[Yogi]

The Miniature Pinscher has been around since the late 1600's to early 1700's. Old german paintings have established the breed to be though not necessarily a family dog as much as a working breed. Dr Reichenbach in 1836 after much study determined that the breed stock was the smooth coated Dachshund and the Italian Greyhound. It was noted in other writings that the Dachshund though an excellent rater was not necessarily fast enough so German farmers introduced the Italian Greyhound to increase the leg size and speed. A purely working terrier the Miniature Pinscher is not a "Toy" dog but a true terrier that was bred to work independently from human direction. On farms it generally lived in barns and not in homes. Though not recognized until after Louis Doberman's pinscher it was around long before and is not a Miniature version. The error in thinking came from the AKC in the 1920's when the breed was first recognized. AKC noted that the breed must appear as a Doberman in miniature. With that the confusion started. Initially many in the US found the dog to be a cute little Doberman clone and breeding went by the wayside. Unfortunately as with today, very little research is done by potential owners for if they had they would have found that the true Miniature Pinscher was not a lap dog but a very energetic working dog. Soon they discovered this and the dog fail from favor in this country. It took several years to bring the breed back and with the help of dedicated knowledgeable breeders the true Miniature Pinscher was re-introduced. These dogs are in no way related to German Pinschers (smooth coated Schnauzers) which were not recognized til the late 1800's. Nor to Dobermans Pinscher. In fact the modern day German Pinscher owes its survival as a recognized breed to the Miniature Pinscher. Nearly extinct, Werner Jung during WWII was able to get out of Germany with purported 3 female German Pinschers. The breed was near extinction at that time. Unable to locate any males he chose to use 3 over sized male Miniature Pinschers. So in fact the modern day German Pinscher breed stock consists of Miniature Pinschers. The Min Pin was introduced approximately 60 years ago as breed stock for the Rat Terrier which when one looks at the head can usually see the resemblance. The Miniature Pinscher is soley a German breed. Founded and created in Germany for the sole purpose of ferreting out mice and rats on farms. Todays dogs referred to by many as Min Pins carry some of the traits that were bred into the creation of this breed. Out of all the dogs in the "Toy" group, the Miniature Pinscher is the only one who's true instincts to perform their work are still primarily intact.