, we started 2023 with the goal of attaining Grand Champion titles on both Quincy and Alice.

🚗 We entered some Florida and Georgia shows and both dogs earned points towards their Grand! We also traveled to Virginia to attend the Doswell show for the first time and had a wonderful time with breed community friends, had a grooming lesson to take my skills to the next level, and Alice earned many points towards her Grand at this show.

🏆 We finished both Alice & Quincy's Grand Championships in Florida with limited showing and got some OH Group placements on Alice, too.

📣 Alice was featured in the Showsight magazine! Quincy was also featured in Showsight in a Steadfast spread!
Showsight - Where Champions Are Celebrated

💗 I've always had a personal goal of finishing a dog's championship 100% owner-handled. I used a pro-handler for Quincy's majors, so I came pretty close to meeting it, but not quite, so I decided to work on it with Alice. We completed that goal in Dec 2022 and then moved the goalpost to complete her Grand fully owner-handled in 2023 and happily met that goal, too!

✨️ Quincy finished his DCAT title and earned legs towards his CAX, and Alice earned her BCAT and CA titles! Alice tried dock diving for the first time and then we practiced over the summer. Quincy tried an Advanced Rally trial and we need to practice the off-leash aspect more before earning that title. We have lots of goals for 2024, which include getting some last qualifying legs to finish a few titles and starting on some new ones!

🥇We attended an IABCA conformation show (morning and afternoon shows) and Quincy earned 1st place with both judges. Both dogs received wonderfully written critiques (one of the best parts of this show) by judges who used to be in our breed. The IABCA show was a great experience! Everyone receives important feedback on their dogs, and you get to hang out with AKC judges, owner-handlers, and breeder exhibitors in a much more informal setting than an AKC show! We need to enter one more show to finish their IABCA International titles.

🫡 I did a road trip to South Carolina with my son Matt and my grandsons JP & Brody to attend Matt's Army Captain school graduation and then helped him move his things to Jacksonville and prepare for his new journey overseas!

🛳 We did a 7 night family cruise - courtesy of my parents - with 25 family members including both my sons, daughter-in-law, grandkids, all my siblings and brother & sister-in-laws, and all my neices & nephews! What an amazing way to spend quality time with family!

👩‍❤️‍👨 I attended my granddaughter Olivia's first dance recital held at the Times Union Center downtown and attended grandson JP's school presentation for Grandparents Day where he sang some special songs and then we attended the school Book Fair afterwards!

🐾 Our breeding plans for Spring 2024 and our show plans for the last quarter of 2023 were turned all upside down when we welcomed our Standard Schnauzer puppies on Halloween with the arrival of the Kismet Litter!

What an exciting new adventure! A dream of mine fulfilled! It has been a beautiful, exhausting, expensive, educational, emotional, and completely rewarding experience!

I was able to put into practice all the things I was planning - and was only thinking about up until now - and I was able to improve upon the things in Quincy and Alice that I was hoping to and hopefully produced what I was envisioning with this pairing. I'm feeling so incredibly blessed. High hopes for these puppies!

⭐️ Lots of new goals for Quincy & Alice and the puppies for 2024!

🥂 Cheers to a new year full of good health & happiness, rewarding challenges & abundant successes, fulfilling dreams & exceeding goals!

Lisa and The Q Team

26/12/2023

Presenting the Kismet Litter's official AKC Registered Names!

This litter theme was not an easy one. Kismet is such a difficult concept to understand but after lots of reading and research - and changing many of the names several times over the past month - I feel like I captured the essence of "Kismet" in our registered names!

Another step in this beautiful journey... some things are just meant to be! 🐾💞🐾

AKC Registered Names (call name suggestions):

Quintessential Meant To Be (Tobey)
Quintessential Stars Aligned (Tessey)
Quintessential Karma Perspective (Percy)
Quintessential Kismet Adventure (Addy)
Quintessential Chance Encounters (Chancey)
Quintessential Written Across The Stars (Rosey)
Quintessential Trusted Intuition (Teddy)
Quintessential Endless Possibilities (Posey)

26/12/2023

Christmas Mayhem!

The puppies were squabbling and causing a ruckus, so I brought out the big wobble disc and added empty Gatorade bottles and stuffed animals inside! Redirected all that mischievous energy!

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from The Q Team! 🐾💝🐾

Car rides are much easier when puppies are conditioned to become easy travelers!

We started car rides when the puppies were only 4 days old and did a 1.5 hour round trip to our reproduction Vet in Fleming Island. They've had one other trip to the Vet, along with several short trips around town since then.
The puppies recently traveled on a 4 hour round trip. They did wonderfully and slept the whole way!

All of this is helping to prepare them for their big trip to Delaware tomorrow for ear cropping.

These puppies will be well-traveled before going to their new homes! 💗🐾

22/12/2023

Most pups came when I called and offered a sit! 💗
Some wanted to continue their wrestling, though 🤭

The Puppy Call 📣 "Pup, Pup, Pup" and "Manding".

The Puppy Call is started when the pups are a few weeks old and is the beginnings of a good recall.

"Manding" is an offered "sit". It might look a lot like a regular sit; it is not. Asking a dog to sit, either by cue or command, is something initiated by the handler. Manding is freely offered by the pup. Manding gives the pups a voice! They learn that their behavior, their choice, can make a human do something.

19/12/2023

I may not have written this heartfelt letter, but each word resonates so deeply within me and I am living every word of it with my own dogs, and in real time with my Kismet Litter. 💗🥹

I Loved Them First
By: Heather Andelin

" Dear past and future puppy owners,

I loved them first. I thought of you years before you even realized. I planned for and cared about your baby long before you started thinking of adding to your family. I worried about your future with that puppy before you knew there would be one.

There were hours upon hours spent researching lines for the parents of your puppies. Going over breeder after breeder, choosing not only my pet but looking for a dog that will make you your pet. Worrying if you'd be happy, if I had chosen correctly and your puppy would grow up healthy and happy. Going over puppy after puppy with fellow breeders, running over my program with as many knowledgeable breeders as I can, determined to not miss anything. Tracing lines back as far as I could, learning the ins and outs not only for my knowledge but so that I was informed, prepared to go over every detail with you, to answer the questions that sometimes you don't even ask.

Then, there's years of watching your puppies' parents grow. Loving them and enjoying them as part of my family. Taking them every where I can, training them, socializing them, watching how they fill out. Asking myself if I had made the right choice in both of them. Scrutinizing their conformation, how they move, and their temperament. There was the stress of health testing. Praying not only that my babies were healthy but that they had the genes to make your baby healthy.

Finally came the time your puppies parents came together. For the next 63 days I worried, I obsessed, I grew excited. I watched your puppies mom like a hawk. Making sure my baby was ok, monitoring her diet better than I do my own. Concerned that she was getting enough of the right nutrients and that your growing baby was getting the best start possible. I spent hours on the couch, floor, and dog bed with her watching her tummy grow and anxiously waiting. As your baby and mine grew I laid my hands on her tummy and felt the first movements of your puppy. As the time grew close I spent most nights in the nursery with her. Making sure she didn't go into labor without me knowing, in case something went wrong and one of our babies needed help. When labor started my whole life stopped. I spent every second with her. Your baby was born into my hands and I held my breath as I cleaned them up, watching for movement and breathing, cleaning them up, checking them over, and wondering if you'd love them as much as I already did. I helped your babies' sister when mom got tired and she was stuck. I cried when your babies' brother didn't make it.

For the first 10 weeks most of my life was filled with your baby. Watching them grow and making sure I was doing everything possible to make sure they started their lives the right way. Making sure each one was getting enough to eat, enough socialization time, that they were dewormed and given their shots. I was the first person they saw when they opened their eyes. I spent my weeks playing with them and keeping them safe.

I searched for you and interviewed you. As you spoke I tried to read your character. Would you love them as much as I do? Would you bring them in as part of your family? Would you care for this tiny life that I brought into this world that I am responsible for? Some of you were turned away but some of you were welcomed into our family. The day you took your baby home was harder than I'd ever let on. I was excited for you but I was also terrified. Had I chosen correctly? Were you who you seemed to be?

My love and worry didn't end there. I thought about your baby regularly, saddened when I didn't get updates, ecstatic when I did. I hoped you were caring for your baby the way I care for mine. I answered your questions happily and answered them again just as happily to your babies siblings new parents. When your puppies sister ate a couch I stayed up that night she was at the vets, waiting to hear that she was ok. When their brothers parents decided he no longer fit in their life I welcomed him home, sorry that I had chosen wrong for him and promised him it wouldn't happen again.

I loved your baby first and I will never stop."

17/12/2023

Day or Night, somebody's always watching me 👀🐾

17/12/2023

Weekend Deep Cleaning Session for the puppy pen!
I also changed things up and moved everything around inside the pen so the puppies would have new challenges and experiences and not get bored! 🐾💗🐾

Daily, I sweep the pen several times per day and spot clean any potty mistakes with disinfectant. (We now only have approx 2 p*e spots outside the litter tray per day!)
In the evenings, I wash & fill their waterer, swap out their whelping blanket and doggie beds for clean ones, wash half of the stuffed and hard toys and the half the next day, and top off the trays with fresh litter. 🙃

Weekly, I deep clean the pen.
I put the puppies in their crate and remove everything from the pen. I sweep and then spray the flooring down with disinfectant - I use the safe & effective Chlorhexidine Solution Horse & Dog Antibacterial Cleaner. I then steam mop the area. I empty the litter trays into trash bags and spray the trays down and also steam mop them. I spray down the enrichment equipment, platforms, and the cot. I wash all the whelping pads/blankets, stuffed toys, and beds. I soak all hard toys in the sink with vinegar while I'm cleaning. Then, when done, I place fresh bedding & beds, toys, and litter trays back into the cleaned space and release the puppies!! 😴

It all stays nice and clean... for around 10 minutes 😳 🤦‍♀️ 😆 🐾💗🐾