[hummingbird]

"Ya know, I just realized the AKC allowed a single European breed to be broken up into 3 (leaving out one coat type) separate breeds."

Schnauzers are broken up into 3 breeds: miniature, standard and giant.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/schnauzers.htm

Schnauzers are wonderful dogs!

[Darnright]

>Schnauzers are broken up into 3 breeds: miniature, standard and giant.<

Technically, the Miniature and Giant were developed by using the Standard, but there were far different breeds used to develop the 3 Schnauzers. The miniature was created with an Affenpinscher ancestor. This DNA is not in either the standard or the giant.

One note - the Standard Schnauzer club makes it clear that their breed is not a terrier, where the miniature is. This is even more reason to believe that the three schnauzers (the name is derived from the German word for muzzle) are truly breeds, as opposed to varieties of a single breed.