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Things i should know before buying a Havanese.

35K views 58 replies 29 participants last post by  sprorchid 
#1 ·
I am still in the process of researching Havanese. I was wondering if you could tell me the things you all wished you knew before you bought one or the things that surprised you about them. I just want to be sure I'm picking the right breed for my family. Some questions that I have are:
What does everone mean by calling them Velcro dogs? Does that mean they just like having their owner around or will I be tripping over my dog all day?
Will I ever be able to leave the dog and give her free rein of the house or will I always need to put her in one room, a crate or and x-pen?
How long is too long to leave her in the crate while she is being crate trained? Do you always leave them in the crate with water?
I am a stay at home mom and am home most of the time except to run errands and visit friends. I realize I will be really tied down for a while when I first get my puppy and I am more then okay with that.

This is a lot for one thread but I really want to know as much as I can and to be as prepared as I can before I decide if this breed is right for my family. The internet has so many contradicting answers.

Thanks so much for your time!
 
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#38 ·
Only a few butt baths here; maybe 4-5x total and my guy is almost 3. It's not that frequent for me.

Along the they're your shadow comment:
I had a friend who has a small dog (good buddy of Marlowe's) watch Marlowe for 2 days. Marlowe knows and loves her and her dog. She was really concerned that he wouldn't eat/inhale his food, that his stool was loose, and that he followed her everywhere ("if you die young, it's going to be because you trip over your dog"). I had a devil of a time convincing her it was all normal for him. He's an emotional eater and pooper; if I'm not around or if there was a long car ride or something upset his routine, he'll skip a meal or two and might have loose stool. He goes back to normal and doesn't seem worse for wear. For someone who has a dog that will anxiously barf if his dinner is more than 10 mins late and loose stool = infectious disease, Marlowe's habits were incomprehensible to her. And the shadowing, she was quite a bit disconcerted by it and didn't really get that it was normal for the breed.

So while I love my dog and think he's nothing but perfect, her perspective showed me an 'outsider's' take on the Hav personality. Mine's sensitive and raising my voice is/was completely counterproductive as a puppy. No separation anxiety, but I think that's headed off by having a cat friend when we're gone. And grooming, it's time consuming and I don't keep up with it enough. Daily brushing, baths 7-10 days are ideal;minor grooming on your own (for me it's keeping his feet tidy, abdomen & sanitary area shaved down) will cut down on professional grooming costs.
 
#42 ·
Halle will be a year old the end of this month - she did need a butt bath once, but so far that's it. However, she is still in her puppy coat and things may well change once she grows her adult coat. Thankfully her poops are usually hard and fall out of the hair - but they do stick a little bit (it's amazing to see her stop & poop, and then they just fall out of the hair as she walks afterwards).
 
#43 ·
I never even thought about what would cause a dogs poop to stick to his butt...LOL! I just assumed it was the hair being too long or poop too soft. All I can say is, another reason my guys are in a puppycut:):)!!

Once in awhile I will see a little dinkle berry, but I'm not sure it's because of silky hair or not etc. Because my guys have very little hair back there. Also, Bella has a cottony thin coat, Scuds is silky silky not thin or not thick coat and Freddie's silky coat thicker coat than the others. They all get dinkle berries from time to time. Not one more than the other.
 
#44 ·
Thanks for clarifying, I sort of read that like 'it happens because your dog has bad genes and hair'...lol , I get defensive and oversensitive, I'm sorry for snapping at you. My apologies!

I think living in a windy area probably doesn't help too much, while it is more frequent with runny or loose stools, i've still had a few I've had to do with regular ones.

Turkey day is coming up and even the TINIEST bite of turkey gives her a blow out, every year I say I am not going to give her a taste and every year, I cave in and mix a wee bit in with her chicken...

I just know that with 7 kids, i've seen a whole lot worse than a smidgen smear of poop, I guess being a mom desensitizes us a bit to things deemed 'gross'. I am grateful she doesn't try to eat her own poo, that would skeeve me out a bit since she's always trying to kiss me or get close to me..lol

I do think Havanese are the smartest breed out there! and the cutest!
 
#46 ·
I do think Havanese are the smartest breed out there! and the cutest!
Um, DUH! :D

Bob, at a year old, already knows four or five toys by name. If you tell him to get Wylie (an old stuffed Wyle E. Coyote that was my daughter's years ago), or squeaky worm, or his ball, or BBD (big black dog, a Hav-sized stuffed dog some friends got me a year ago for Christmas after I lost my beloved Amber), he knows what those are. I think he also knows "flat bunny," a small stuffed bunny that has since gone "flat" due to his de-stuffing it. :suspicious:

Then to learn how to potty outside with the bell in a weekend, 36 whole hours, at 12 weeks -- yeah, they're smart. <puffs out chest>
 
#45 ·
Although Ted has only had a couple butt baths, I have used a comb to get a couple "hangers on". Ted can't handle eggs. We used to give our Scotty a little bit of egg on the weekends but Ted gets the runs when we have given them to him. Too much protein I guess
 
#47 · (Edited)
human digestive enzymes (any good health food store will have them, I like digest gold), will help your pup better digest the turkey. Ollie gets bad gas with beef. even a bite. so I give him a capsule with the beef. no gas.

it's the same concept as lactaid, but broad spectrum digestive enzymes. My big anatolian gal, Kara, she has a very senstive stomach, I think she internalizes her anxiousness. you just look at her cross eyed and she gets the runs. digestive enzymes have helped her a lot. also, Kara is my Giardia girl (had it twice), and before I got her tested, ofcourse I thought she just had the regular runs, and the digestive enzymes gave her firm poop. When I saw there was no improvement with the runs, I took a sample to the vet.

anyway, it's helped my dogs notably, and a few human friends too.
 
#51 ·
human digestive enzymes (any good health food store will have them, I like digest gold), will help your pup better digest the turkey. Ollie gets bad gas with beef. even a bite. so I give him a capsule with the beef. no gas.

it's the same concept as lactaid, but broad spectrum digestive enzymes. My big anatolian gal, Kara, she has a very senstive stomach, I think she internalizes her anxiousness. you just look at her cross eyed and she gets the runs. digestive enzymes have helped her a lot. also, Kara is my Giardia girl (had it twice), and before I got her tested, ofcourse I thought she just had the regular runs, and the digestive enzymes gave her firm poop. When I saw there was no improvement with the runs, I took a sample to the vet.

anyway, it's helped my dogs notably, and a few humand friends too.
What is weird is that I am the same way, I completely internalize my emotions, I get nauseous when I'm nervous, emotions can give me headaches and lupus flares, there is a big connection with mind and body with me and Gucci is the same way, I wish I had the ability to compartmentalize! lol I wish it were a choice or learned behavior that could be changed, but it is what it is I guess. I hope I didn't teach her nervous tummy tumbles...haha

Oh! Hazard of having a shadow dog - I just stepped on my poor pup's paw as I was taking cookies out of the oven! He didn't realize I was going to move forward then backing up. Poor guy Luckily he wasn't upset or injured and I gave him cheese to make me feel less guilty.
One of my really good friends who got a havanese, her husband actually tripped and fell in the kitchen and hurt his leg BADLY, they almost had to amputate it (one of the vets had advised them to, but they chose surgery) and his leg (the back one) is a few inches shorter and he had to have intensive surgery and couldn't walk/run play for several months afterwards and that was very hard for them to go through. This happened a few months after they got him, just a little puppy..and he was underfoot in the kitchen waiting for a goodie to fall :(

you have to be so much more mindful with velcro dogs, even spilling coffee..

Kara
 
#52 ·
I'm very fortunate in that my velcro Maltese is VERY aware of people's feet. Always has been as far back as I remember. The only thing that can trip him up is people who, for whatever reason, step backwards because he knows it's not the normal order of things. When you're that little, it's always smart (when they get old enough to reason) to learn how to stay out of tall people's way.
 
#54 ·
My two are not under foot so much in the kitchen-that's cause The Princess is Too Busy laying on the couch-watching the street for anything that moves so she can sound the alarm. Rom is outside a lot-watching from his guard post at the fence-then he runs in to join Paige on the couch. I have to agree-I have not taken a shower alone in 6 years-they seem to think that the bathroom will capture me if they don't push the door open & lay near. Butt baths are a norm here-Paige is in long coat and sometimes she has loose stool-depending on her diet-and at times there a dingleberries that she sits on while I am trying to get them off-Tula on the other hand is always under foot-I get up she gets up-I go to the kitchen-bathroom-you name it and she is my shadow. But I would never go back to not having a Havie.
 
#55 ·
I probably already posted, but I was going through the posts again and this came to my mind.

1. Be prepared to pay some money for your Hav and not even think twice about it!

2. Your Hav will CHANGE your way of life! Because now, your Hav is your life!

3. You will spend more on your Hav than you do yourself!
 
#57 ·
My guys used to wear bells too! They've learned to watch people feet. They usually get out of the way now.....

Last night I was doing dishes and dropped a large knife on the floor. It was like slow motion as I'm watching the knife fall and seeing Scudder glued to my side! Thank God it missed him!

I also spend more money on my dogs than myself:) So guilty there!
 
#58 ·
Just wanted to add my two cents here and say I really wish I'd read the red flags to look for in a breeder and what questions to ask posts before I'd made a commitment. Knowing what I know now, I might have made a different decision, but I certainly wouldn't trade Freddie for anything! I just imagine things might have gone a little differently with a different breeder.
 
#59 ·
Good point, good breeders interview you thoroughly, almost like a background check CIA style. If they don't ask you questions, about your house, your family, family habits... other dogs and pets in the household, and if the breeder doesn't do a temperament test on the puppies, go else where.
 
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