| Non Typical Coat of a mini schnauzer |
Show Coat
The coat you see right above is the standard SHOW coat. This coat is an extreme amount of work and is usually only done to the show dog as it takes so much time. Stripping of the coat takes a bit of time for a dog to get used to having done and can not be done all in one sitting. Daily stripping of the "dead" hair is done with a special stripping blade. The skirt is kept short and close to the abdomen, with the legs trimmed in straight line along the line of the legs and not allowed to "hang" down.
The 4 pictures above are of my male Salt / Pepper
The face shows a before and after, and the body/skirt shows a before and after.
I have 3 mini schnauzers and my daughters chihuahua/shit tzu mix that I am always grooming in a rotation cycle.
I have been doing my own grooming for the last 6 years. I personally like to keep our mini schnauzers coats/skirts short because we allow our dogs to play outside most of the day, as well as take the dogs hunting when we are in Colorado.
A long coat/skirt tends to get matted very quickly and catch lots of leaves, burrs, etc and adds to daily groom time.
I shave the back,stomach, head, and feet bottoms every month to keep a clean smooth look. One very important part of grooming is PLUCKING the fine hairs in the ears. This helps in allowing the ear to breath and thus cuts down on bacteria/fungus building in the ear leading to ear infections. I will spend approximately 2 hours grooming one dog each Sunday.
I enjoy this time spent with the dogs as it builds trust between us and allows me to work on teaching the dogs to be patient and well behaved.
I have found that dedicated time to combing and grooming of the dogs face teaches the mini schnauzer to allow the owner or its family members: especially the children in the family, to handle the dogs face, treats, food and toys more easily and the dog builds an understanding that the human is allowed to move around the face and mouth of the dog and they must not bite.
This is a picture of an easy to maintain and more often seen groomed face of a common mini schnauzer. The eyebrows are shorter and the beard is trimmed a bit shorter.
I keep longer eyebrows on Buster as he is older and does not go out hunting as much.
On Raven and Harle I tend to keep a mid length eyebrow which allows them to see well when hunting but still gives them the more German look of the schnauzer.
I never trim the beards on any of my dogs unless they happen to get a matt that I cannot remove with the dematter or by splicing out with the scissors.
If you take your mini schnauzer to a grooming salon this will usually be the typical cut you will get. I always suggest that you take a picture to any groomer that you start to use so they will understand what YOU want when you say a typical schnauzer cut.
Different groomers have different ideas of typical and you may end up very unhappy if your schnauzers comes home looking different than you had hoped.
I always recommend getting recommendations from other people who have similar breed dogs with similar coat needs.
Never use a groomer who does not ask you for a copy of your dogs vaccination records and is not willing to give you a tour of her salon. Ask how long they have been grooming. Groomers do not have to have a license but many do. I do not have one but I have groomed other peoples dogs that I know on a very personal basis.
A professional groomer should have insurance on the salon to cover any injuries that might occur to your pet while on the premises.
TOOLS YOU WILL NEED
FOR DAILY GROOMING OF YOUR
MINI SCHNAUZER
DeMatte, Slicker Brush,Steel Comb
Good Set of Scissors
Nail Clippers 
De Matter
