I'm a new Miniature Schnauzer owner and I wanted to get all the info I could about these guys. So, I ordered both the books and read this one first. Then, I picked up the larger "...Owner's Guide..." and was very disappointed, since after a couple of sentences it was "deja vu all over again". When I finally read the fine print inside the jacket I found that this is an abridged version of the larger book. Hence the "Essential...." handle. The two books sound like they have different authors but not really. The "et al" portion is not well defined. In reality, the "et al" are part of the committee that authored the larger book. Oh well, its a small dog isn't it?

Neither of the books go into the kind of detail I was looking for. For example, I wanted to know how to clip this guy, but all it "essentially" says is to take it to your groomer and ask questions...as if they want you around while they're buzzing your little guy or girl.