At the annual dog show, chantel noticed that there were three more scotties than schnauzers. she also realized that the number of wirehaired terriers was five less than twice the number of schnauzers. if there were 78 dogs in all (counting schnauzers, scotties, and wirehaired terriers), how many schnauzers were there? write and solve an equation.
i am so confused by this question? ?

Let us assume the number of Schnauzers at the annual dog show = x
Then
Number of Scotties in the annual dog show = x + 3
Number of Wirehaired Terriers in the annual dog show = 2x - 5
Total number of dogs in the annual dog show = 78
Then the equation can be written as
x + x + 3 + 2x - 5 = 78
4x - 2 = 78
4x = 78 + 2
4x = 80
x = 80/4
   = 20
So there are 20 Schnauzers in the annual dog show. I hope the procedure is clear enough for you to understand. It is important to read the question carefully and then solving the problem would be easy. 

No solution : there is no number of boxes that she bought