To our new members:

This letter is to give you an overview of the uses you can make of the
Yahoo MINIATURE SCHNAUZER List.

First, a serious reminder: Please remember that the List does not endorse any product or treatment, including Barf diets. Before making any change in your schnauzers' diet or care, you should check with your veterinarian.

You will receive the List Guidelines and Yahoo MINIATURE SCHNAUZER List Policies. Please read them and keep them in mind, and save them with our earlier letter and this one so that you can refer to them when you have questions.

When you have questions, do ask them! The Welcome Waggin' Crew, Cindy Stoll (clstoll@att.net) and Lou Montgomery (roselle@uci.net) are available to help, and if necessary, refer questions to the Moderators, better known as Mod Squad, Gwen Mulheron, Kennalea Bolton Pratt, Lynn Tamms, Madelyn Carlin, Art Labrousse, Coral Harvey, Dianne Armstrong, and Cindy Stoll..  Cindy and Lou will do their best to assist you in computer related problems. Lou is not an expert, but has a computer tech daughter.

In normal use, we do not use all upper case letters in email--however, for your ease in locating the subject you want, we are using upper case for headings in this long letter.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SEND AN EMAIL TO THE LIST? You send your email to MINIATURESCHNAUZER@yahoogroups.com (good idea to put this in your computer "address book"). Your emails go through a program and into the moderators' email boxes. The moderator on duty reads the emails, makes sure they meet the Yahoo guidelines, and then sends it out to a special email address. This email address uses a program that sends the email out for all List members to read. The moderators have no control at any time over the List programs or whether the email reaches its destination. Their function is just to read your email and, if it is okay, send it. Kennalea is the List Administrator and is in charge of subscriptions and related items. If you need help about your subscription, Kennalea will help you.

If you hit the "reply" button to send in an email, please delete the original email, or keep just a sentence or two if it is needed to explain your message. Many members pay for the time they are connected to get their email. If the email is shorter, it costs them less to get it.

We do want to hear from you! Some of our emails are serious, some very
serious, but there is lots of room for you to write us about the cute things your schnauzies do.

PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH EMAIL. We can respond to you only if we know that email address!

DIGEST USERS: You can find help to open the digest file at
http://winzip.com

DO NOT WRITE DIRECTLY TO Yahoo.

All correspondence should go to MINIATURESCHNAUZER@yahoogroups.com

So please direct any inquiries
or other comments to our  Moderators.

NO ONE LINE MESSAGES: Remember that our rules ban one line messages. If you should send one, the moderators will return it to you so that you can change it to comply with this rule.

PICTURES: Keeping in mind that Yahoo provides this List free, one
of the requirements is that we limit the pictures we send in and that any sent be under 64K. We send only one picture a per email, so please limit each one of your emails to one picture. You may send multiple emails with one picture attached to each. Some lists don't allow any pictures, so we are fortunate to be allowed these. Please send only pictures with schnauzer(s), with or without their person. Welcome Waggin' member Cindy Stoll enjoys adjusting the size of pictures, and has expressed willingness to help, if you need it. Lou will provide any help she can, but she is not a picture expert. Large pictures can clog up the system and we don't want to do that!

TELEPHONE NUMBERS. Do not send private telephone numbers through the List. Send private numbers through your own private email.

GOING ON VACATION? You may want to unsubscribe to the regular List
during your absence and change to the digest version, then return to the
regular List upon your return. Remember that http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/MINIATURESCHNAUZER/join
is the site for such changes. If your mailbox is full and the emails bounce back three times, the system automatically unsubscribes that person and it is necessary to re-subscribe.

MINI-SCHNAUZER WEBSITE: We have recently added a website at http://www.minschnauzer.com/ --don't miss it! Topics covered so far are breeding, breed history, diet, links page, health issues--and more is being added frequently by the current Webmaster Linda Coates who took over developing our website from the former web developers Bonnie Nichols and the late Karen Tucker. They have all done a great job on this website, please take a look! When you reach the website, click on "enter" sign and you'll find the index.

RESCUE -- A WONDERFUL WAY TO FILL THAT VACANCY IN YOUR FAMILY!
Several of our members are very active in assisting rescue operations,
rescuing schnauzers and schnauzer-mixes from shelters and placing them in new homes. If you have room in your home and heart, write the List and get your name placed with the Rescue people. Also, when the time comes for your wonderful friend to go to the Rainbow Bridge, you might want to make a contribution to a rescue fund in memory of the loved one. In no way is this required. Lou Montgomery has a couple of addresses, write to her privately and she will send the information to you. You will read such wonderful and heartwarming stories of schnauzers needing homes being placed with members who provide the love and care the homeless schnauzer needs. All this is not done without cost, and many times the rescuers pay the expenses of "bailing out" the schnauzer from the shelter, needed grooming and veterinarian care, and other costs.

OBEDIENCE AND AGILITY: Many members participate in these activities and any questions addressed to the List will be answered.

UNUSUAL HEALTH PROBLEMS: The members want to help each other and there are times when your schnauzer's veterinarian may have difficulty
diagnosing an obscure set of symptoms and many times there is someone on the List who has had a similar problem, and can suggest tests that would be helpful. And if your schnauzer is diagnosed with a problem and you want more information about it, perhaps we can help you find more
information on the Internet.

BEHAVIOR: Helpful suggestions from members will help you with behavior problems. If you are wondering about books about training, members can suggest good ones.

If you have a pet with diabetes, check out http://www.petdiabetes.org/
for valuable help.

Recently a possible diagnosis of spastic pylorus brought many questions,
and valuable information was provided by some members of our List.
REMEMBER YOUR EMAILS GO OUT TO THE ENTIRE LIST unless they are addressed to a member privately. Don't say anything you would not want published.

We especially like to hear from our new members with information about
themselves and their schnauzers. When you feel comfortable doing so,
please write in and introduce yourself.

The Mod Squad includes:
Gwen Mulheron -- DareeSch@aol.com
Kennalea Bolton Pratt -- kennalea@mindspring.com
Lynn Tamms -- tamms@athenet.net
Madelyn Carlin -- Madcarlin@aol.com

Karen Bransgrove --karenbransgrove@yahoo.com

Art Labrousse -- art_labrousse@yahoo.com

Cindy Stoll -- clstoll@att.net

Coral Harvey -- emailus@q-net.net.au

The Subs for the Mod Squad includes:

Dianne Armstrong -- montanapets@earthlink.net

We sincerely hope you will enjoy and benefit from your participation in
the Yahoo MINIATURE SCHNAUZER List.

The Welcome Waggin' Crew
Cindy Stoll    clstoll@att.net
Lou Montgomery   roselle@uci.net