My, what big eyes you have...

...all the better to see you with!

Murdoch has just been to the dog parlour for his tri-annual grooming and I had to show him all smart and tailored. The middle-sized member of the Schnauzer family, known as the Standard Schnauzer, is a dog breed that originated in Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries.] The term comes from the German word for "moustache" because of the dog's distinctively bearded snout.

Schnauzers are known for their defining beards and long, feathery eyebrows. They have a double coat - the top or guard coat is wiry while the undercoat is soft - in either salt and pepper color or black. Unlike the miniature of this breed, whose coat is clipped and cut, his coat is hand stripped - using a special type of comb the loose hair is plucked out of his coat in a painless fashion. Stripping removes the undercoat and stimulates the hard top coat to come in fuller. A shaved dog will lose the hard top coat and only show the soft undercoat. The eyebrows and ears are trimmed. See here for another photo.

The lovely lady who does this grooming for Murdoch always cuts his eyebrows a little short, so at least he can see! Usually his eyes are covered by a fringe of hair as his eyebrows flop over, but today he can see everything!