Does anyone have a Schweenie dog?

[merekc]

Does anyone have a Schweenie dog? We are considering it and haven't found much info out there. Anyone have any experiences to share? Thanks.

 

[deanie]

I don't but we have schnauzers. Please post a picture of one if you find one! I am sure it will be very cute!

 

[rparmfamily]

Ok I have to ask...what is a schweenie? A "designer" breed?

 

[kacaju]

Does anyone have a Schweenie dog? We are considering it and haven't found much info out there. Anyone have any experiences to share? Thanks.

You have not found much information on it because that is NOT a *real* breed. It is a MUTT.
I am going to assume it is supposed to be a dachund and schnauzer? If so and if you are looking at getting a dachund with the schnauzer wiry coat then look into a wirehaired dachund. They come in two sizes.

OK i just googled schweenie, it is a shih Tzu dachund mix.

 

[airhead]

Schweenie??? LOL! Is this for real???

 

[merekc]

Schweenie??? LOL! Is this for real???

Yes it's for real. They have another name, but this is the only one that I remember.

Someone I know has one and it is pretty cute. They get to be about 10 pounds and shih Tzu's are hypoallergenic (which we prefer) and I'm thinking dachund's are probably not awful in this area (even though they aren't on the list). We are considering. Not much info out there.

I know someone got smart and started giving mutt's fancy names and high prices. But this one I don't believe is going to be bad price wise.

 

[jrmasm]

Yes it's for real. They have another name, but this is the only one that I remember.

Someone I know has one and it is pretty cute. They get to be about 10 pounds and shih Tzu's are hypoallergenic (which we prefer) and I'm thinking dachund's are probably not awful in this area (even though they aren't on the list). We are considering. Not much info out there.

I know someone got smart and started giving mutt's fancy names and high prices. But this one I don't believe is going to be bad price wise.

In my not so humble opinion, any amount of money paid for a mutt, unless it is at a shelter is too much.

I'm sure you realize hypoallergenic is not a guarantee and definitely not with a mutt.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

I hope you find what you are looking for, but most people I see who buy 'designer' breeds are very disappointed to learn that all of the characteristics these dogs were supposed to have don't pan out when the dogs reach adulthood. Most people consider non-shedding to be hypoallergenic, but actually the allergens are in the dandruff not the hair. But even the shedding trait isn't a guarantee. This combination, like the Lab X Poodle crosses, are a mix of a shedding and a non-shedding breed. Shedding tends to be the dominant trait, so many of these dogs will shed. I have had clients with designer mix puppies try to argue with me that they were 'promised' a non-shedding dog. Then, they come back when the dogs are adults and tell me that the dog does indeed shed... a lot.

As for size, neither of those two breeds are supposed to be under 10 pounds. Most Shih-Tzus average 12 to 15 pounds and Dachshunds are from 12 to 35 pounds, if they are breeding these mixes to be under 10 pounds, they are breeding 'runts' which lends itself to a whole host of new problems.

Shih-Tzus and Dachshunds are great dogs, I had a Shih-Tzu when I was a teen and I was crazy about her, but she had horrible skin allergies, back, and eye problems. All of which are very common in the breed. Dachshunds also have skin allergies and back problems. More often than not, the designer dogs tend to have the worst characteristics of both breeds rather than the best... probably due to the fact that the parents are often not the best examples of the breed.

 

[Magic Mom]

Yes it's for real. They have another name, but this is the only one that I remember.

Someone I know has one and it is pretty cute. They get to be about 10 pounds and shih Tzu's are hypoallergenic (which we prefer) and I'm thinking dachund's are probably not awful in this area (even though they aren't on the list). We are considering. Not much info out there.

I know someone got smart and started giving mutt's fancy names and high prices. But this one I don't believe is going to be bad price wise.

But how can you be guaranteed that your puppy will have the desired traits?

 

[merekc]

But how can you be guaranteed that your puppy will have the desired traits?

I never said anything about a guarantee. With any breed you do your research to try to figure out if it is a pet you would want. This is one of the reasons I posted to see if anyone had ever had one.

I must admit my previous research had indicated back problems in both breeds and that does concern me that is why I originally posted wondering if anyone had ever had one. My friend has the one and of course thinks it is wonderful but it isn't very old.

Thanks for all of the feedback. It has been very helpful.

 

[clarabelle]

I don't have a sweenie
But -I have two mini dachshunds -that I adore. However -they are quite a handful. Not nearly as easy to train and housebreak as the lab we had before them. Also dachshunds are high on the list of biters.
I make them sound terrible -they aren't we love ours -but dachshunds aren't a "sure thing" like some other family dogs.

 

[ilovepcot]

Shih-Tzus and Dachshunds are both adorable little dogs. But mixed together? Sounds pitiful to me. I want to be *wrong* on that account!


ETA: Found this pic. Not nearly as bad as I'd feared.

 

[briannesmom]

Never heard of a schweenie but my sister just got a "dorky" puppy a few weeks ago. It is a Miniture Dachshund and Yorkie mix. Very cute puppy.

 

[Scurvy]

I never said anything about a guarantee. With any breed you do your research to try to figure out if it is a pet you would want. This is one of the reasons I posted to see if anyone had ever had one.

I must admit my previous research had indicated back problems in both breeds and that does concern me that is why I originally posted wondering if anyone had ever had one. My friend has the one and of course thinks it is wonderful but it isn't very old.

Thanks for all of the feedback. It has been very helpful.

I love mutts, I love mixed breeds, I love purebred dogs. I love the dogs I've rescued and those that I purchased. I mention those things because I want to be clear that I have nothing against a dog that isn't a purebred.

Regarding the bolded - that's absolutely true, and that's one advantage of buying a particular breed. If you are in a situation where it is very important that the dog have specific characteristics, it's important to do your research to figure out what to expect from any given breed. However, a Shih-Tzu/Dachshund cross is not a breed. The reason your research helps you know what to expect with different breeds is the many generations of selective breeding that have gone into the different breeds. These new mixes that people are making up names for don't have that. You can't research them because there's no history there. Sure, you can be pretty confident that the breeds you are looking at won't have puppies that look like Bloodhounds. But you can't be at all sure which characteristics that they will get from their parents - it could be the best of both parents, it could be the worst of both parents. You just can't know. You can ask 10 different owners of that particular mix and you might discover that all 10 of their dogs are completely different from one another. In addition, a responsible breeder of either type of dog would not be breeding these new designer mixes, so the parents of the mixes are typically not the best dogs genetically speaking, and are not tested for the health problems that are common in their breed.

I could mix any two breeds of dog and make up a silly name for them and they'd be just as much an actual, predicable breed as every other mixed dog you'd find in the shelter right now. A cute name does not make it a breed, no matter how much the breeder wants everyone to think it does.

(By the way, am I the only one who thinks the name doesn't make sense at all? It looks like it ought to be a Schnauzer/dachshund cross. Why on earth did the person who made up that name stick a "C" in there?!)

 

[doxdogy]

Dachshunds are a great breed and we are owned by them. But they can be an extremely stubborn breed and not for the fainthearted.

 

[Magic Mom]

I never said anything about a guarantee. With any breed you do your research to try to figure out if it is a pet you would want. This is one of the reasons I posted to see if anyone had ever had one.

I must admit my previous research had indicated back problems in both breeds and that does concern me that is why I originally posted wondering if anyone had ever had one. My friend has the one and of course thinks it is wonderful but it isn't very old.

Thanks for all of the feedback. It has been very helpful.

That's my point, it isn't a breed, so how could you research what a mix like that would produce. It's a **** shoot. If you want a dog that is hypoallergenic, why not just get a pure bred that has been bred for that characteristic instead of gambling that a mix "might" have it?

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Shih-Tzus and Dachshunds are both adorable little dogs. But mixed together? Sounds pitiful to me. I want to be *wrong* on that account!


ETA: Found this pic. Not nearly as bad as I'd feared.

Anybody notice that you rarely see adult pictures of these designer mutts?

Here is an adult picture I found.

It is definitely more than 10lbs and looking at the coat, pretty much guaranteed to shed and not be hypoallergenic. It just goes to show that since there are a million different combinations of the traits of both dogs, no matter how much research you do, you have absolutely no idea what combination any puppy will end up with.

Another adult that is way above the weight and coat criteria OP wanted:

and yet another one - absolutely no consistency from one dog to the other, even though some breeder called it a Schweenie

and another look:

and another:

and another:

love the bad bites on this these:

And here is yet another "look"

Definitely NOT hypo-allergenic and non-shedding

and another. BTW - these are all coming from dogster.com under schweenies. http://www.dogster.com/breeds/hybrid/Schweenie There are 103 of them listed there.

So,OP - it doesn't matter if somebody else has a Schweenie. Since they are mutts, one person's Schweenie is most likely going to be a completely different dog than another person's Schweenie. The only thing they have in common is some made up name to extract many $$$ from gullible people.

 

[jrmasm]

Anybody notice that you rarely see adult pictures of these designer mutts?

You do all the time on Petfinder. After they outgrown their cuteness and get dumped.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

You do all the time on Petfinder. After they outgrown their cuteness and get dumped.

That's so true.

What I meant was when the "breeders" are trying to sucker people into paying big bucks for a mutt, one that the "breeder" has absolutely no way of predicting nor even guessing what the dog will look like or what traits it will have.

 

[michellev]

Another thing to consider is that there are many types of daschunds - are they breeding mini or standard? Short, long, or wire haired? We're talking very different looking dogs here!

If you must have one of these "designer" dogs, I suggest finding an adult on Petfinder. That way you know what dog you are getting and rescuing him/her at the same time. By purchasing a "designer" dog you are just encouraging backyard/bad breeding and possibly buying from a puppy mill. No reputable breeder would create a "schweenie" or whatever the heck they are called. Those overbite pictures are good evidence of that.