Miniature Pinscher The Dog Breed

                   

The Miniature Pinscher is a compact, smooth-coated dog who is alert, spirited and fearless, with a unique high-stepping, hackney-like gait. With his black and rust coloring, cropped ears, and docked tail, he resembles his cousin the Doberman Pinscher, but he is not a miniature Dobie. Coat colors include red, stag red (red with black hairs), black with rust markings, or chocolate with tan.  He is also know as the "King of the Toys".

Breed Standards

General Appearance
The Miniature Pinscher is structurally a well balanced, sturdy, compact, short-coupled, smooth-coated dog. He naturally is well groomed, proud, vigorous and alert. Characteristic traits are his hackney-like action, fearless animation, complete self-possession, and his spirited presence.

Size, Proportion, Substance
Size -10 inches to 12½ inches in height allowed, with desired height 11 inches to 11½ inches measured at highest point of the shoulder blades. Disqualification -Under 10 inches or over 12½ inches in height. Length of males equals height at withers. Females may be slightly longer.

Head
In correct proportion to the body. Tapering, narrow with well fitted but not too prominent foreface which balances with the skull. No indication of coarseness. Eyes full, slightly oval, clear, bright and dark even to a true black, including eye rims, with the exception of chocolates, whose eye rims should be self-colored. Ears set high, standing erect from base to tip. May be cropped or uncropped. Skull appears flat, tapering forward toward the muzzle. Muzzle strong rather than fine and delicate, and in proportion to the head as a whole. Head well balanced with only a slight drop to the muzzle, which is parallel to the top of the skull. Nose black only, with the exception of chocolates which should have a self-colored nose. Lips and Cheeks small, taut and closely adherent to each other. Teeth meet in a scissors bite.

Neck, Topline, Body
Neck proportioned to head and body, slightly arched, gracefully curved, blending into shoulders, muscular and free from suggestion of dewlap or throatiness. Topline -Back level or slightly sloping toward the rear both when standing and gaiting. Body compact, slightly wedge-shaped, muscular. Forechest well developed. Well-sprung ribs . Depth of brisket, the base line of which is level with points of the elbows. Belly moderately tucked up to denote grace of structural form. Short and strong in loin. Croup level with topline. Tail set high, held erect, docked in proportion to size of dog.

Forequarters
Shoulders clean and sloping with moderate angulation coordinated to permit the hackney-like action. Elbows close to the body. Legs -Strong bone development and small clean joints. As viewed from the front, straight and upstanding. Pasterns strong, perpendicular. Dewclaws should be removed. Feet small, catlike, toes strong, well arched and closely knit with deep pads. Nails thick, blunt.

Hindquarters
Well muscled quarters set wide enough apart to fit into a properly balanced body. As viewed from the rear, the legs are straight and parallel. From the side, well angulated. Thighs well muscled. Stifles well defined. Hocks short, set well apart. Dewclaws should be removed. Feet small, catlike, toes strong, well arched and closely knit with deep pads. Nails thick, blunt.

Coat
Smooth, hard and short, straight and lustrous, closely adhering to and uniformly covering the body.

Color
Solid clear red. Stag red (red with intermingling of black hairs). Black with sharply defined rust-red markings on cheeks, lips, lower jaw, throat, twin spots above eyes and chest, lower half of forelegs, inside of hind legs and vent region, lower portion of hocks and feet. Black pencil stripes on toes. Chocolate with rust-red markings the same as specified for blacks, except brown pencil stripes on toes. In the solid red and stag red a rich vibrant medium to dark shade is preferred. Disqualifications -Any color other than listed. Thumb mark (patch of black hair surrounded by rust on the front of the foreleg between the foot and the wrist; on chocolates, the patch is chocolate hair). White on any part of dog which exceeds one-half inch in its longest dimension.

Gait
The forelegs and hind legs move parallel, with feet turning neither in nor out. The hackney-like action is a high-stepping, reaching, free and easy gait in which the front leg moves straight forward and in front of the body and the foot bends at the wrist. The dog drives smoothly and strongly from the rear. The head and tail are carried high.

Disqualifications
Under 10 inches or over 12½ inches in height.
Any color other than listed. Thumb mark (patch of black hair surrounded by rust on the front of the foreleg between the foot and the wrist; on chocolates, the patch is chocolate hair). White on any part of dog which exceeds one-half (½) inch in its longest dimension.

Miniature Pinscher Health Issues

Legg's Perthes Disease:  A vascular necroses occurs when the bone that makes up the ball portion of the hip is damaged from the lack of blood supply, the reason for this is unclear.  A genetic defect is often thought seeing that this is a disease that will more commonly effect one breed over another with Min Pins ranking high on the list of infected breeds.  Signs of this disease usually appear in infected dogs between four and eleven months of age showing lameness in the one leg.  The effects of this disease can differ from one dog to another depending on severity.  Some dogs are affected with mild discomfort, which would not require extreme medical attention while others may suffer in great pain and deformity of the hips and atrophy of the muscles.  In sever cases medical therapy will not successfully treat the condition and only a surgical procedure will restore health to the dog.

    Surgery to repair this painful disorder consists of removing the femoral head or ball portion of the hip joint.  This reduces the bone on bone contact within the joint.  Recovery from this type of surgery is slow and sometimes painful, taking up to a year before the joint heals to allow use of the affected leg.  Your vet will most likely offer pain reducing medication and anti-inflamatories during the healing process.

Epilepsy:  In most cases, the true cause of seizure activity in a dog is never determined.  It is believed that the cause of this disorder can be passed down to litters when a dog suffering with seizure activity is used in a breeding program.  Congenial Epilepsy will generally appear in an infected dog between two-three years of age.  Test must be run on a dog to rule out different causes of seizure activities which can range from Brain tumors, viral illness, trauma, liver disease, kidney disease or hormonal disorders to name a few.  If no cause of the seizure attacks can be determined the dog will be diagnosed with epilepsy.  Seizure control is an area of debate. While some veterinarians feel control is not needed for mild cases or seizures that don’t occur more than once a month, others feel that control steps should take place much sooner.  Treatment will depend greatly on the severity and occurrence of the attacks.  If your vet feels control is needed for your pet Phenobarbital is most often recommended.  Although an epileptic attack is seldom fatal it is a heartbreaking and scary experience for the pet owner to witness.  Holding the pet down is seldom recommended for that can often cause more harm than good.  The best thing to do is move any objects the dog can injure itself on and remove all other pets from the area.

Patellar Luxation: The patella or kneecap is a moveable bone located over the knee that connects the muscles of the thigh to the lower leg.  Patellar Luxation is a dislocation of the kneecap.  This is more often found in smaller breeds of dogs.  More often than not a dog was born with this condition and it was passed down from the parents infecting both legs.  A symptom your dog may be affected with Patellar Luxation is to see him occasionally holding a leg in the air while he is running then start using it again later.  Sometimes the dog may cry out when this takes place for the kneecap or Patella has popped out of place, then returned.  Depending on the severity, surgery is often recommended to make the dog more comfortable and to prevent crippling arthritis or deformities.  There are various techniques for correcting patellar Luxation, but regardless of the technique the purpose of the surgery is to re-establish the proper alignment of the quadriceps tendon, the patella, and the patella tendon to prevent a sideways slipping of the kneecap.  All dogs used in breeding programs should be tested and certified through the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) with each dog being tested more than once at different ages as some luxation will not be evident until later in life.  Your breeder should show you proof that his/her dogs are tested and have an OFA certificate showing the parents are free of this defect.

Miniature Pinscher Breed Temperament

Miniature Pinschers are for experienced dog owners. The Miniature Pinscher is an assertive, outgoing, active and independent breed.  Miniature Pinschers are energetic and need a fenced in yard to run in; they make great agility dogs. They are great escape artists and some recommend having a kennel with a lid on it for them to run around in.  They are good watch dogs, are alert and wary of strangers.  It is recommended that adults and teenagers play with a Miniature Pinscher and not young children as younger children play rough.

Did You Know?

• The Miniature Pinscher is native to Germany.
• There were few of the breed in America prior to 1928, the impetus to breed advancement dating from 1929 when the Miniature Pinscher Club of America, Inc. was formed.
• The Miniature Pinscher is valuable as a watchdog, despite its diminutive size.
• Real development of the Miniature Pinscher breed abroad began in 1895 when Germany's Pinscher Klub was formed and gave the breed its initial standard.
• The "Min Pin," as it is called among fanciers, is noted for its intelligence and pep.
• The Miniature Pinscher has been bred extensively in Scandinavia in addition to Germany.

Miniature Pinscher Breed History

The Miniature Pinscher is not a scaled-down, version of anything, especially the much larger Doberman Pinscher, although both are likely descended from the German Standard Pinscher. It is a distinctly German breed often referred to as the Zwerg or Dwarf Pincher in historical documents. German Kennel Club documents also refer to the Miniature Pinscher as the "reh" Pinscher, but this term is only used for a dog of stag-red color, "reh" referring to a small red deer found in German forests years ago. The one fact remains that the Miniature Pinscher originated several centuries ago as an efficient barnyard ratter, with no relation to the Doberman or the Manchester Terrier.

Historical artifacts and paintings place the Min Pin as a very old breed, but factual documentation began less than 200 years ago, leaving his actual origins to debate. The Miniature Pinscher is reported to include the Dachshund and Italian Greyhound among its ancestors. Many historians and those who have researched the background of the breed agree that this heritage is most likely, adding the shorthaired German Pinscher to the family tree.

Until the early 1900's Miniature Pinscher popularity was primarily contained in Germany and the Scandinavian countries but has gained great popularity in the US since the first one was registered with the AKC in 1925. Originally in the Terrier Group and reclassified as a Toy in 1930, the official name was changed from Pinscher (Toy) to Miniature Pinscher in 1972.

Miniature Pinscher Pics

     

   

Miniature Pinscher Dogs-101 Video

AKC Registered Breeder

Miniature Pinscher
Parent Club: Miniature Pinscher Club of America, Inc.
Breeder Referral: Sandee White; CST (812) 897-1284
Breeder Directory: website
Regional Clubs: website 

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