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About Havanese by Havabuddy |
| What are Havanese? | To OWN? | or NOT to OWN? |
| Havanese History | About Our Decision | Questions & How to Contact Us |
| Havanese in the AKC | ||
Pronounced (have - a- knees), Havanese are small dogs typically ranging from 8 to 12 pounds. They have silky hair and are considered to be non-shedding, hypoallergenic, odorless dogs. They come in a wide variety of colors. For showing purposes, their coats CANNOT be trimmed or clipped. They are extremely happy and friendly dogs but will demand all attention for themselves. Their toy classification fits them well. Although most think of the toy variety as being small, fragile dogs, instead, Havanese are small, strong, and sturdy dogs. Like a child's toy, the more playtime they can have the better. They will eventually tire and decide it's quiet time but not before you have already made that call. They have a plumed tail which is carried curled over the back.
According to the AKC, the Havanese is an old breed of the Bichon family of dogs. The modern Havanese goes back to Plinius (23 to 79 B.C.) in the Mediterranean region and could have originated on the island of Malta. The Havanese in both Spain and Italy played an important part in bringing the Havanese to the New World. The Havanese are also known as the Havana Silk Dog descending from the dogs which found a permanent home in Cuba. There, they were popular among the wealthy Cubans. In 1959, after the Cuban revolution, many of these dogs ended up in the United States coming in through Florida. Havanese are excellent candidates for obedience training.
Email me at info@havabuddy.com . Send me any and all questions you have and I will answer them the best I can. I would rather have someone ask many questions and be informed of their decision. Believe me, there are no dumb questions!
Ask any Havanese owner. They'll think their Havanese are the best thing since sliced bread. Havanese are wonderful pets and will make you laugh for a lifetime.
All dogs are one more "being" (whether human or pet) to care for. Just like humans, they need to go to the doctor, need shots, food, water, comfy places to sleep, affection, praise, discipline, patience, toys, treats, and the list goes on...
I have read that some say these dogs do not bark. Gimme a break! They do and they can bark loud. Before I had two of them, Chica may have barked less but they are terrific watch dogs. Sometimes we joke that a leaf fell off a tree as to the reason they are barking. Now, don't get me wrong. They are not going to bark incessantly. They bark if they hear something out of the ordinary. I would NOT classify them as yippy dogs either.
They are small dogs and will run if they think at all that it's playtime. We ALWAYS carry Chica outside when letting her out with Riley because she may think Riley is going to play with her. Plain and simple, we do it for their safety. Twice I have had to run into the road. We were all in a state of panic and none of us want to see them get hurt. There is only a few feet distance from the back door to their play area but that's not close enough. Riley is real good about not running as Chica has done but I'm sure he may if we had another playful dog. However, Chica by herself seems to go back and forth to the fence just fine. Everyone's set up is different and you have to adjust yourself to your dog and your conditions. No wonder why a breeder worries about whether or not you have a fenced in area.
Fences for your pups are grand. However, make sure there are no possible places for them to escape. Like hamsters, they can squeeze through small openings. Check your fence.
They are dogs and are clean dogs but sometimes when they go potty they may get some dingleberry's caught in their fur, especially uncut coats. You are going to have to get their dingleberry's off of them. Your kids are going to think it's sick so don't even bother asking them to do it. They may have an accident in your house too. Protect your pup by providing a "safe" area they can go if needed.
The same thing goes for their eyes. They will get sleep in their eyes that will creep down under their eyes and accumulate. This is not the most attractive thing in the world but the more you keep them clean, they prettier they will stay.
Ears is another place for attention. Havanese will grow long hair in their ears and the hair will mat. Dr. Waters said they really don't have nerve endings inside their ears and you can just pull that hair out. He was right as Riley was not phased a bit when I remove the hair from inside his ears. Chica is a bit different and her hair doesn't seem to mat in her ears. I check both of them every time I groom them.
Do Not let your puppy on high places unattended, even the steps. Just because he/she got up the steps does not mean your pup will come down the same way they got up. They shouldn't be encouraged to jump until their knees are fully developed.
They need to be groomed whether they are in puppy cut or full coat. Full coat requires you to brush them often. Some say 2 or 3 times a week. I would say 3 or four times a week if you really want to keep matting down to a minimum. Puppy cut is much easier but I like my Havanese in their coats and so I chose to brush them.
You have to clip their nails. Unless you walk them all the time and the sidewalk wears down their nails they will need to be clipped. I probably clip them about every three weeks. This is not an easy job to do yourself always. Chica freaks out and anyone would think she is being tortured. My kids laugh because they know I don't get the clippers close and she is crying. With a lot of reassurance she is getting better. Do not clip them too short thinking you might save yourself a week-your dog will not be happy.
Bath time doesn't have to be often but is necessary. Riley loves the water and jumps into the bathtub. Chica is getting better about bath time. The dogs are slippery when wet and can squirm away from you. Sometimes having a helper is nice.
I recommend NOT getting a Havanese from a breeder who does not CERF their dogs. C.E.R.F.'s are eye tests for catracts. The breeder should be well aware of their dogs and not knowing the status of their current CERF's, which are done yearly, could mean costly surgery in the future. Breeders should be able to provide you with the parents CERF infomation without hassles. Take warning if a breeder has trouble giving you this information. CERF certificates do not require microchipping but DO indicate whether the dog is microchipped or not. Dogs resembling the same color and markings could be used during CERF exams to indicate a clean bill of health. Remember, anything is POSSIBLE so do your homework.
We had a German Shepherd named Cheyenne for many years. When she died we missed her dearly. She gave us comfort, drove us crazy, took care of us, was there to hug if we felt sad, and did funny things to make us laugh. I had decided that if we would get another dog there would need to be certain criteria that needed to be met:
Knowing a little about a few breeds but nowhere near enough, I found the AKC website and started reading about all of them. Something caught my eye. The AKC had noted the breeds that were hypoallergenic. I thought to myself, "how can a dog be hypoallergenic?" Fascinated, I kept reading. I made a list of the dogs that sounded like they would fit into "my" criteria. I know the decision was to be made by the family but since I am the only parent in the house, the kids did have to help by following my guidelines. Within a day or two, my focus was narrowed to the Havanese. This made me nervous because I knew we would not be able to get this dog someplace close, I had never heard of this dog before, and I had a feeling I was "adopting" rather than "getting" a dog. I wanted to find out all I could about the Havanese. I did not want to commit myself to a dog if I thought we may later be unhappy. Not that we would have been unhappy but I just wanted our family to have a really special new member of our family. My heart melted when I saw a video on a website someone had of their puppies prancing in the back yard. The Havanese reminded me of bunnies in the yard, or deer running in the fields. Then was the search for puppies. I finally found some owners with puppies and sent off a few inquiries. I sent an inquiry to Kachinas and the gal was so nice to forward my email to Stark's.
Stark's asked me what I was looking for. I didn't know I had a choice but because I had seen many of them on different websites I replied, "Do you have a white one with tan ears?" They sent me a picture of Cupid. Cupid (the name of love in itself) was a female puppy (I was hoping for one because my Golden Retriever was a girl ), white with tan ears (just the color I asked for), born on the 7th (my lucky number), and would be ready around Valentine's Day (some more love going on here.) I think my stars lined up that day! I flew to Dallas for the day to pick her up. I was so excited about our new puppy. I had talked about her so much to my seatmate on the flight to Dallas that he even took time to come and see her! She's the best. Her new name is Chica, Stark's Chica Cupid to be exact.
NOW, some of you reading this may think I am a bit off my rocker and say, "it's just a dog" as I have heard more than once and from my family too. But, this is how much I would hope anyone would feel about getting a Havanese or any pet. People too often take pets for granted and think they can be disposed of when the excitement has worn off. Just for the record, I did let my children pick out the name of our new puppies since I overruled some of their breed decisions.
I found my enigma. I was enamored. Our new puppy was EVERYTHING on my list and more. I wanted a ton of these dogs. I was so ecstatic that I thought perhaps I wanted another pup. What color would the second one be like? After contacting a few breeders again inquiring about the puppy situation, Fantasea's sent me a picture of Rumpers. Yes, as you can almost guess, he is a chocolate parti and has a chocolate blob on his hinder. That was all I needed. He would be my next baby. Again, I let my children decide on his name, Riley, or Fantasea's Sir Riley Rumpers. He was in North Carolina. I was looking for a travel companion to fly with but the time had become so short to get a plane ticket that flying was no longer an option. I woke up on a Friday morning and asked my kids, "Who wants to drive to North Carolina for the weekend to get Riley?" My son said, "We're going to go get Chica's husband?" I had to laugh. Only had my son took me up on that idea. I extended the offer to my youngest sister who lived two hours away. She thought the trip sounded fun so she packed her infant son in the car and drove over. Her, the two boys, Chica, and I left for North Carolina with a Yahoo! map. The trip was long but the anticipation for Riley kept me going. I think the trip doubled in length on the way back but by Sunday we had driven to North Carolina and back to pick up our puppy in 48 hours exactly. "Whew!" Why in 48 hours? I had to work Monday.