Bichon Frise vs Miniature Schnauzer

Marketed as 'hypoallergenic' and easy, but that curly coat needs professional grooming roughly every four weeks for the dog's entire life or it mats painfully down to the skin, and the breed carries a real, well-documented risk of luxating kneecaps and lifelong dental crowding that small-dog buyers routinely underestimate.

Miniature Schnauzers are unusually prone to forming bladder stones and to pancreatitis, and both are directly linked to diet and body fat — meaning what and how much this small breed eats matters more than in most dogs, not less, despite the size suggesting otherwise.