Schnoodles (All Sizes) Puppies

One cross, two sizes side by side

The Schnoodle is a Schnauzer crossed with a Poodle, and the name on its own tells you very little about how big the finished dog will be. Both parent breeds come in more than one size, and whichever pair stands behind a litter sets the range the puppies land in. This page gathers the sizes we carry into one view so you can compare them instead of guessing.

The two you will see here are the mini Schnoodle and the standard Schnoodle. They share a temperament, a coat type and a grooming routine. What separates them is scale, and scale is worth choosing deliberately, because it decides how long the walks are, how much dog is on the end of the lead and how much room the dog takes up when it stretches out across the floor.

Where the size comes from

The Schnauzer started out as a German farm dog: a bearded, wiry-coated ratter and drover that also minded the cart on the way to market. Dogs of that type appear in German painting and sculpture from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the name comes from Schnauze, the German word for muzzle, after the beard that grows on it. The original farm dog is the mid-sized one. A smaller version was developed later in the nineteenth century to do the same ratting job in a more convenient package, and a larger one was built up for droving and guarding around Munich.

The Poodle arrives with the same arrangement. The full-sized Poodle was a working water dog, and the Miniature and the Toy are the same breed at smaller scales, carrying the same coat and the same quick, cooperative mind.

So both parents come with a size dial already built in. Put a Miniature Schnauzer to a Miniature or Toy Poodle and you get a mini Schnoodle. Put a Standard Schnauzer to a Standard Poodle and you get a considerably larger animal. The beard, the coat and the temperament come through either way. It is the tape measure that changes.

Because there is no breed standard for a Schnoodle, adult size is a projection rather than a promise, and littermates can finish at different weights. The useful question is always about the individual puppy’s parents, and it is one our team can answer for any puppy on the floor.

The mini Schnoodle

The mini is the more common choice and it fits most households. A mini Schnoodle generally sits somewhere between thirteen and twenty-five pounds and around twelve to fifteen inches at the shoulder, which gives you a dog you can pick up, travel with and keep thoroughly content in an apartment.

What you get for the smaller size is a full portion of the temperament. Minis are bright, busy, quick to learn and completely involved in the household. Two decent walks a day plus a play session and something to think about covers the day comfortably, and a mini that has had its walk and its thinking is very easy company on the sofa afterwards.

Choose the mini for your space and your handling rather than for a quieter dog. The alertness and the opinions come through at every size in this cross, and they are most of the charm.

The standard Schnoodle

The standard is a proper medium-to-large dog, commonly forty to sixty-five pounds and knee height or a little more, with a longer stride and a bigger appetite for a day out. It suits a household that wants a dog to walk with, hike with and take places, and it has the frame for all of it.

Leash manners are worth teaching early with a standard, in the months while the puppy is still light enough to out-muscle, and four feet on the floor for greetings belongs in the same early lessons. Both are a ten-minute job at twelve weeks, and a standard Schnoodle that walks politely is a pleasure for the next decade.

Everything else is the same dog as the mini, scaled up: the beard, the coat, the brain and the attachment to people.

What both sizes have in common

Both parent breeds were bred to work with people and both are unusually quick studies, so a Schnoodle of any size is a clever, engaged dog that notices things and likes having something to do.

Expect a dog that keeps an eye on the household and lets you know when someone is at the door. That comes straight out of the Schnauzer’s history as a farm watchdog, and the way to enjoy it is to acknowledge the alert, then cue a settle and reward the quiet. The habit builds quickly once the calm is what gets paid for.

Both sizes are people-focused and affectionate. They attach to the whole family rather than picking one person out of it, they like to be in whichever room is busiest, and they have a comic streak that owners talk about constantly: the beard laid on a knee, the eyebrows going up, the toy dropped hopefully into a lap.

Training suits them enormously. Short, frequent, reward-based sessions, one thing at a time, marked the moment it happens, finished while the dog still wants another go. Give a Schnoodle something to solve, whether that is a trick, a puzzle feeder, a search game or a name for each toy, and you get a settled, satisfied dog for the rest of the evening.

Socialization through the first year does the rest. Different floors, umbrellas, bicycles, hardware stores, calm grown dogs going about their business. A Schnoodle that has met a great many ordinary things young grows into a confident, easygoing adult.

Coat, colour and the beard

Schnoodle coats run from wavy to curly and generally hold their hair in the coat rather than dropping it around the house. The routine that goes with that is a brush three or four times a week, worked in sections right down to the skin, then a comb through afterwards to check your work. Behind the ears and under the front legs are the places that ask for the most attention. Most owners settle into an appointment with a groomer every six to eight weeks, and a groomer who knows curly coats is worth finding early.

Colour comes mostly from the Poodle side and covers a lot of ground: black, apricot, cream, red, silver, chocolate, and parti-coloured dogs carrying white with patches of anything else. From the Schnauzer side you may get salt and pepper, or black and silver, and either one looks handsome on a Schnoodle.

Then there is the beard. If your dog inherits the Schnauzer furnishings, meaning the beard, the eyebrows and the long hair on the legs, they come with their own small routine. Beards collect water and crumbs and appreciate a rinse and a towel after meals. Leg furnishings pick up grass and sand and want a comb through afterwards. Keep the hair around the eyes trimmed so the dog can see out. Start handling the puppy’s face, paws and ears in week one, and all of it stays a non-event for the next fifteen years.

Compare the sizes in person

Numbers on a page do not settle the size question. Standing between a mini and a standard settles it in about a minute. You can also look at each one on its own: the standard Schnoodle and the mini Schnoodle.

Our Schnoodle puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you what size range to expect for a particular puppy and what its coat has been doing so far. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit on the floor with a puppy for as long as you like before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.