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New Hav owner!

3K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  midwifeheather 
#1 ·
Hi everyone! I recently welcomed home a Havanese female pup on New Year's Day. She's great a we adore her but as a new Hav mom, I noticed she does not look anything like a Havanese. We asked the pet store if she really is a purebred Hav and they told us yes. She seems to have regular fur and not hair, she sheds a lot and she looks nothing like the my friend's Havanese.

We chose the hav because it was supposed to be hypoallergenic and non shedding. Now I'm beginning to think she's a short haired hav? The pet store said her "beard" and hair will grow in soon. Doubtful. We love our hav and would never give her back but we feel a bit confused why this pup being a short-haired was not disclosed to us. We spent so much money because we could not find a hypoallergenic dog at the shelters.

Any advice? Is she really a regular hav?
 

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#2 ·
The pet store is obviously not knowledgeable about the breeds they sell. They should not be telling you that the beard and fur will grow in because it won't. You may very well have a short haired Havanese here, especially if it is shedding. She looks very sweet.
 
#4 ·
Thank you both.

And yes, you are right, they definitely don't know about the breeds they sell. It's very disappointing because we were prepared for a regular Havanese. But our last dog who passed away 3 years ago was an American Eskimo and we dealt with the shedding back then. I guess it is what it is - this certainly isn't a deal breaker. She's part if the family!
 
#11 ·
She definitely looks like a short haired Havanese... And no, she won't get her facial hair later. If you look at the photo of my Panda, last photo in my signature, that photo was taken when she was 8 weeks old. She already had significantly more facial hair than your little one has.

The the store is feeding you a line. That's the problem with buying a dog from a pet store rather than a reputable breeder. You never know for sure what you're getting, and they are counting on the fact that you will fall in love with the puppy and keep it no matter what. The worst part is that pet store puppies really don't cost any less than a puppy from a good breeder would.

However, now that you have her, I hope you enjoy her. She's certainly as cute as a button. When you decide to get your next dog, you will know better, and hopefully go to a reputable breeder! :)
 
#14 ·
Thank you all for the feedback. Unfortunately I never had much experience dealing with pet stores. Our first dog was a pup from a friend's litter and the second was from a pet store but she definitely was an Eskie. This was my first purchase in 13 years, but lesson learned!

The store insists she has hair and not fur but I feel as if her coat is very similar in texture and feel like my American Eskimo's. I never owned a dog with hair before so no idea how to tell. I have been using this organic charcoal dog shampoo on her but now I want to research some more and make sure it's okay to use on fur. I had purchased it thinking my puppy had hair.
 
#15 ·
Thank you all for the feedback. Unfortunately I never had much experience dealing with pet stores. Our first dog was a pup from a friend's litter and the second was from a pet store but she definitely was an Eskie. This was my first purchase in 13 years, but lesson learned!

The store insists she has hair and not fur but I feel as if her coat is very similar in texture and feel like my American Eskimo's. I never owned a dog with hair before so no idea how to tell. I have been using this organic charcoal dog shampoo on her but now I want to research some more and make sure it's okay to use on fur. I had purchased it thinking my puppy had hair.
There really is no difference, except that coated dog's retain their hair longer, and shed it one strand at a time, the way people do, rather than shedding a lot twice a year. You can use any shampoo you want, though I've never heard of a charcoal shampoo. With puppies of all types, you want to use something gentle, and a "no tears" formula. But she doesn't HAVE a typical Havanese coat. She has a coat similar to most non-coated breeds, that will shed twice a year, and probably somewhat all the time.

I'm not sure how old she is, but this is a photo of my current puppy at about 11 weeks. The second photo is my older puppy at 9 weeks. You will see that they both have much more coat all over than your puppy does. ...And some Havanese puppies have a LOT more hair than these two at that age. :)
 

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#16 ·
Oh wow! Such cute dogs! My pup is 15 weeks old (most recent pictures of her standing was from two days ago) Seems kinda small compared to your 11 week old!

I wonder if that's typical for short-hairs.


I'll bring up my concerns to the vet at her appointment next week.
 
#18 ·
Oh wow! Such cute dogs! My pup is 15 weeks old (most recent pictures of her standing was from two days ago) Seems kinda small compared to your 11 week old!

I wonder if that's typical for short-hairs.

I'll bring up my concerns to the vet at her appointment next week.
Size doesn't necessarily have anything to do with hair length. ...And, of course, it's hard to tell much about size from a photo! But Panda is a bigger puppy. She is 8 lbs now, at 16 weeks. OTOH Pixel, the black one, is a bitty thing! She is 9 1/2 lbs and almost a year old.

Here is Panda and her brothers at 15 weeks , so you can see how the hair continues to grow, and one of Panda with Pixel and Kodi (whose coat is fully mature) so that you can see how a normal coat progresses.

BTW, Pixel is not at the VERY bottom of the standard for height, I don't think. They can be as small as 8 1/2" at the withers and still be within standard. I'm pretty sure Pixel is taller than that. Kodi, on the other end, is at the very TOP of the standard, at 11 1/2". Panda will mature somewhere between these two in size.
 

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#21 ·
They don't seem to nearly as much, but it would depend on what genes were in play. Sables stay sort of the color of a sable Collie or Sheltie. I suspect that Beltons, like this puppy, probably have less spotting as newborns, but it becomes more apparent earlier. (As is true with most breeds that carry the belton gene) i suspect that silvers would still be born balck, and would silver (or not) as they matured. Of course, it would be noticeable much sooner.
 
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