Tankar om svansar på schnauzer av Bernardo Büchner Regazzoni och Zarina Obez

Nedanstående text är författad av Bernardo Büchner Regazzoni och Zarina Obez i augusti 2024 och jag tog texten från Bernardo B¨chner Regazzonis Facebook sida samma dag. Jag som är intresserad av anatomi hos hundar fann texten mycket intressant och undervisande. Jag fick en liten aha upplevelse och kände att jag fått samma genomgång tidigare av en annan domare och uppfödare, men ibland behövs det att man får informationen flera gång, med lite tid emellan innan det klickar till och förståelse börjar uppstå. Jag tyckte också att det var väldigt intressant med de olika standard som beskrivs mellan FCI och AKC tex.

WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT - Understanding the croup, tailset and tail carriage of the schnauzer.

𝑏𝘺 𝘡𝑎𝘳𝑖𝘯𝑎 𝑂𝘣𝑒𝘻 & 𝘉𝑒𝘳𝑛𝘢𝑟𝘥𝑜 𝐵𝘶̈𝑐𝘩𝑛𝘦𝑟 𝑅𝘦𝑔𝘢𝑧𝘻𝑜𝘯𝑖 - 𝐴𝘶𝑔𝘶𝑠𝘵 18, 2024

Zarina texted me yesterday morning and weekends are perfect for long chats, 𝐿𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑎𝑢𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑠' 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑎𝑢𝑧𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ. 𝐼 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑡., she said.

It was funny she asked for us to discuss this subject, as a couple of weeks ago I started to draft an article called "Whether we like it or not" about tail set and carriage. The title anticipating the reaction such discussion would trigger among the schnauzer owners, breeders and judges, who have seldom seen a correct tail-set nor a perfect carried tail in the rings. We know is a difficult conversation, but we must have it.

Let us start by mentioning that the PSK standard was not clear until very recently, and even contradictory in this regard. The AMSC and KC standards for the miniature schnauzer asks the tail-set to be high, the previous version of the FCI-PSK standard also asked it to be high. But, how high was high when the first standard was written in 1904, which served as basis for the KC and later AKC standards of the three schnauzers?. If we look at historical pictures and read judges evaluations of the early times, it becomes easier to understand that what the founders of the breed meant by "high" is not the same "high" we see today.

The current version of the standard from 2007 says nothing about tailset under the TAIL description, but asks for it to be natural and carried sable or sickle. However under croup, and this is very enlightening, it states that the "slightly rounded croup imperceptibly blends into the tail set on". Here is the clue of tail set.

The late Paul Newman spoke about it back in 1997, when he made a comparison of the three breed standards. On page 78 of his book "Miniature Schnauzer Today" he writes: "𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝐶 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝐾𝐶 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝐶𝐼, ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑡-𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙. 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑏𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑡." …"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝐶𝐼 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝. 𝐴𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑒-𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡-𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑑. "

The comparison and analysis we just read seems plausible. Although we would have preferred the last sentence to read: "the flat-crouped dog with an overly high tailset would probably produce natural tails which are inclined towards the head". Keep reading and you will understand why.

Paul Newman also reiterates and reinforces the description of the topline shared by Werner Jung, former breeding director of the PSK, in his 1959 published breed masterwork "Standardbuch der Schnauzer- und Pinscherrassen" which reads in English -in an informal translation by myself- 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑡.

(in German: "Die obere Begrenzungslinie des Rückens ist nicht schnurgerade, sondern zeigt einen leichten, edlen Schwung, der durch die kräftigen ersten Wirbel des Widderistes, den geraden Rücken und die leicht abgerundete Kruppe bis zum Rutenansatz gebildet wird." )

The FCI standard asks for a tail that follows the line of such croup. The later revision of the FCI standard, eliminating the reference to docked tails, emphasises the tail to be natural and has sabre- and sickle-like carriage as breeding goal. It couldn't be clearer.

But, do we see such tails that follow the line of the croup in our schnauzers? We do mostly only in our schnauzers and giant schnauzers. The fact that both the AKC standards for giant and standard schnauzers maintained the German requirement of a slightly rounded croup and a moderately high tail set has certainly contributed to it.

To understand why we are where we are, we need to delve into the construction of the croup, its length and slope, and its connection with tail set and carriage.

In her article for Showsight magazín from November 17, 2017, judge and breeder Stephanie Hedgepath writes about the croup as follows: "𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑒 (𝑆𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑚) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟-𝑡𝑜-𝑓𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑒 (𝐶𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑎𝑙) 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑡-𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝."

"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑡-𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑚 (𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑒) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑎𝑙 (𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙) 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑡. 𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡 (ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙) 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ. 𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑, 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑."

Make perfect sense. The founders of the breed knew this and included it as a breed characteristics in the standard. How long and curved should the croup be so that the tail set is conducive to the desired tail shape is a question of balance. My answer to that question would read: as long and slightly inclined as needed to achieve a sabre-like tail without loosing neither the squareness of the body and its overall balance, nor the dynamics of the hindquarters.

Why is a slightly curved and long croup important? The sacrum and the pelvis connect with each other at the sacroiliac joint, a cartilaginous thus firm tissue, and the angle in which they connect can influence how the pelvis aligns with the spine and the hind limbs. Although their slopes are independent, they mostly align to each others slope. A flat sacrum, whose high tail set shortens the length the croup, can limit the range of motion in the hind legs, just as a flat pelvis does, affecting the dog's ability to extend its hind legs fully and therefore reducing the effectiveness of its stride.

A properly angled sacrum, with the first four-to-five caudal vertebrae as its continuation, will be longer, and this length contribute to better alignment and coordination between the spine, pelvis, and hind legs, leading to powerful and more efficient movement. This length is what enables the upper tight of a schnauzer to be broad and strongly muscled as required by the breed standards.

Following the Sacrum, the dog caudal vertebrae may vary from eighteen to twenty-five highly mobile vertebrae if the tail has not been docked or is shortened by a genetical mutation.

These vertebrae are enclosed by a versatile musculature that make the various segments, especially the tip, capable of finely graded movements that lift the tail, move it from side to side, or draw it down between the hind legs. The caudal muscles lie on the lumbar vertebrae, sacrum (in the lower back region) and tail vertebrae. The muscles insert on the tail/caudal vertebrae exclusively. The muscles are attached to the tail vertebrae by tendons. The most posterior tendons attach to the last tail vertebrae. Four to seven paired nerves serve the tail muscles. These muscles have many tendons that insert from the fifth or sixth caudal vertebra, then onto the next vertebra, and so on to the end of the tail.

Historically, and still in some parts of the world today, the tail of the schnauzer was docked at the second or third caudal vertebrae. Many working breeds shared this fate as a long tail was considered a disadvantage or a hazard, depending upon the breed's intended function. This has changed in the last decades and starting 1 January 2025 docked dogs will be banned from exhibition at CACIB dog shows in the 98 FCI member countries of America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

How will dog-show judges react to this new situation specially in those countries where docking is still legal and natural tails of formerly docked breeds will be a novelty, but also where there is greater influence of miniature schnauzers bred under the AKC standard, such as Latin America, Africa and Asia, from which we expect a predominance of "flat croups an overly high tailsets, which would probably produce natural tails which are quite curled" or at least tend to incline towards the head?

With over half, if not more, of the schnauzer population outside Europe still being docked: How would breeding and stock selection be impacted?

With selection focus now shifting to the shape of the tail, possibly other important aspects of type and structure could suffer. We should be careful: tail shape is very visual (remember TTT: Top-line, Tail and Temperament?) and can easily alter our overall impression of a dog diverting our attention away from possibly more important elements.

What can breeders, who have been selecting for tail, do to help breeders outside the European Union?

The European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, which came into force on 13 November 1987, prohibited, inter alia, the docking of dogs' tails for non-medical reasons. Switzerland, Norways and Sweden were the first countries to ratify the Convention as early as the late 1980's, followed by Finland and Denmark at the end of the 1990's. Germany did so in 1998, and the ban, being adopted by the entire European Union, is now expanding to dog shows in all 98 FCI member countries.

There is selection experience of over 30 years and breeding stock in the European Union waiting to be shared. And this could indeed be very useful to breeders who face the task of improving undocked tails for the first time.

Going back to the initial matter of this article, the tail anatomy comprises 18 to 25 vertebrae, six pairs of muscles (12 muscles in total) which coordinate the movement of the tail, and six channels of tendons with minimum four tendons per channel, making a total of 24 tendons.

Out of those 24 tendons, one or two are responsible for the tension that creates the curvature of the tail. Which one we don't know unless we dissect the entire tail. The strength of that one, maximum two, particular tendons is responsible for the grade a tail is curved. There are also individual variations on the thickness of the vertebrae which again would increase the curvature. Thicker vertebrae all along the tail, as those of giant schnauzer, could be the explanation why we see very few curly tails in giants, without forgetting that they naturally have longer croups and lower tail sets, what greatly contribute to the desired carriage.

How this trait works genetically is difficult if not impossible to understand. Breeders that have been selecting for tail for many generations confirm that as many puppies with curled tails are born from parents with sabre-like tails and viceversa, puppies with sabre-like tails are born from curled tail parents, and even sometimes the same parents combination would produce a full litter with perfect tails while the next litter by the exact same mating will produce all curled-tail puppies. This is a riddle that make some breeders and owners lose faith and opt for surgical correction in order to increase their chances to sell their puppies or successfully compete with such dogs.

Manipulations as condemnable as their are, their use indicates that breeders understand what is required for the breed. Understanding the challenge is the beginning of any change, and we hope that improvement through selection will soon leave this quite extended and regrettable practice behind.

We have three schnauzer breeds, giant, standard and miniatures. All three share one single FCI standard except for size and some colours. (they did so too in USA till 1935), but we know they don't fully share the same genetical historical heritage what complicates standardisation between them. Tail set and tail carriage, aiming at a homogeneity that would allow us to compare, would have to be identical for all three breeds. This not only on the written standards but also in practical terms. Our forefathers made it easy for them by docking all dogs to an identical shape of three vertebrae in order to achieve a consistent breed silhouette.

Does tail shape really depends on crop curve and tail set? Although a slightly curved croup and a tail set that follows its line will be more conducive to a sabre-like tail, we know from experience that tails tendons work independently producing sickle and curled tails in a variety of shapes impossible to explain otherwise.

At least in our breed, the tail shape is not connected to the breeds function. This is more than proven after above 100 years of docking. However, since all breeds per definition need to develop within a set of boundaries, a clear indication of the tail shape to be achieved is compulsory in order to consolidate homogeneity and maintain breed type. The FCI standard recognises this.

After decades of selecting for natural tails, it seems that sabre- and sickle-like tails are the shapes that suits our breed better as these are most commonly aligned with the required form of the croup.

Too straight sabre-like tails are on the other hand a hazard specially for the giant breeds, hence there is still controversy as of the suitability and practicality of this shape. A more curved tail would surely minimise, if not eradicate, the frequency of tail tip injuries. There is a possible claim there. As a young man I had a very enthusiastic Dalmatian, which tail top will always be bloody and never properly heal.

Knowing all this, how strong should be the focus on tail shape? The standard says sabre-and sickle-like are a selection goal, leaving room for tolerance of other shapes while we transition from generations of docked dogs to natural ones. How much time will it take to achieve uniformity again would depend on how fast or how slow we can improve tails without loosing other conformation elements stronger related to breed type and breed functionality. We don't really know, genetics are not an easy game, and 100 years of ignoring tail shape cannot be reverted in two days.

While breeders cope with this new challenge, judges must accompany their efforts by educating and preserving a sensitive balance between the already established achievements and the new ones, ensuring that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

If we are considerate in this regard, we will also avoid scaring away exhibitors, and most important reduce the temptation by some of surgical manipulating the tails.

Eliminating too many dogs from our breeding programmes, might in the long term have more harmful consequences than a couple of "bad" tails.

As we know how important the silhouette of a breed is for the definition of breed type, we have now a bigger challenge to continue breed preservation within the boundaries of the standard without losing neither genetical diversity nor the type shared by the three schnauzers. Sabre-like tails, Sickle-like tails, Curled-tails, tails to the right, tails to the left, tails over the back, tails following the line of the croup . . . these variations all play against standardisation annoying breeders and confusing judges greatly.

One way or the other, and we leave it to the readers. to make their own conclusions, we must promptly reinforce selection towards the required slightly-rounded and therefore longer croup. One that would help a great deal in achieving "better tails" in the shape required by the standard.

There would still be cases, we know from experience, when due to strong tendons the tip of the tail will curve more than desired, even in combination with a correct croup. We have also variations showing that a flat croup and a high tail set not always produce curly tails. Take the fox-terrier tail for example.

For these cases, while we transition, focus should remain on the improvement of the croup and the tailset. The flat and sometimes short croup must be stronger penalised, as entertaining it further will only prolong the tails potpourri we are already in.

We should also start evaluating tail carriage whilst the dog is relaxed. An exited dog, no matter the breed, will always lift the tail higher to make itself bigger. We all know this. The tail is evaluated at its best relaxed and with the dog free standing on loose lead.

And something we would strongly recommend, is to eradicate the practice of manually pushing the tails of our schnauzers as they would be fox terriers. I have observed many exhibitor ruining the silhouette and the overall general appearance of her/his dog by pushing the tail towards the ears. That is not only unnecessary, it erases the "gently-curved-schnauzer-topline" displaying a breed silhouette that is not in accordance with what the standard is asking us to achieve.

We are told by the breed standard, that the tail of a schnauzer, whether sabre or sickle, is to follow the line of a slightly rounded croup.

𝑆𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡. The clue is the croup 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒!