Joe Coelho grew up in a dog-crazy family on a farm in California, where his mother was a poodle breeder and all-breed groomer. Stacey Nicholas grew up in an animal-loving family in rural Indiana, with a variety of mixed breed dogs in the house.
Joe and Stacey had hunting dogs for some years, including a Britany mix, a Golden Retriever and a Standard Poodle. One day, after the last of these had died and we had been dogless for several months, Stacey found a lost Miniature Schnauzer. The owners reclaimed it, but we were smitten with the breed, and soon obtained a puppy from a “rescue”. Gretchen is a typical mini: high energy, lots of prey drive, and very affectionate. A couple of years later Stacey became aware of a black Giant Schnauzer in need of rehoming. 100-lb Big Guy joined us and soon became our soulpet. More years went by and we started thinking that we needed a Standard Schnauzer to complete the trifecta. About that time, Big Guy died of lymphoma and left us heartbroken. Shammy Johnson connected us with Liz and we all went down to Columbia. Liz showed us a pair of nearly 1-year-old females, and we took them both (Shammy got a Picard, but that’s her story to tell).
The standards were full of energy and spent many hours running and playing in the back yard. We called them the Sisters of Chaos. Indigo (Sketchbook Wheel of Fortune CGCA CGCU TKN) is the black sister, and as adorable as they come. She has the friendliest temperament of all our dogs and doesn’t know a stranger. She passed the canine good citizen tests (CGC, CGCA and CGCU) and is registered with Therapy Dogs International. She makes a monthly visit to our local nursing home, and sometimes serves as a model for Joe’s presentations. Last year, while Joe was giving a talk on dog anatomy, a student walked in and said, “Oh, my God, that is the cutest dog I’ve ever seen in my life!” Don’t let her sweet disposition fool you, however. She is known to give love bites, especially in the morning when trying to get Joe out of bed. If she is really enamored with a new person, she will sneak up and bite them on the rear. Hence, one of her nicknames is “Butt Biter.” She is also a stone cold killer. Blessed with a strong prey drive, she has vanquished a number of mice and moles, as well as putting the finishing bite on a few squirrels. She does well in barn hunt practice, but we haven’t made it to a competition yet. She is smart, but resistant to obeying commands. In spite of this stubbornness, she has passed the Novice Tricks test. Among all our dogs, Indigo tolerates wearing clothing the best, and she and Joe have won best costume at the kennel club Halloween party two years running.
Isabel (Sketchbook Who Wants 2B a Millionaire CGCU NAJ TKP) is the pepper/salt sister. Just watching her run, we could tell she was physically gifted. Her solution to nearly any problem is to jump. High. The first time our physicist friend saw her, he said, “What a powerfully built dog!” We started training her for agility, which led to our joining the Quincy Kennel Club. We added a tricks class to her schedule and found that Isabel is not only smart, but very biddable. She will do just about anything we ask of her. She progressed through the AKC trick titles to Advanced Trick Performer and we are working on the Elite title. She has given 17 public performances to date. Her routine includes lots of jumping tricks, but also scenting and floor work such as leg weaves. Yes, she performs while wearing a red cape! She knows so many tricks that we can’t squeeze them all into a performance. Isabel has titles in three different areas, which collectively qualify her as an AKC Achiever Dog. Fun fact: Joe’s greying goatee sufficiently resembles Isabel’s beard that they once won an owner/dog look-alike contest.
Joe and Stacey live on a farmlet in Lewis County, Missouri. Like Liz, they have chickens. Their current pack features one Miniature Schnauzer (Gretchen), three Standard Schnauzers (Isabel, Indigo and Luna), and two Giant Schnauzers (Miss Kitty and Delta). Through the good people on the Sketchbook team we began volunteering with Boxer/Schnauzer Rescue of the Ozarks a few years ago. We have fostered about 20 dogs, including the recently adopted 3-legged wonder, Miles (a mini). Stacey is Coordinator of Community Outreach Initiatives at Douglass Community Services. Joe is a Professor of Biology at Quincy University.
Rather than upload a ton of photos to FB, here’s a link to a variety of images of Isabel and Indigo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/p46d2aaMGxGwqiiS6
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