WELCOME
Sherdenich is a KUSA registered breeding kennel. We are situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Our aim and dedication is to create awareness of the White Miniature Schnauzer breed of dog in South Africa and Africa.
THE BREED
The miniature Schnauzer is a well-established utility breed loved by its owners for its alertness, agility, intelligence and good nature. Their adaptability, playfulness, obedience, and trainability combined with their size (30-35cm at withers), 4-10kg, non-shedding coat make them a perfect family dog that can double as a guard dog. They have a life expectancy of 12-14 years and age gracefully remaining youthful and dedicated to their family. There are 4 colour variants namely, salt & pepper, black & silver, pure black (black undercoat) and pure white (white undercoat).
The white is probably the least known in South Africa but is well established in several European countries. It must not be confused with poodles or crossbreeds as it has all the traits and attributes of a Schnauzer.
OUR DOGS
Our dogs are an integral part of our household and daily lives, they receive high quality nutrition, husbandry, regular grooming, veterinary care and plenty of love and attention. Their health and welfare is our priority.
All our pedigree breeding dogs are imported from some of the best White Miniature Schnauzer breeders and kennels in the world. Our goal is to breed superior quality White Miniature Schnauzers, your pup can be raised to become a world-class show dog which can be entered into world-wide competitions or if that does not interest you, your pedigree White Miniature Schnauzer can be loved and treasured for many years by family and friends.
We offer national and international shipping of our puppies providing that all rules and regulations are upheld concerning the relative governmental authorities.
HISTORY
The white miniature Schnauzer is a pure-bred miniature schnauzer, with all the same qualities and traits of the beloved Schnauzer. It is one of the fully acknowledged breed colour variants: pepper & salt, black & silver, all black and all white. It is not an albino, but genetically a “clear” appearing as a white coated dog with dark pigmented skin and eyes. Pups are born with pink skin, nose and feet which immediately after birth start to change within days to a dark pigment.
If we consider the ancestry of the Schnauzer dating back to the 15th century, bred from “Wolfspitz”, German poodle, Wire-haired Pinscher & Affenpinscher, it is possible to breed white dogs. In the early years white dogs were confused with albinism and deemed not fit to breed with or destroyed. Some of the first all-white dogs recorded in a pedigree date back to 1938, in Switzerland, HARO-ESPERO recorded as a white male with black nose originating out of two all-black parents from the “Espero” kennel of N.E. Pfahler. Another white dog recorder in Switzerland in 1941 was DUDLER V. MÜMLINGTAL, recorded as white of the “Mümlingtal” kennel born out of salt & pepper parents. The German breeder Ms Sauer of the “v. Grunewald” kennel started to establish a white population in the late 1940’s and kept an own stud record of her pedigrees. Ms. Sauer was allowed to register her dogs as an experimental breed in the PSK stud book in 1968 and in 1979 the breeding of this variety was approved for all PSK breeders.
The controversy over the white as a colour variant continues today still, with the American Kennel Club (AKC) & Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) not recognizing the variant for conformation showing while allowing registration and showing in performance events. The Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the largest international federation of national kennel clubs, recognized the colour variant in 1983 thus allowing for showing in all FCI accredited events. The UK Kennel Club recognized the colour variant in 2010 with the first white dog entering the ring at Crufts in 2015. Similarly the Kennel Union of South Africa (KUSA) recognised the white colour variant in 2010, allowing for conformation showing of the white miniature Schnauzer under the same breed standards as all miniature Schnauzers.
The white miniature Schnauzer are popular in Europe with prominent kennels in Spain, Italy and eastern European countries, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic. Some influential kennels include “Stars of White Night”, “White Diamonds of Sun”, “Del Badulake”, “Iva’s Land”, “Francesca’s White King”, “White Luckdragons”, “Baby Bright Light”and “Made in Spain”.
Several good bloodlines have been imported into South Africa by KUSA registered breeders.
It is important when breeding white Schnauzers to keep the bloodlines all-white as combining white with other colours will lead to mixed litters and gene carriers with subsequent mixed litters doing injustice to the carefully selected all-white bloodlines.
A white miniature Schnauzer is a less well known specimen of this popular utility breed exhibiting all the same breed characteristics of intelligence, trainability, loyalty, alertness, spunkiness, child friendliness making them excellent companions. Their size, hypoallergenic coat that does not shed, cleanliness make them ideal house pets. Regular grooming will ensure that your white miniature Schnauzer will always be the talking point of the neighbourhood.
