Viktoría Jens

The Schnauzer family article 3: Grooming Can Enhance Type — But It Must Not Create It!

A correct Schnauzer underneath a beautiful trim is the goal — and there are exhibitors who deserve every ribbon they win, because they present a structurally correct dog at its best. An incorrect Schnauzer underneath a beautiful trim is a problem the standard is asking you to find. That is the entire job.
What grooming can legitimately do
Skilled grooming on a Schnauzer is real craftsmanship. Done well, it can:
- Tidy the outline so the eye reads the dog’s natural square build cleanly.
- Bring the coat to the right length to display correct texture and colour.
- Define the eyebrows and beard so the breed’s characteristic expression is visible.
- Show the line of the underchest, neck and topline as they actually exist.
- Remove dead coat through hand-stripping.

The FCI standard describes a coat texture — harsh, wiry, dense, with body — that is only naturally maintainable by stripping; clipping cuts each hair mid-shaft and, over generations, softens the very texture the standard is asking for. The standard does not name the method, but it describes the result that only the method produces.

None of those is dishonest. They are the exhibitor’s job. The line is crossed when the trim does the work the structure failed to do.

See full article in the comments👇

Helsinki winner 2023 - so honored when I got to judge there ❤️

People look at a Schnauzer and see a haircut. Judges and serious breeders look at a Schnauzer and see a working garment that happens to also be a haircut. The difference matters because the harsh outer coat, the dense undercoat, the banded hair pattern in pepper-and-salt and the deep pigmentation of a true black are not cosmetic features. They are the breed’s working CV.

This article walks through what the coat is, what the four FCI-accepted colour patterns actually look like, why hand-stripping preserves what sc******ng fakes.

Why the harsh coat exists in the first place

The Schnauzer was bred as a southern German farm and stable dog. The harsh outer coat sheds rain, dirt and small thorns; the dense undercoat insulates against Bavarian winter; the eyebrows and beard protect the eyes and muzzle when the dog confronts vermin in tight spaces or pushes through cover. None of those traits are decorative. They are the reason the dog could do its job all day, in any weather, without coming apart.

This matters for everyone who handles the breed. For the judge: a soft, wavy or silky coat is not just an aesthetic fault, it is a functional fault. For the breeder: breeding for an easier-to-groom coat slowly breeds out the texture the standard demands. For the owner: a Schnauzer with the correct harsh coat sheds far less than people expect — but only if it is hand-stripped, not clipped.Hand check: part the coat with your fingers. The outer hair should feel wiry, almost rope-like, with body. Underneath you should find a softer, dense undercoat. If the outer coat feels soft to the touch and lies flat without resistance, the texture is not correct, regardless of how the dog photographs.

For the full article - see link in comments 👇

Five years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Irish setters are not built for stillness. They are bred to run, to range, to cover ground with that long, free-flowing gait. Anyone who knows the breed knows this.
But when I got sick, Luna changed her tempo. She matched mine.
She became my nurse. My support animal. We spent so many days just lying in bed together — me stroking her coat, or crying into it. She never moved. She just stayed.
Five years on, I some times still need my quite time. She still loves a long walk. She still gets the zoomies. But on the days I am tired, she settles next to me without being asked. She read the assignment a long time ago and never put it down.
There is no love quite like the love a dog gives you. But there is something specific about a setter who decided, quietly, that her job had changed.
🐕🇮🇪🇮🇸❤️

Puppy show in Iceland April 2026 🐕🇮🇸

First of four — The Schnauzer Series. A judge's deep dive into one German idea expressed in three deliberate sizes, all bred from a single working prototype.

When most people meet a Schnauzer, they meet only one third of the breed. They meet the Miniature in a city park, or they meet a Giant in a working harness, and they assume the other sizes are scaled copies of the dog in front of them. They are not. The Schnauzer family is one German idea expressed in three deliberate scales, and each scale was bred for a job.

Understanding that idea changes how you choose one, how you breed one, and how you judge one.

The original Schnauzer was a working farm dog, not a fashion statement
The Standard Schnauzer is the prototype. Every modern history of the breed traces back to the wire-haired Pinscher of southern Germany — a robust, square, harsh-coated medium-sized dog kept on farms and in stables to control vermin, guard the smallholding, and travel with cattle.

The Standard is regarded as the original Schnauzer, and the Giant and the Miniature were developed from it. That detail matters more than it sounds, because once you know the Standard is the reference, you stop reading the Mini as “a small terrier” and the Giant as “a black show dog,” and you start reading them as variations of the same idea at different scales.
The Miniature was developed to do the Standard’s job in a smaller package — same temperament, same coat, same square outline, same alert presence, packaged for households and rat work in tighter spaces. The Giant was developed to do the Standard’s job at greater scale — moving cattle, guarding breweries and stockyards, and later doing serious utility and protection work for the German military and police. Same recipe, larger pot.

If you want to know more about the schnauzers and judging them - the full article is in the first link!

I was 13 when Hugo came into our family. Right in the middle of all the hormones, the moods, the teenage chaos.
He became my shrink and my professional cheerleader. The one who sat with me when nothing made sense, and celebrated with me when something finally did.
My mum had said her whole life she would never have a dog. Then Hugo arrived — and within a few years she was training, showing, breeding, and eventually became General Manager of the Icelandic Kennel Club. One Irish setter rewrote the trajectory of our family.
We never agreed on where we got his name from. I said he was named after the song Huga Shaka. My brother insisted it was after Hugo from Skógardýrið Hugo. It really didn’t matter😍
He was never going to be a show dog. His muzzle was too narrow, his body not quite to standard. None of it mattered. We adored him.
But something stayed with me from those years. Even at 13, I knew that one day, when I had my own family, there would be a setter in it. That was non-negotiable.
Years later — more years than I’d like to admit — I imported my own Irish setter from Belgium. Luna. The line that started with Hugo continues.
🍀🇮🇪🐕🇮🇸

I’m Viktoría — an FCI licensed international dog judge based in Iceland. I am returning to judging after a few years away.
I am approved for the following breeds: Icelandic Sheepdog, Siberian Husky, the Schnauzers, Golden & Labrador Retrievers, English and American Cocker Spaniels, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Pug, French Bulldog, Chihuahua and Tibetan Spaniel.
My family’s kennel history spans breeding Irish Setters and Afghan Hounds under the kennel name Glitnir.
This page is where I share what I see in the ring, what I am learning between rings, and my perspective on breed type and standards. For breed standards and official references, please consult the FCI standard database. I write in English, with the occasional post in Icelandic when the audience is local.
viktoriajens.is/dogs

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