Pfeiferstein Schnauzers

05/17/2026

UKC Conformation - Northern Lights American Eskimo Dog Association - Total Recall, Hugo, MN - Saturday, May 16th to Sunday, May 17th, 2026 - Judges Kimberly Caines, Greg Wessel, Sharee Sanchez, and Tracey Kallas:
Team Pfeiferstein ventured to a UKC Conformation show this weekend. We were the only standard schnauzers, but that still gave the puppies ring time and competition wins against each other!

Zhara showed amazingly well, free stacking like a champ! She took Best of Breed all 4 shows, as well as 3 Group 1’s and a Group 3! She earned 0.5 leg toward her grand, raising her total to 1.5 legs and leaving her needing 3.5 legs! We’ll keep chipping away at it! We then did best in show and she was AMAZING! She absolutely nailed a free stack from gaiting WITH her tail up!! Regardless of no legs today, I’m extremely proud of her! I love you so very much, Zhara!

All the puppies showed really well! They are learning to free stack quite well!

For UKC, dogs need 3 competition wins and 100 points to earn their Championship.

Vortex took 1st in his Bred By Exhibitor class and Winners Dog each show, as he was the only male. Then he took Best of Winners 3 of 4 times to earn 3 competition wins! He earned a total of 75 points!!! Only 25 left for his UKC CH!!!

Astral took 1st in her Junior class, Reserve Winners Bitch to Ignita 3 times, but on the last show with Judge Tracey Kallas she took Winners Bitch and then Best of Winners! The judge really liked her and said in a year when she fills out she will beat Zhara every time. I don’t disagree with that. Astral finished her weekend with 1 of 3 competition wins and 35 points, leaving 2 competition wins and 65 points needed to finish her UKC CH!

Ignita took 1st in her Bred By Exhibitor class and Winners Bitch 3 times, and Reserve Winners Bitch once, for a total of 3 competition wins and 50 points!! Now Ignita only needs 50 points to finish her UKC CH!

A HUGE thanks to my friend Alexa for joining in and taking puppies in the ring! They all do great together! It’s always an adventure! And thank you to Vortex’s family for allowing him to continue these crazy adventures! And most thank you to these lovely, wild pups for being so great! I love all 4 of them so much!

05/16/2026

Have you enjoyed watching the last 15 months that has been Ignita and Astral growing up? Do you feel left out that you don’t have a table jumping, sheep herding, agility performing, odor sniffing, hard coated bundle of standard schnauzer joy to call your own??? WELL….you ARE in LUCK!!!

🌟Our website has been updated with an anticipated breeding date for Zhara!!🌟

Yesterday Zhara cleared her last health testing for the year, and we have full plans to breed in fall or winter 2026! There is a short list for studs, but no final pick yet. However, you can guarantee the puppies will be breed type, intelligent, hard working, lovable puppies!

Zhara’s eye and thyroid results are final and normal, but waiting on OFA to update her profile.

If you are interested in joining our waitlist, please fill out an application and we will contact you!

And remember, the puppies will be kept fully natural, with tails, ears, and dewclaws, and the contract will state they cannot be removed once they are in your home.

Standard schnauzer litter planned Winter 2024-2025

05/08/2026

Zhara AND Ignita had herding lessons with Kent Herbel of XP Ranch today at Rock Hill Ranch in Milaca, Minnesota!

I had 2 - 1 hour lessons since I can’t make the clinic. I brought Ignita in case Zhara got tired.

We started with Zhara. She was not very interested at first due to having had a few accidental collar corrections last fall. She had outrun her lead and popped herself. She obviously thought I did it and that she was being corrected. But after working with her she was back to being engaged and working on her flanking and driving the sheep. She is super soft about it and requires a gentle hand. By lesson 2 she was engaged and doing much better! She had a blast!! Both times we quit while she was doing well, as to not push her. In typical Zhara fashion she did already pattern to only holding the sheep for a few seconds before releasing pressure. I pointed that out to Kent and he said that he’d noticed it 3 times before. So we talked about that and I started to vary her time for holding and releasing to either my side or flanking.

Then Ignita got her first exposure to stock!! Super exciting!! She was initially curious, then was total game on! On her first 30 minutes, Kent handled her. She went between ‘OMG SHEEP!’ to ‘MOMMY!!’ But she did really well. On her second round I took her in. She’s so much more engaged with the sheep than Zhara, but we’re working on the same things, just with a stronger hand when she goes into prey drive. By the end of my handling Ignita’s impulse control was improving.

I need a lot of training for handling, but we’re learning together and both dogs are very promising! Thank you so much, Becca Cartwright for allowing us to work at your lessons! I look forward to work with you more for private lessons!!

I love these two dogs so much!

🌟Zhara🌟IntCH/UKC BIS CH/AKC CH Vanda Pepper Grand Calvera FDC NA NF FCAT SCN SIN RATN CGC TKN🌟

Miccosukees Mr. Nice Guy
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Pandora Pepper Grand

🔥Ignita🔥Pfeiferstein’s Ignite the Fire Within🔥

NBISS MBISS MBOSS GCHS CH Straw Hat Here “Roger”
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IntCH/UKC BIS CH/AKC CH Vanda Pepper Grand Calvera FDC NA NF FCAT SCN SIN RATN CGC TKN “Zhara”

04/21/2026

The pups are growing up, and have been in 3 weekends of conformation shows and excelling!

This past weekend at the Mason City Kennel Club, under Judge Cindy Meyer and Judge Mr. Kenneth A. Buxton, Team Pfeiferstein brought home the following:
🌟IntCH/UKC BIS CH/AKC CH Vanda Pepper Grand Calvera FDC NA NF FCAT SCN SIN RATN CGC TKN🌟Zhara🌟Best of Opposite S*x TWICE with 1 Champion Defeat for a total of 3 points🌟18 of 25 points, 1 of 3 CH Defeats, 3 of 3 Majors toward being the first ever completely Owner Handled Natural Standard Schnauzer to earn an AKC Grand Championship🌟

🔥Pfeiferstein’s Ignite the Fire Within🔥Ignita🔥Winner’s Bitch for 1 point🔥Reserve Winners Bitch🔥1 of 15 points, 0 of 2 Majors toward her AKC Championship🔥

🌪️Pfeiferstein’s Vortex Rising🌪️Vortex🌪️Reserve Winners Dog🌪️Winners Dog with Best of Winners for 1 point🌪️ 5 of 15 points, 1 of 2 Majors toward his AKC Championship🌪️

🌟Pfeiferstein’s Flame of the Astral Sky🌟Astral🌟Reserve Winners Bitch🌟Winners Bitch for 1 point🌟 5 of 15 points, 1 of 2 Majors toward his AKC Championship🌟

Pups Age: 14 months

Parents of the pups:
Roger x Zhara

NBISS MBISS MBOSS GCHS CH Straw Hat Here
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IntCH/UKC BIS CH/AKC CH Vanda Pepper Grand Calvera FDC NA NF FCAT SCN SIN RATN CGC TKN

📸 Melia Photography - she was insanely patient with my baby dogs!!! And takes amazing photos!!

04/15/2026

Astrals first time with a blank 🔫! Big progress in training the schnauzer to be a bird gun dog!

My a friend loaned me her blank 🔫 and some frozen pheasants and another a frozen quail. Unfortunately today the pheasants were still frozen. So instead we worked with the feathered bumper.

Earlier in the day we had all the dogs outside playing and shot the 🔫 from across the property. None of the dogs cared.

This was Astrals first time outside with the bumper, so to start we revisited her training.

Matt has been using the verbal ‘watch it’ for watching the bumper as it’s thrown (bird flying up). Then releasing her on the verbal ‘fetch it up’.

The ‘watch it’ verbal will be Astrals steady cue so she’s not running amuck when the bird is flying. And ‘fetch it up’ is obviously for the retrieve.

Here’s her initial fetch. A tossed mark from me and retrieve to Matt. And finally the mark paired with the 🔫 shot.

I’m so incredibly proud of her!! All the little pieces we’ve been doing are coming together! I’m super proud that she was so focused off leash and didn’t run off. And of course I’m super happy she wasn’t bothered by the 🔫 shot! She gave it a little look, but kept about her business.

Next steps involve moving closer to her with the 🔫 and continuing to mark the bird, as well as using the dead bird and increasing the distance of the retrieves. We will also take our show on the road to various grassy areas. But this is all very promising!! I’m so proud of her!! Love you, Astral!! You sure are a smart lady!!!

Astral ~ Pfeiferstein’s Flame of the Astral Sky ~ age 14 months
Zhara x Roger

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10/13/2025

Barking Dog Images did great with our photos at the UKI West Coast Open!

10/11/2025

Last month Zhara participated in the Wyanett Creek Farm Stock Dog Clinic, with lessons given by XP Ranch. She truly loves it!

📸 XP RANCH PHOTOGRAPHY

10/11/2025

Last weekend Team Pfeiferstein Schnauzers traveled to Paso Robles, California from Minnesota to compete in the 2025 UKI West Coast Open, and the girls did not disappoint!

Rainey made the following 8 inch select podiums:
🌟Speedstakes🌟🥈SILVER🥈
🌟Games Challenge🌟🥈SILVER🥈
🌟Pentathlon🌟 🥈SILVER🥈
🌟UKI Stakes Final🌟 🥉BRONZE🥉

Aurora made the following 4 inch select podiums:
🌟Speedstakes🌟🥈SILVER🥈
🌟Games Challenge🌟🥈SILVER🥈
🌟Pentathlon🌟🥉BRONZE🥉
🌟UKI Stakes Final🌟🥈SILVER🥈

Emry and Zhara learned a lot and performed better than previously! They all did fabulous!

10/02/2025

Zhara, Rainey, Aurora, Emry, and I are on a road trip to Paso Robles, California for the UKI Agility West Coast Open. On our way here, we stopped at Lassen Volcanic National Park, hiked in New Springs Faery Falls in Mount Shasta, California, and our last stop the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California! It was an amazing road trip, and that’s just on the way here!

08/24/2025

AKC Conformation - Washington County Fairgrounds, Lake Elmo, MN - Thursday, August 21st to Sunday, August 24th, 2025 -
At the age of 6 months and 14 days, the first Phoenix Rising puppy started their show career this weekend!! Vortex started his show career earning a Reserve Winners Dog under Judge Joe Deleo on Thursday!!

Vortex continued to shine all weekend, but no judge love for points the rest of the weekend. However, he did earn 1st place in his class to earn some pretty ribbons and prizes! (We won’t tell him he was the only puppy in his class)

I’m super proud of Vortex! He never had any conformation training and handled it like a champ! We all love you little buddy!!

Parents:
IntCH/UKC BIS CH/AKC CH Vanda Pepper Grand Calvera FDC NA NF FCAT SCN SIN RATN CGC TKN
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GCHS CH Straw Hat Here To Love

Breeder:
Pfeiferstein Schnauzer’s Shantel Julius